"In a very real sense, the collapse of French civilization in North America was the result of the chance which led the French discoverer, Jacques Cartier, into the mouth of the far-penetrating St. Lawrence." T.J. Wertenbaker, The First Americans, 1607-1690, Macmillan Publishing Company, 1927, renewed 1955. Have students research the meaning of this quote and develop a paper that cites evidence to either accept reject or modify Wertenbaker's statement. Ask the students to pretend that, instead of the St. Lawrence, Cartier had sailed in to the Connecticut, Hudson, Delaware, Chesapeake Bay or other major river mouth in the present United States. How might the history of the continent be different? What language(s) might North Americans now be speaking? Explain. Have students use names/words derived from French to map the expansion of the early French explorers and fur traders outward from the St. Lawrence River Valley. Can any relationships between French names and physical features be established? By what means and where did these early Frenchmen travel? Student might also select other continents to investigate what names found there today tell them about which nations probably first explored and colonized those areas.