Lost Kingdom of Saguenay: Did 16th Century Canadian Indians hoax Frenchmen with Tales of Gold and Riches?

According to legends, the Kingdom of Saguenay is a lost city supposedly ruled by blonde men rich with gold and jewels. No one knows if native Canadians in 1534 and 1535 hoaxed greedy Frenchmen and later a French king with their tales of gold, ruby and silver mines to the northwest of present-day Montreal. Whether prevarications or lost legends of visiting Vikings, the stories of fantastic riches were part of the reason France claimed Canada for itself.

Jacques Cartier arrived in Newfoundland, thinking it was Asia, in May 1534. He explored the Canadian maritime area, claimed it all for France and captured two natives and took them back with him to France, reports EsoterX.  Sponsors financed a second voyage in 1535, and Cartier and crew made their way, via the St. Lawrence River, from the Iroquoian capital of Stadacona to Hochelaga, which is now called Montreal.

EsoterX quotes the Joseph Edward King article “The Glorious Kingdom of Saguenay” in the Canadian Historical Review of December 1950: