Cape Breton Island's first residents were likely Maritime Archaic natives, ancestors of the Mi'kmaq, the latter of whom inhabited the island at the time of European discovery. Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) reportedly visited the island in 1497 to become the firstRenaissance European explorer to visit present-day Canada. However, historians are unclear as to whether Cabot first visited Newfoundlandor Cape Breton Island. This discovery is commemorated by Cape Breton's Cabot Trail, and by Cabot's Landing Historic Site & Provincial Park, located near the village of Dingwall.
A fishing colony was established on the island about 1521–22 by the Portuguese under João Álvares Fagundes. As many as 200 settlers lived in the nameless village in what is now present day Ingonish (location according to some historians) on the island's northeastern peninsula. The fate of the colony is unknown, but it is mentioned as late as 1570.
During the Anglo-French War (1627–1629), under Charles I, by 1629 the Kirkes took Quebec City, Sir James Stewart of Killeith, Lord Ochiltree planted a colony on Cape Breton Island at Baleine, Nova Scotia and Alexander’s son, William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling established the first incarnation of “New Scotland” at Port Royal. This set of British triumphs which left Cape Sable as the only major French holding in North America was not destined to last. Charles I’s haste to make peace with France on the terms most beneficial to him meant that the new North American gains would be bargained away in the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1632).
The French quickly defeated the Scottish at Baleine and established the first permanent settlements on Île Royale: present day Englishtown (1629) and St. Peter's (1630). These settlements lasted almost continuously until Nicolas Denys left in 1659. Île Royale then remained vacant for more than fifty years until the communities along with Louisbourg were established in 1713
