Why is Cartier's exploration considered problematic today?
Some view my legacy through the lens of later colonial endeavors, which brought great hardship to the native populations. My intent, however, was driven by the imperatives of my time: discovery, expansion of the French crown, and the pursuit of trade. While I documented the lands and the peoples, the long-term consequences of European arrival were not fully foreseeable then. My writings were a testament to exploration, not an endorsement of future subjugation.
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