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SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN (1567 – 1635) Author’s Name HIST3850: Early French Canada July 31, 2023 Early Life Samuel de Champlain was a French explorer, cartographer, navigator, soldier, colonial administrator, and author, who founded Quebec and New France on July 3, 1608. He was born circa 15671 in Brouage, a small port town in the province of Saintonge, on the Western coast of France. His parents were Antoine Champlain and Marguerite Le Roy. His parents were Roman Catholic (Brouage was predominantly a Catholic city). He was born into a family of mariners, with both his father and uncle-in-law being sailors.2 He learned to draw, make nautical charts, and navigate at an early age.3 As a young boy, he began sailing with his father, who also taught him to make maps and navigate. He also accompanied his uncle-in-law in expeditions to Central America and the West Indies, which gave him a reputation as a navigator, before joining Francois Grave Du Pont’s expedition to North America in 1603.3 Early Travels In year 3, Champlain accompanied his uncle-in-law to Cadiz, whose ship had been chartered to transport Spanish troops.4 He spent time in Cadiz before their ship was again chartered to accompany a Spanish fleet to the West Indies. During this voyage, his uncle instructed him to watch over the ship. The ship was under the command of Jeronimo de Valaebrera. [Josepha Sherman, Samuel de Champlain: Explorer of the Great Lakes Region and Founder of Quebec (New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2002), 1.2. David H. Fischer, Champlain's Dream (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009), 2.3. Raymonde Litalien and Denis Vaugeois, Champlain: The Birth of French America (Montreal: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, 2004), 1.4. Sherman, Samuel de Champlain, 4] The journey lasted for two years, giving him an opportunity to explore Spanish holdings in the Caribbean. During this journey, he wrote notes and a detailed report, Brief Discours, which he gave to King Henry upon his return.5 The King rewarded him with an annual pension. Champlain would later return to Cadiz in August 1600 where his uncle, Guillermo Elena, lived. His uncle died one year later in June 1601, and left a substantial estate which Champlain inherited. The estate included a 150-ton merchant ship, an estate near La Rochelle, and commercial properties in Spain.6 This, combined with the annual pension from the King meant that he did not have to rely on the financial backing of investors and merchants.7 First Voyages to Canada Champlain served as a geographer for King Henry IV between 1601 and 1603, a role that allowed him to learn about North America.8 His duties included travelling to French ports and this gave him an opportunity to learn a lot about North America. During this time, his interest in North America grew as he studied previous French failures to colonize the area. He learnt about Aymar de Chaste, who had been given the responsibility for renewing the fur trade in North American in 1602. He asked for a position from de Chaste’s to be on the first voyage, who, with the king’s assent, granted him the request. [5. Samuel D. Champlain, The Voyages and Explorations of Samuel de Champlain, 1604-1616 (New York: Allerton Book Company, 1904), 18.6. Fischer, Champlain's Dream, 9.7. Fischer, 98. Heidenreich, "The Mapping of Samuel de Champlain.”] Champlain arrived in Canada in 1603, on a voyage with Francois Gave du Pont up the St. Lawrence River. At the time, he held no official title. He published an account of his voyage, Des Sauvages, ou, Voyage de Samuel Champlain, which included a map of Saint Lawrence.9 Des Sauvages would become the first detailed description of the St. Lawrence since the explorations of Jacques Cartier. Champlain was curious to explore the lands and the peoples that Cartier had described more than half a century ago and possibly go further than Cartier. The group also explored the Gaspe Peninsula and eventually arrived in Montreal.10 Although he had no official title, he proved himself useful by making multiple predictions about the geographic features, including the network of lakes in the region.11 Given his usefulness in this voyage and having promised King Henry to report on further discoveries, Champlain was accorded an opportunity to join a second expedition to Acadia with Perre Dugua de Mons in 1604.12 Dugua was planning to establish a French colony in Acadia. With no official position of command, Champlain was tasked with finding a site for winter settlement. After exploring potential sites in the Bay of Fundy, he chose an island in the St. Croix River. Champlain also acted as a diplomat in dealings with Native people that Dugua wanted to know better.13 The Winter in the Saint Croix Island was harsh and the group relocated to Port Royal. [9. Fischer, 1210. Heidenreich11. Fischer, 1312. Raymonde Litalien and Denis Vaugeois, Champlain: The Birth of French America (Montreal: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, 2004), 21. 13. Litalien and Vaugeois, Champlain, 21.] Between 1605 and 1606, Champlain explored the North American coast of what is now New England, going as far as Cape Cod in the South.14 In present day Chatham, Massachusetts, there were skirmishes with the Indigenous Nausets, which discouraged him from establishing a permanent settlement there15 (he consequently named the area Mallebar or ‘bad bar’). Dugua, who chose the St. Lawrence over Acadia, sent Champlain to Quebec so he could establish a settlement there.16 A settlement at Quebec (present-day Quebec City) would facilitate the fur trade with First Nations. Establishing Quebec Pierre Dugua de Mons appointed Champlain as his lieutenant in 1608.17 In April 1608, Dugua and his workers, including Champlain, set sail from Le Don de Dieu in France. On June 3, they arrived at Tadoussac, the French summer trading post.18 Champlain searched for a permanent settlement for the group. He travelled up the St. Lawrence, reaching Cap Diamant in present day Quebec on 3 July.19 There, he began to construct the first permanent French settlement in North America. He instructed his men to fell down tress and used the timber to construct habitations, which included two-storey structures, three main buildings, storehouse. They also built protection for the habitation, which included cannons, ditches, and stockades. At this time, a man named Jean Duval plotted to kill Champlain and turn over the fort to the [14. Litalien and Vaugeois, 21.15. Heidenreich16. Fischer, 2317. Fischer, 2418. Fischer, 2419. Litalien and Vaugeois, 22] Spaniards.20 However, one of Duval’s men changed his mind and told Champlain about the plot. Champlain arrested them. Duval was executed while the other men were sent to France for trial.21 The winter of 1608-1609 was very harsh, taking the men of sixteen out of twenty-four men.22 However, Champlain remained in this location. Quebec would soon become the French fur trading hub. The following summer, Champlain fought together with the northern First Nations against the Iroquois along Lake Champlain.23 This coupled with another victory in 1610 cemented his economic and political relationship with the allied tribes.24 In June 1609, he set off on another expedition accompanied by two of the men who had survived and a party of Huron (Wendat), Montagnais, and Algonquin.25 They reached a lake, which would be named in his honor (Lake Champlain). During their journey, they encountered Iroquois at Ticonderoga. Later in the same year, he travelled back to France to report his progress to the king. It is during this trip that he married Hélène Boullé, a daughter of the secretary to the king’s chamber.26 In 1611, the fur trade suffered heavy financial losses, prompting th...