This Week in History: Samuel de Champlain founded the city of Quebec on July 3, 1608 – World Book INK worldbookblog Leave a comment Monument to Samuel De Champlain, founder of the Quebec City with the old Post Office tower in the back, Place D’Armes, Quebec City, Canada. Credit: © Shutterstock. Today, Quebec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and an important port and tourist center. The city proper has a population of more than 500,000, and its metropolitan area is home to more than 760,000 people. However, the city nicknamed the Cradle of New France was not always quite so prominent. It began as a small trading post along the St. Lawrence River. In 1608, the French explorer Samuel de Champlain sailed from France to what is now eastern Canada with a group of about 25 to 30 companions to establish a fur-trading post. It was not Champlain’s first journey to the Americas. From 1599 to 1601, Champlain had visited Spanish colonies in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Panama on a French trading ship.

From 1603 to 1606, he explored the St. Lawrence River and the New England coast for France. Champlain helped establish the French settlement of Port-Royal in what is now Nova Scotia in 1605. (Port-Royal later was reestablished as the nearby community of Annapolis Royal.) In 1608, Pierre du Gua, Sieur de Monts, sent Champlain back to New France, the French colonial empire in North America, to set up a trading post and further explore the region. Du Gua had been among the group that established Port-Royal. Du Gua never returned to New France after 1605, but he remained involved in the North American fur trade. When Champlain returned to New France in 1608, he entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence and sailed southwest along the St. Lawrence River until he reached the present-day site of Quebec City. Champlain recognized the site’s geographical advantages. It offered a natural harbor, a cliff from which to keep an eye on the surrounding area, and a river with tributaries that provided access inland.

Today, the cliff is known as Cap Diamant (Cape Diamond), and the river is called the St. Charles. The area also was home to First Nations (American Indians) with whom the French settlers could trade. Champlain named the settlement Quebec, from an Algonquian word meaning the river narrows here. Champlain and his companions soon built a wooden structure, called the Abitation or Habitation, which served as lodgings, a fort, and a trading post. Today, the Notre-Dame-des-Victoires Church stands where the Abitation once stood. Its altar resembles a fort. The first winter proved to be extremely cold, and only about one-third of Champlain’s group survived. Champlain became friendly with the Algonquin and Huron peoples living near Quebec. He believed that friendship between the French and First Nations peoples would prevent First Nations attacks on the settlement, improve trade, and make it easier to explore the surrounding country. In time, Champlain’s settlement grew and prospered as a trading center. Louis Hébert, the first Canadian farmer, established a household at Quebec in 1617. In 1620, Champlain built Fort St.

Louis where the Château Frontenac, a castlelike hotel, now stands. In 1791, Quebec City became the capital of Lower Canada, a British colony that included what is now southern Quebec province. Quebec City also served as the capital of the Province of Canada, a larger British colony, twice during the 1800’s. When the Dominion of Canada was established in 1867, the area that had been Lower Canada became the province of Quebec. Quebec City, with a population of nearly 60,000, was chosen as the provincial capital. Share this: Ville de Québec - Québec, a New French Colony (1608–1755) Ville de Québec Home > Tourists > History > Québec, a New French Colony (1608–1755) Partager cette page Fermer [X] Partager cette page L'outil Partager vous permet de partager la page en cours du site Internet de la Ville de Québec sur les différents médias sociaux sur Internet. Québec, a New French Colony (1608–1755) Champlain Founds Québec Champlain draws the map of Québec City.

Engraving: "Souvenir du IIIe centenaire, 1608-1908", Archives de la Ville de Québec On July 3, 1608, Samuel de Champlain sailed up the St. Lawrence River in the company of 26 recruits—lumberjacks, carpenters, and laborers. At the behest of Pierre Dugua de Mons, who held a monopoly over the fur trade, Champlain had come to establish a trading post. When he arrived, he could find no trace of Stadacona. Its Iroquois population had abandoned the St. Lawrence Valley for reasons that remain a mystery to this day. Only the nomadic Algonquins ventured there to barter and fish for eels. Champlain settled along Québec’s shoreline, a natural harbor where Place Royale is situated today. The location was perfect. From atop Cape Diamond, it was easy to keep an eye on comings and goings along the St. Lawrence River. Champlain quickly erected his wooden Habitation on the site of today’s Notre-Dame-des-Victoires Church. The building served as a home, fort, and store.

It soon became a meeting place where various Amerindians came to barter furs for European goods. Fabulous Ludovica In a journal entry from 1618, Champlain outlined a plan to found a large city along the banks of Rivière Saint-Charles (today’s Saint-Roch and Saint-Sauveur districts) and to name it Ludovica in honor of King Louis XIII. The project would never come to anything, however, as Champlain’s vision of a great city died with him. The Upper Town Is Born Champlain’s wooden Habitation was built in a matter of days. Engraving: "The first House erected in Quebec, 1880", Archives de la Ville de Québec. Champlain also gave thought to the city’s defenses. In 1620 he began to construct Fort Saint-Louis on the headlands near where the Château Frontenac stands today. It was the beginning of the Upper Town. The location was a strategic one: the fort looked out across the river and down on the Habitation below.

A few wooden buildings surrounded by a palisade made up the fort, while a trail connecting the Lower Town’s Habitation to Fort Saint-Louis traced the same route as part of today’s Côte de la Montagne. Château Living There was a succession of four Saint-Louis forts and two châteaux between 1620 and 1834. They were the seat of the colony’s executive power for more than 200 years and also served as the official residence for all governors of the French Regime and many belonging to the British Regime. Balls, receptions, and other events were held there. It is even said that to impress his First Nations guests, Governor Frontenac served them ice cream of every color prepared by his confectioner. In the Crosshairs of the English Champlain, knowing the colony was too weak for battle, negotiates terms of surrender for the city, September 14, 1629.

Engraving: "Our First Footing in Canada: Champlain Surrendering Quebec to Admiral Kirke", July 20, 1629, The Illustrated London News, February 21, 1903 Archives de la Ville de Québec. Prior to the War of the Conquest, Québec City had twice been attacked by the English. On the first occasion, in 1629, the Kirke brothers took control of the city in the name of England. Champlain and much of the population fled, leaving a few settlers behind them. The city was returned to France in 1632. The second attack occurred on October 16, 1690. William Phips landed in Québec City with a fleet of around thirty ships and more than 2,000 men. It was then that Governor Louis de Buade, Count of Frontenac, responded with his famous tirade against Phips’ messenger, who had come to demand that he surrender the city: “I have no reply to make to your general other than from the mouths of my cannons and muskets.” Phips’ troops were repelled, and his fleet set off for New England.

Québec City only escaped a third assault thanks to Mother Nature. In July of 1711, British Admiral Hovenden Walker set sail with a fleet of 70 ships and 12,000 men to seize the capital. On a stormy night, eight of his ships broke up against the rocky coastline of Île aux Oeufs on the north shore. Nearly 750 men were lost. Battered and shaken, Walker turned back. Quite a Performance! A rowboat flying a white flag was dispatched from Admiral Phips’ ship, with his envoy on board. As soon as he landed in town, he was blindfolded to hide the city’s weak defenses. While on his way to meet Frontenac, the envoy was repeatedly harassed by the same small group, and he believed he had encountered a large and boisterous population. In Remembrance Notre-Dame-des-Victoires Church in the late 1990s. Photo: "Place Royale by Night", Notre-Dame-des-Victoires Church, Québec City, Canada, after 1989, Archives de la Ville de Québec.

Notre-Dame-des-Victoires Church was built in Place Royale in 1688. First named Enfant-Jésus, it became Notre-Dame-de-la-Victoire following the victory against Phips. After the failed invasion of 1711, it was renamed Notre-Dame-des-Victoires. Québec City Strengthens Its Defenses From 1620 to 1665, Québec City’s fortifications were quite rudimentary. In 1690, a wall consisting of 11 redoubts (towers) linked by palisades was hastily erected. It was the first in a series of walls built to encircle the city. It would not be until 1745—when Québec was panic-stricken after the fall of Louisbourg (the capital of the Île Royale colony, today Cape Breton Island) to the English—that a new wall permanently surrounded the city. Following the plans of engineer Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry, these fortifications were formed from previous walls. A Capital Is Born Since its founding, Québec City had been ruled by a governor.

His responsibilities included the military command, the civil administration, and the execution of royal decrees. The only authority not granted to him was financial management, which was ensured by trading companies more interested in the fur trade than any commitment to populate the colony. Interestingly, governors were occasionally stakeholders in these companies. But things changed in 1663: King Louis XIV of France took direct control of the colony and established a true colonial administration. Henceforth an intendant and a sovereign council ruled the city, along with a governor. Québec City officially became the capital of New France. The King’s Eyes and Ears Louis XIV thus described the intendant’s role. Jean Talon was the first to hold the position. During his two terms in office (1665–1668 and 1670–1672), Talon worked to boost the colony’s population and economic development. We owe him the shipbuilding yard on Rivière Saint-Charles as well as the first brewery in New France, built in the Lower Town in what is today the Îlot des Palais sector.

The Clergy Leaves Its Mark Three Augustines land in Québec on August 1, 1639, to found Hôtel-Dieu. Photo: "Arrival of the Hospital Sisters in Québec", 1922, Musée des Augustines de l'Hôtel-Dieu de Québec The clergy became involved very early on in Québec City’s growth. The arrival of the Récollets in 1615 marked the beginning of a large scale conversion effort. Ten years later the Jesuits arrived and founded Collège des Jésuites in 1635. In 1639 three Ursulines, including Marie de l’Incarnation, founded a monastery and a school for girls. And in the same year, three hospital sisters founded Hôtel-Dieu de Québec. In 1692, under the guidance of Msgr. de Saint-Vallier, Hôpital Général was established. In 1659 François de Laval arrived in Québec City as vicar apostolic. He founded Séminaire de Québec in 1663 to recruit and train clergy, and then Petit Séminaire in 1668.

He was appointed the first bishop of the diocese of Québec upon its creation in 1674. The Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix Church (today, Notre-Dame-de-Québec) then became a cathedral. Over the years, Québec City evolved. It became the seat of political power and an administrative, religious, and commercial center. By the end of the French Regime, its 8,000 inhabitants lived in the Saint-Roch and Saint-Jean neighborhoods, as well as the seigneuries stretching from Beauport to Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures. Growing with the Merchant Class Québec City was New France’s main port. It was part of a commercial trading network between France, the Antilles, Acadia, and Newfoundland. Ships exported furs and wood and imported products from Europe and the Antilles. This shipping trade was central to Place Royale. A First Businesswoman! Marie-Anne Barbel, wife of bourgeois merchant Jean-Louis Fornel, managed her husband’s store while he pursued his interest in the fur trade. When her husband died, she continued to look after the business.

Her real estate holdings were impressive: seven houses in the Lower Town, a home in the Upper Town, land along the water’s edge, a seigneury, and five plots of land just outside the city. The War of the Conquest cost her vast sums of money and shelling damaged her properties, but she survived until 1793, when she died at the ripe old age of 90. A Developer Ahead of his Time Henry Hiché (1672–1758), a merchant and senior civil servant, sold so many parcels of land in Saint-Roch that part of the district was named after him. The Vikings | Columbus | John Day | John Cabot | Martin Frobisher | Jacques Cartier | John Guy | Henry Hudson | Samuel De Champlain | Native Perceptions | Francis Drake | Humphrey Gilbert The founder of Quebec City and one of the most charismatic figures in Canadian history, Samuel de Champlain opened up the St Lawrence river and extended French influence throughout the Great Lakes basin. Samuel de Champlain was born in 1580 and by the time he passed way in 1635, he was known as the father of new France.

He was a protestant which was unusual for a Frenchman of that age and grew up on the west coast of France in the seaport of Brouage. He became a sailor and learned the skills of navigation and cartography. Champlain became involved with group who were interested in the fur trade and in 1603 was dispatched, aboard the Bonne - Renommee, for North America. He used his cartographers skills and produced a map of the St Lawrence river and upon his return to France published the map and his account of the trip in his work "Des Sauvages: ou voyage de Samuel Champlain, de Brouages, faite en la France nouvelle l'an 1603". Henry IV of France commissioned Champlain to explore and report further on the new lands in the Americas and in 1604 he helped found the Saint Croix Island settlement on the Bay of Fundy but after a particularly harsh winter the settlers were relocated along the coast of Nova Scotia to an new site named Port Royal. Champlain was able to use his base here to further explore the Atlantic coast for the next few years.

During his 1605 - 06 explorations he found no friendly areas where he felt another settlement could be established. He returned to France in 1607 to organize another effort for colonizing the new lands in America. In 1608 Champlain sailed from Honfleur France in command of the Don-de-Dieu along with two other ships. The ships arrived at Tadoussac on the St Lawrence in June of 1608 and continued by small boat on to the site of Stadacona which was the Iroquois village that Jacques Cartier had made contact with. The village was abandoned, possibly due to inter-aboriginal warfare between the Iroquois and the Algonquin's or the devastating effects of European diseases such as smallpox for which the Indians had no natural immunity. On July 3rd, 1608 Champlain landed with his settlers and established a new settlement named Quebec City. They began work immediately and built several multistory buildings. During the first year, once the deep snows of Quebec had fallen, the dreaded disease of scurvy and smallpox also set in. 20 of the twenty eight settlers who stayed for the winter died.

In 1609 Champlain made contact and formed friendly relations with the Huron, the Algonquin, the Montagnais and the Etchemin. The mighty Iroquois were their enemy and they appealed to Champlain to help them with their fight against them. Champlain and 9 of his soldiers setout with 300 Algonquin's to explore the Iroquois lands to the south and travelled south along the Richelieu River to Lake Champlain. Champlain and his party had not run into any Iroquois so 7 of the 9 soldiers and most of the Algonquin were allowed to return to Quebec City. Subsequently they ran into a Iroquois war party of over 200 warriors. On July 30tha the 200 Iroquois attacked Champlain, his 2 soldiers and his 30 Algonquin warriors near present day Crown Point, NY. Champlain fired his arquebus at them and killed 2 of the Iroquois leaders with one shot. This was the first encounter that the Iroquois had experienced with gunpowder and they immediately scattered and fled.

The battle lines between the French with the Algonquin's and the English with the Iroquois was now set for the next 150 years. Champlain sailed for France that fall and upon his return in 1611 he traveled upriver from Quebec City to the former village of Hochelega where he established Montreal. He strengthened his relations with the Algonquin and returned to France that fall more intent then ever on gaining additional support for the French colonizing efforts in what was now becoming known as New France. Champlain was named lieutenant and given the power to act as virtual governor in New France. He was empowered to expand the lands of the colony, make treaties with the native people, administer the colonies and explore to the west for the route to China and the Indies. He also married Helene Boullie a 12 year old, on December 30 1610 and received a dowry which he was to use to support his efforts in New France. Champlain returned once again to New France in March of 1613 for the next few years explored through to the Great Lakes and the Georgian Bay area in Ontario.

He travelled up the Ottawa River and to Lake Nipissing. The lake and river network in Ontario and Quebec made the birch bark canoe, the natives choice, the easiest way to travel throughout the land. In September of 1615 Champlain departed from Lake Simcoe, in Ontario, with the Huron's and travelled up the Oneida River where the attacked the Iroquois. This attack failed and Champlain was hit in his knee and his leg with two arrows. The Huron's and Champlain retreated back to Huronia where Champlain spent the wither recovering and learning more about the Huron. He returned to Quebec City the following spring. Champlain oversaw the coming of the Jesuit Order in New France and their efforts at converting the natives to Christianity. He administered and continued to explore eastern Canada for the next 20 years and on December 25, 1635 he died after suffering a stroke a month previously. THE VOYAGES TO THE GREAT RIVER ST. LAWRENCE BY THE SIEUR DE CHAMPLAIN, . . .

FROM THE YEAR 1608 UNTIL 1612 Credit for establishing the first permanent settlement in Canada belongs to Samuel de Champlain, "The Father of New France." Born in France in 1567, Champlain made his first voyage to the St. Lawrence region in 1603, and in 1604 he took part with De Monts in an abortive at­ tempt to establish a French colony in Acadia. It was on his third voyage, in 1608, that he succeeded in founding a settlement at Quebec. From his base at Quebec he made further explorations, discovering Lake Champlain and exploring the Ottawa Valley. In 1615 he reached Geor­ gian Bay by way of the Ottawa River and Lake Nipissing. The documents given here describe Champlain's arrival at Quebec, the construction of the first buildings in the set­ tlement, and the difficulties of the first winter. . . . From the island of Orleans to Quebec is one league, and I arrived there on July the third [ 1608 ].

On arrival I looked for a place suitable for our settlement, but I could not find any more suitable or better situated than the point of Quebec, so called by the natives, which was covered with nut-trees. I at once employed a part of our workmen in cutting them down to make a site for our settlement, another part in sawing planks, another in dig­ All About Explorers | Samuel de Champlain You are here: Home > Explorers A to Z > Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain Samuel was an explorer who founded the Canadian city of Quebec. He helped colonize French North America, formerly called New France, and is often called the “Father of New France.” Born in Brouage, Norway around 1572, Champlain learned navigation from his sea captain father. A new navigation system called radar had just been invented when Samuel sailed several times to the Spanish colonies in North America between the years 1599-1601. In 1603, Champlain sailed to Canada and explored the St. Lawrence River for the king. He also explored and wrote about Niagara Falls.

Many hotels and motels sprang up around Niagara Falls as young French newlyweds chose to travel there for their honeymoons after reading Samuel’s account of the majestic Falls. The Voyages of Samuel de Champlain (Click to enlarge) In 1608, Champlain returned to Canada to establish a fur trading post. He chose a site along the St. Lawrence River and named it Quebec. It became the first permanent settlement in New France. Samuel later became co-owner, along with famed explorer, Jacques Cartier , of the Quebec Nordiques of the National Hockey League. Later, after Samuel’s death, the hockey franchise was sold and moved to Denver where it was renamed the Colorado Avalanche. Champlain became friendly with the Algonquin and Huron Indians living near Quebec. In 1609, this alliance worked together to defeat the Iroquois Indians who lived in what is now New York. It didn’t hurt that Champlain and his allies had muskets while the Iroquois knew nothing about firearms. In keeping with explorer tradition, Champlain granted gambling casino licenses to Indians friendly to him but denied licenses to enemy Indians.

Champlain went on to become the first European to reach a large body of water in Canada which, oddly enough, was named Lake Champlain. He remained Quebec’s best friend for the remaining years of his life. After Quebec was taken by the English from the French, Champlain was taken prisoner, but when Quebec was returned to France, Samuel sailed back to Quebec for the last time in 1633 and rebuilt the fort he had originally built a quarter century earlier. This time, instead of a wood exterior, he used vinyl siding. The magazine Better Forts and Ramparts awarded him the New World Fort of the Year, and he was able to go to Disney World to celebrate with the members of his family. Explorer, builder, sailor, writer, friend of the Indians, hockey team owner—yes, Samuel Champlain had lived a full life. He died peacefully in 1635. Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain (1574 – 1635), "The Father of New France", was a French explorer, navigator, cartographer, soldier, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler.

He founded Quebec City on July 3, 1608 and is important because he made the first accurate map of the coast. Pages Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain (August 13, 1574 – December 25, 1635), "The Father of New France", was a French explorer, navigator, cartographer, soldier, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He founded Quebec City on July 3, 1608 and is important because he made the first accurate map of the coast. A Brief Sketch by: Henry Higgins Hurlbut Samuel de Champlain was the son of Antoine de Champlain (a captain in the French marine), and the maiden name of his mother was Marguerite Leroy; he was born in the village of Brouage, in the ancient Province of Saintonge, about the year 1567. Little is known of the boyhood days of Champlain; his home-village was a fortified town, and its harbor, available for large ships, was called one of the best in France.

Not only was Brouage a post of some military importance, but it was the manufacturing centre and port of shipment of a large trade in salt; and these were the two great interests of the people in citadel and seaport of the busy Brouage. During many years of Champlain's early life, Brouage was the occasion of frequent struggles of contending parties for its possession, during the civil wars of the time. While these vicissitudes must have been perplexing to close study in school, and while Champlain's school education was no doubt limited, there was yet a discipline in that misfortune, and his active habits and excellent common-sense led him to educate himself. It was no slight good fortune for Champlain that he often came in contact with men of high character, connected with the military and commercial departments of Brouage. It is supposed that he paid considerable attention to the study and practice of drawing, as his after-efforts in that line were, and are still, of no little interest and value. Early in the year 1599, he was in command of a large French ship, chartered by the Spanish government for a voyage to the West Indies.

Just previously, however, he had been connected with the French army as quartermaster for several years, yet still before that he must have had practical experience in navigation; indeed he acknowledged the fact, for he has confessed the fascination which attracted his early life to that employment. In the Spanish voyage referred to, including not merely a view of various West-India Islands and important ports, but casting his anchor in the road stead of San Juan d'Ulloa (then as today the island castle and defense of Vera Cruz;, he visited not merely Porto Bello on the Isthmus, by a native sail-boat, but from Vera Cruz he passed into the interior, spending a month at the City of Mexico. This voyage embraced a period of somewhat over two years, and in it Champlain carried out a purpose of his own, which was to make extended notes and drawings of whatever seemed worth his observation; not for his own gratification merely, but for use and aid to the French government. It was Champlain that made the first suggestion of the benefits to be derived from a ship-canal across the Isthmus of Panama.

It is understood that after an able communication by Champlain to his own government,* regarding matters and things coming within his notice in the Spanish possessions of America, he was honored not only with the gift of a pension from the French king, Henry IV, but it is believed that from the same source there was also conferred upon him a patent of nobility. In March, 1603, Champlain first sailed for northern America, having joined the expedition under Pont Grave, which had been organized by Gov. Aymer de Chastes. The fleet consisted of two barques of small size, accompanied by one or more craft of still less burthen, and arrived in the St. Lawrence River at a place called Tadoussac, at the mouth of Saguenay River. These Indians, we are to presume, were the inventors and from time immemorial have been the manufacturers of that famous and historic little craft, the birch-bark canoe. The first description which we have of this canoe appears identical with that manufactured by our northern Indians of today. Though no long distances very far from shore were often attempted, the ability of this canoe when well-managed, even in a pretty rough sea, is not slight.

The Indian canoes of the old fur-companies were usually large, of some four or five tons burthen. How many centuries previously they may have been in use we have no means of telling, yet two hundred and eighty-two years ago, in 1603, Champlain met them at the Saguenay, and which he afterward spoke of as "from eight to nine paces long, and about a pace or pace and a-half broad in the middle, growing narrower toward the two ends." "They are apt," said he, "to turn over, in case one does not understand managing them, and are made of birch bark, strengthened on the inside by little ribs of white cedar, very neatly arranged; they are so light that a man can easily carry one.". By: Stanley Yavneh Klos Edited By: Naomi Yavneh Klos, Ph.D. First United American Republic: United Colonies of North America: 13 British Colonies United in Congress was founded by 12 colonies on September 5th, 1774 (Georgia joined in 1775) and governed through a British Colonial Continental Congress .

Peyton Randolph and George Washington served, respectively, as the Republic's first President and Commander-in-Chief; Second United American Republic: The United States of America: 13 Independent States United in Congress was founded by 12 states on July 2nd, 1776 (New York abstained until July 8th), and governed through the United States Continental Congress . John Hancock and George Washington served, respectively, as the Republic's first President and Commander-in-Chief; Third United American Republic: The United States of America: A Perpetual Union was founded by 13 States on March 1st, 1781, with the enactment of the first U.S. Constitution, the Articles of Confederation , and governed through the United States in Congress Assembled . Samuel Huntington and George Washington served, respectively, as the Republic's first President and Commander-in-Chief; Fourth United American Republic: The United States of America: We the People was formed by 11 states on March 4th, 1789 (North Carolina and Rhode Island joined in November 1789 and May 1790, respectively), with the enactment of the U.S.

Constitution of 1787. The fourth and current United States Republic governs through the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate in Congress Assembled, the U.S. President and Commander-in-Chief, and the U.S. Supreme Court. George Washington served as the Republic's first President and Commander-in-Chief. Said Gouverneur Morris: Among the curiosities of -newly-discovered America was the Indian canoe. Its slender and elegant form, its rapid movement, its capacity to bear burdens and resist the rage of the billows and torrents, excited no small degree of admiration for the skill by which it was constructed. The Chippewas call it che-maun, and it was this same sort of vessel in which Champlain passed into lakes Champlain, Huron, and Ontario; the same in which Joliet and Marquette voyaged down the Mississippi, the same in which, differing as I must from the opinion of our worthy secretary, they navigated the Chicago. The Society, it is noticed, has a small specimen of this canoe. After looking a few miles up the Saguenay, Grave and Champlain, in a light boat, ascended the St.

Lawrence as far as the Falls of St. Louis, now called the Lachine Rapids, and by the way going a short distance on what they called the River of the Iroquois, now known as the Sorel or Richelieu. Unable to pass the rapids in their boat, they returned to their vessels at the outlet of the Saguenay. Upon this first visit of Champlain to the St. Lawrence, he questioned the Indians about the river and waters above and beyond what he had seen; in a manner, imperfectly however, they told of the Rapids of the upper St. Lawrence, Lake Ontario, the Falls of Niagara, Lake Erie, and the Strait of Detroit. Of anything beyond they professed no knowledge. In the month of September of that year, 1603, Grave and Champlain reached France. Champlain now learned that his friend de Chastes had died in his absence; he exhibited to his sovereign, however, a map which he had drawn of the region he had visited, together with an account of what he had learned.

In 1604, two vessels left France, having Champlain on board one of them; a new expedition for colonial settlement in America, north of latitude 40°, N., having been organized by Sieur de Monts. Arriving in America, and passing a severe winter at a temporary station, Champlain after thoroughly exploring the coasts of New England, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, and after three years absence, reached France in 1607, where he spent the succeeding winter. Champlain is distinguished for his survey of the New England coast, extending also to the northern limits of Nova Scotia. While other explorers made but slight examinations, imperfectly described, his account is thorough, and, furthermore, is illustrated by drawings of the seashore, rivers, harbors, etc. Again Champlain had reached the St. Lawrence, in June,. 1608, and while a barque was being constructed, he explored the Saguenay and also the St. Lawrence, and where at the site of a future city, then called Quebec—an Algonkin word, meaning a narrowing—he was impressed with its peculiar attractions, and decided to commence a settlement there at once.

The decision was followed directly by the felling of trees and the erection of buildings. Fortunately, a few days after their arrival there, it was revealed to Champlain that a plan was about perfected among a number of the men to assassinate not only him but others also, and then conduct matters as they might choose. By a cautious and prompt movement, however, four of the ringleaders were placed in irons, and, after a trial, one was hanged and the others sent to France for further treatment. Painting showing the arrival of Samuel de Champlain on the future site of Quebec City, 1608 One of the vessels sailed for France in September, but Champlain remained to spend the winter with the little colony at Quebec. That winter, however, was one of sickness and death; from an exclusively salt diet they were attacked with the scurvy, and twenty out of the twenty-eight had died before winter had disappeared. Of the Indians in the neighborhood also, many died from starvation, for Champlain could only, from his limited supplies, afford slight relief. But spring at length succeeded that winter of death, and in June, Grave again appeared with a vessel in the St. Lawrence.

Champlain now prepared to carry out his plans for exploring the interior. A fierce war was then existing between the Algonkin tribes of the north and the great Iroquois confederacy of the region now called New York. It was proposed to Champlain by the Indians, in consideration of services to be rendered him in his travels as guides, interpreters, and canoe-men, that he should aid them in their battles with their enemies, the Iroquois. To this he consented. Whether or not it was wise for Champlain to conclude such a treaty with his newly-found red friends may at least be questioned. I do not, however, believe with Mr. George Geddes that but for the mistake of Champlain, and the unwise treatment of the Five Nations that followed, the government of the continent would have fallen to the French rather than to the English. Yet the consequences resulting from the acceptance and ratification of the agreement referred to, for more than a century and a half involved a multitude of gory witnesses; it was a most unfortunate precedent, too readily copied. Torture, human blood, and human scalps were the seals of the cruel strife, of which instances by the hundred might be quoted.

The governments of France and Great Britain in their contests for dominion helped onward the red-handed crime. America, after breaking loose from the crown of Great Britain, fell heir to the miseries of the system referred to. In the words of DeWitt Clinton, The whole confederacy, except a little more than half of the Oneidas, hung like the scythe of death upon the rear of our settlements, and their deeds are inscribed with the scalping-knife and the tomahawk in characters of blood on the fields of Wyoming and Cherry Valley, and on the banks of the Mohawk. I need not recite particulars of Champlain's tour of that year, 1609, accompanying his Indian friends upon a war excursion against their enemies, the Iroquois, farther than to say that he then discovered the lake since called after him; and if, as he seems to have acknowledged, he then introduced to the acquaintance of the Indians of the great Iroquois league the fatal effects of firearms, by killing three of their chiefs, it was not the most unfortunate first salutation of a deadly agent which came to the red men.

That same year of 1609, Henry Hudson sailed up the river which received his name. On that occasion, the renowned yet baneful firewater was pressed upon the notice of the savages. Of the two satanic inventions, gunpowder and whiskey, the last, with its numerously-named congeners, is reasonably believed to have been the most destructive. Returning to Quebec, Champlain sailed with Grave for France, arriving out in October. Again in April of the following year, 1610, he reached the mouth of the Saguenay. He found his Indian allies had in view another expedition against the Iroquois, and they again desired his assistance. I may say that they accordingly attacked a party of the enemy, who were located near the mouth of the Sorel; and, as in the previously-named battle, came off victors. Hearing of the assassination of King Henry IV., with other unwelcome news from over the sea, Champlain left for France, arriving there in September, 1610.

During this visit a contract was made by Champlain with the parents of Helene Boule, for his marriage with their daughter; the nuptials, however, were not to take place under two years. They were afterward married, and she accompanied him to Quebec some years later. In the year 1611, he visited the St. Lawrence, but returned in the autumn of that year. In March, 1613, he again sailed from France, and arrived at Tadoussac in April. A tour up the Ottawa River was soon undertaken by Champlain. The purpose of this expedition was, in great part, to ascertain if there might be found a channel and shorter way to the Pacific and the famed Cathay. Some reports which had been told to Champlain led to strengthen his belief in and to look for such a passage. Champlain, after a journey of •some two hundred miles from the St. Lawrence, up the channel and over the portages around the numerous falls of the Ottawa, reached Allumette Island in that river. Here Champlain raised a cross of cedar, to which he attached the arms of France; not succeeding, however, in the main purpose of his journey.

Returning, he embarked for France the same year, and where he remained through the year 1614, making plans for the success of his colony. He was particularly impressed with the importance of establishing "the Christian faith in the wilds of America." By his efforts, four Franciscan friars were secured for such a mission, who embarked with himself for America in the spring of 1615. One of them, Joseph LeCaron, was appointed to the distant Wyandotte or Huron tribe of Indians, and set out with great bravery, knowing nothing as he did of those Indians or of the country where they dwelt. Champlain also soon left for the westward, for an expedition had been already planned by the Indians to invade the country of the Iroquois, and the power of Champlain and the deadly arquebus was needed to accompany them to their enemy's stronghold south of Lake Ontario. Going up the Ottawa, Champlain took a roundabout way to reach Central New York, but he was piloted by the Indians, who doubtless had an axe or rather a tomahawk of some kind to grind, and so they led him to their place of abode.

A part of the route up the Ottawa Champlain had traveled before; now, still farther, he passed via Lake Nepissing and French River into the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. This course by the Ottawa was the old canoe-route of after years, the route of the fur-trader's goods from Montreal to Mackinac and the upper lakes. But if it was the shortest channel to the Northwest, it was yet a hard, back-breaking road to travel; its numerous uprising portages and rough paths, which none but the famed and hardy Canadian voyageurs, those toiling, yet uncomplaining and merry courier des bois, would endure, each carrying the ninety pounds of pack, box, or cask, whenever the vessel and cargo must take to the land. When the canoe of Champlain pushed into Lake Huron it was the farthest point westward yet visited by any white man within the basin of the Great Lakes. The statement in several historical works of Michigan, that Champlain or any other European visited the site of Detroit before that date, July, 1615, is certainly an error.

The priest Le Caron was a few days earlier than Champlain in the neighborhood of Lake Huron, at a large Indian village, but that was not by the lake, and we are not advised that he came within sight of it. From the vicinity of the north-east shore of Lake Huron, with only a portion of the force of savages expected to comprise the invading army, Champlain now passed by way of Lake Simcoe and various small lakes, the River Trent, and Bay of Quinte; and whether he went out above or below the Isle of Tonti, the name of which has been stupidly changed to Amherst Island, he, the first of white men, now glided over the waters of Lake Ontario. Coasting along the east shore in part and partly on foot upon the sandy beach of the lake, and after secreting their canoes in the woods near the shore, the invaders struck into the forest, and went southward from some point in the present county of Oswego, N.Y. Whether the fortress sought was at Onondaga Lake, as believed by the late Hon. O. H. Marshall, or upon a pond in the county of Madison, as confidentially urged by Gen.

Clark, the post of the enemy was reached in due time, and the siege of a rather uncommonly strong Indian stockade began. After considerable time spent in the investment, and some hours of fierce contest, the attacking Indians lost their patience, and concluded to abandon the enterprise. Champlain had endeavored to direct and guide them in the attack, but the thing was impossible; they were an unmanageable, boisterous crowd of ruffians, with no purpose, it would seem, beyond the gratification of cruelty and revenge. However interesting this marauding adventure may be considered as a matter of history, and though the invading Indians, with Champlain's assistance, had suffered much less than the besieged, it was a bootless expedition. The fortress was not taken, and Champlain was wounded in the leg. The retreating army now returned to the outlet of Lake Ontario; but the Indians were unwilling to give Champlain an escort down the St. Lawrence, and the result was he was obliged to follow them to the interior and pass a winter in their wigwams.

It was summer in the following year, 1616, before Champlain, who was accompanied by the missionary LeCaron, reached Quebec, where they found Grave from over the sea, and with whom they embarked for France in the month of July. In 1617, and also in 1618, Champlain visited New France, but returned to the fatherland each of those years. He desired something more for his country than a mere trading-post on the St. Lawrence. To quote the words of Rev. Edmund F. Slafter: "He was anxious to elevate the meagre factory at Quebec into the dignity of a colonial plantation." Without doubt he had to struggle with the avarice of a company which cared little for New France beyond its own profits in furs. But Champlain enlisted official aid, and by government appointment was made lieutenant of the viceroy of New France, which last-named dignitary was the Duke de Montmorenci, high admiral of France. Champlain sailed for America, accompanied by his wife, in. 1620.

His time was now occupied at Quebec during the four ensuing years, energetically attending to the building of various structures and other duties; yet we learn that he had to endure not a few annoyances and discouragements. In 1624, with his wife he sailed for France, arriving there in October. In April, 1626, he again left France for the St. Lawrence. This was his eleventh voyage across the Atlantic to this river, besides one to the coast of New England. A new association in place of the former company was organized by the Cardinal Richelieu, the able prime-minister of France, a friend of Champlain. The prospect to Champlain seemed now more promising for his great purpose of French colonization. Hitherto as a colony his settlement had not prospered. We are told that at no time had its numbers exceeded fifty persons; and what seems strange, so unlike our own prairie pioneers, that for a period of twenty years but one family of the colony attempted to gain a living by cultivating the soil. I do not agree with Mr.

DeCosta, that "but for a headwind when off Cape Cod, sailing southward in 1605, Champlain might have reached the Hudson, and instead of planting Port Royal in Nova Scotia, he might have established its foundations on Manhattan Island, and that this would have made the greatest city in America a French city." But I will here take the occasion, parenthetically, to make the query, it was that French colonization in America has been comparatively a failure? May the answer be given that it is a national characteristic to be averse to becoming agricultural pioneers? Or may it have been occasioned by the restrictive laws and feudal tenure which came with them from the fatherland? Else was it, as some claim, the result of superstitious and bigoted religious teaching, hampering the freedom of mind and person? Quebec was founded in 1608, and New France had the opportunity of more than one hundred and fifty years before it finally resigned in favor of Great Britain. A hundred and fifty years from the settlement of New Plymouth had fitted the descendants of those settlers for self-government and the opening drama of the Revolution.

We believe that Champlain and other French explorers were men of broad, practical views, and their plans, embracing the settlement of the vast and fertile basin of the great Lakes and valleys of the St. Lawrence and Mississippi, may certainly be termed grand; yet the genius of the French nation, indeed of any Latin nation, was not fitted to the task. Sterile New England was peopled by another race. The remaining few years in the life of Champlain may be briefly alluded to: War had broken out between France and Great Britain, and a British fleet appeared in the St. Lawrence in 1628; but it was not until July of the following year that serious demonstration was made against the post of Quebec, which was then obliged to surrender to a British force. Champlain was taken to England, but as a peace had been arranged even before Quebec had been taken, he was allowed to go to France, and Quebec was restored to French rule. In March, 1633, Champlain made his last departure from France, being again appointed governor; and he arrived at Quebec in May. He was greeted with demonstrations of great affection, for he was much beloved by his people.

In the fort at Quebec, December 25, 1635, after an illness of several months, Champlain died. Somewhere within what is now the court-yard of Quebec post-office his remains lie buried; this much has been satisfactorily proven, yet the exact spot is unknown. It does not appear that Champlain had children. His widow entered a convent, and afterward founded a religious institution in which she herself subsequently entered as a nun. She died in 1654. We will close this meagre sketch by quoting the following from the Rev. Mr. Slafter, regarding the eminent explorer: "He was wise, modest, and judicious in council; prompt, vigorous, and practical in administration; simple and frugal in his mode of life; persistent and unyielding in the execution of his plans; brave and valient in danger; unselfish, honest, and conscientious in the discharge of duty." CHAMPLAIN, Samuel de, French navigator, born in Brouage, Saintonge, on the Bay of Biscay, in 1567; died in Quebec, 25 December, 1635.

His father was a ship-captain, and the son received a careful education as a navigator. Early in life he entered the army and became quartermaster of cavalry. His uncle, acting as pilot-general of the Spanish fleets, conducted back to their own country the Spanish soldiers who had served in France, and was accompanied by his nephew, who took command of the "St. Julien." In January, 1599, he sailed in command of this vessel for the West Indies, and during two years and a half visited many of the islands, landed at Vera Cruz, proceeded inland as far as the city of Mexico, and returned by way of Panama, where he conceived the plan of a ship-canal across the isthmus, reaching Spain in March, 1601. A record of this voyage, with views and charts, was written by him, and was first printed under the title of "Bref discours" (Quebec, 1870), though a translation had been previously printed in the publications of the Hakluyt society.

On his return to France he received a pension from Henry IV., and, upon being urged by Commander De Chaste, governor of Dieppe, to explore territory granted to him in North America by the king, with a view to founding a colony, he sailed, on 15 March, 1603, in the ship of Pontgrave. On 24 May they anchored at Tadoussac, where the Saguenay joins the St. Lawrence; and soon afterward he, Pontgrave, and a few men, proceeded up the river in a boat, until stopped by the rapids of St. Louis above Montreal, which was the limit of Cartier's discoveries in 1535. Returning to Tadoussac, Champlain examined both sides of the river, and subsequently explored the St. Lawrence down to Gasp& He sailed for France in August, and published the same year his first volume, "Des sau-rages," giving an account of his explorations and discoveries.

The commander, De Chaste, having died in the meantime, his privileges were transferred to Du Guay, Sieur de Monts, who made an engagement with Champlain, with the intention of founding a settlement in Acadia, and they sailed together, arriving at Sable island 1 May, 1604. Coasting along Nova Scotia, they finally determined to form a settlement on the island of St. Croix, so named by De Monts, in the river of the same name, which divides New Brunswick from the United States. Not finding the place suitable, after passing a winter there they removed to Port Royal, adjacent to the present Annapolis. During 1604-'6 Champlain explored the coast as far as Cape Cod, making careful surveys and maps as he progressed. He returned to France in 1607, and, having suggested to De Monts the importance of establishing a trading-post on the St. Lawrence, he and Pontgrave were sent out in 1608, and, after reaching Tadoussac, they continued up the St. Lawrence to a place called by the Algonquins Quebec, or the Narrows.

Champlain decided upon forming a settlement here, but had scarcely begun to clear the ground for the erection of buildings when a plot to assassinate him was discovered. At Quebec he erected houses, sowed grain, and did all he could to develop the fur trade, and in a short time the settlement began to grow. Having become friendly with the Montagnais, an Indian tribe on the St. Lawrence, in 1609 he joined them in an expedition against the Iroquois. While in pursuance of this project, they were met by a party of Algonquins and Hurons, and, accompanied by them, ascended Sorel river until they arrived at the Chambly rapids. Having at this point sent back his boat and crew, Champlain proceeded in a canoe, and entering a lake, gave it his own name. The Defeat of The Iroquois on Lake Champlain drawn by Champlain Champlain and his Indians meeting a large force of the Iroquois on the lake, both parties landed and threw up barricades of trees. On the following day they engaged in battle, which resulted in the defeat of the hostile Indians.

This result was largely due to Champlain, who killed two Iroquois chiefs with his arquebus, and mortally wounded another. The war, thus begun by the French and their allies against the Iroquois, continued with occasional intermissions until the French supremacy in Canada was ended. In September, Champlain returned to France, and in March, 1610, sailed again for America, taking with him a number of mechanics. Soon after his arrival he and his Montagnais allies made war again upon the Iroquois, but, while attacking and demolishing their fort on the Sorel, he was severely wounded by an arrow. Leaving Du Pare in his place, he returned to France in 1611, and while there married Helen Boulle, a Protestant, who, after his death, became an Ursuline Nun. De Monts having lost his influence in consequence of the death of Henry IV., and the merchants who had previously interested themselves in the colonization scheme having concluded to spend no more money on it, Champlain induced the Count de Soissons to take an interest in the project.

That nobleman obtained, 8 Oct., 1612, a commission appointing him governor and lieutenant-general of New France, and Champlain was appointed his lieutenant, which office he retained, when the Prince de Conde succeeded shortly afterward to the rights of De Soissons. A short time after his appointment he sent several vessels to Canada, and in 1613 sailed himself, principally with the intention of exploring the Ottawa, which a sailor named Vignaud had claimed to have ascended to a lake and thence reached the North sea. On 27 May, 1613, he left St. Helen's island near Montreal, and, upon entering the Ottawa, discovered that Vignaud's statements were false. After arranging more favorable terms for the fur trade, he returned to France, formed a trading company, and returned to the colony in 1615, taking with him Pere Denis Jamay and two other Recollect priests, together with a lay brother. Pere Caron, one of these ecclesiastics, soon after his arrival, proceeded to the country of the Hurons on the Georgian Bay.

Champlain the same year ascended the Ottawa for some distance, and, leaving the river, went partly overland and partly by canoe to the eastern shore of Lake Huron, where, embarking, he sailed to its southern extremity; then going overland to the western extremity of Lake Ontario, he explored that lake and the St. Lawrence until he arrived at the Sorel. Soon afterward, on territory now included in the state of New York, he attacked a town held by a tribe belonging to the Iroquois League; but, through the insubordination of the Hurons, was repelled and received two severe wounds. He was carried back to a town of the Hurons, and after his recovery visited several tribes of Indians, and returned to France in the spring. Notwithstanding the endeavors of Champlain, both in Canada and in France, the colony did not flourish, and the indifference of the authorities at home threatened it with ultimate extinction. At this critical period (1620) the Duke de Montmorency succeeded Condo, and Champlain, becoming more hopeful, brought over his wife, who remained with him until 1624, though often forced to submit to great hardships.

The trade had now been acquired by the merchants, and Quebec was fortified, began to enlarge its boundaries, and increased in population, entering upon a career of prosperity. In 1625 the Duke de Ventadour became viceroy, and at once set to work to develop the country, and sent over the first Jesuit missionaries to aid in converting the natives. In July, 1628, a British fleet under Sir David Kirk and his two brothers appeared before Quebec and summoned Champlain to surrender. His answer was defiance, and the British retired, after committing some depredations. The Canada Company, which had been organized by Cardinal Richelieu, sent out provisions and settlers at this time" but the fleet conveying them was captured by Kirk, and, as Champlain had depended upon the intercepted vessels for his supplies, he, after passing the winter in great distress in Quebec, surrendered to Louis and David Kirk on 19 July, 1629. Champlain was conveyed to England as a prisoner, and was not set at liberty until 1632. By the treaty of St.

Germain-en-Laye, concluded in that year, between Great Britain and France, Canada, together with Acadia and Cape Breton, was restored to France, and Champlain, being at once reinstated as governor, in 1633 sailed with three well-equipped vessels from Dieppe. On his arrival he was warmly welcomed by the settlers and Indians, and, the Jesuit missionaries having resumed their labors among the natives, he did all in his power to strengthen and develop the colony, and erected a fort at Richelieu Island and founded Three Rivers. He also established a college at Quebec, in which the children of the Indians were trained and taught the use of the French language. In addition to the volume "Des sauvages" (1603) and his "Voyages" (1613 and 1619), he published a volume containing an indifferently executed abridgment of his previous voyages, which included a continuation from 1619 to 1632. Interesting features of this volume were prayers and a catechism in two of the languages of the aborigines. Some copies bear the date of 1640.

In 1830 it was reprinted in Paris. The Abbes Laverdier and Casgrain, of Quebec, have published the whole series of his works, including his Mexican voyage, with notes and fat-similes of all the maps and illustrations (4 vols., 4to, 1870). The "Mercure Francais," vol. xix., contains also what is apparently an account of the voyage of 1633. -- Edited Appleton's American Biography Copyright© 2000 by StanKlos.comTM Capitals of the United States and Colonies of America Philadelphia Quebec City Quebec City A View On Cities > Quebec City Loading... More Quebec City facts Fontaine de Tourny Quebec is the capital of the Canadian province of the same name. First inhabited by Europeans in the sixteenth century, the city was founded in 1608 by the French explorer Samuel de Champlain. Today this French-speaking city still evokes old-world charm, from brownstone houses and winding streets to boutique stores and cozy restaurants. Quebec's old town is also crammed with sights, the most famous of which is the castle-like Château Frontenac.

Quebec City Info Empire of the Bay: Samuel de Champlain Courtesy of the National Archives of Canada Samuel de Champlain, though probably born a commoner, moved beyond his modest roots in the town of Brouage, France to become one of his country's most noted explorers. The acknowledged founder of the city of Quebec and the first European to discover the lake that bears his name, Champlain led expeditions deep into areas that would later be known as New York and Ontario. Champlain first traveled to North America in 1603, after establishing a reputation as a skilled navigator in expeditions to the West Indies and Central America. He spent three years in Acadia, a region in what is now Nova Scotia. Champlain took part in several summer journeys around the area to find a suitable spot for a settlement, but, as the months dragged on, many of his compatriots died during the biting cold winter seasons. His explorations led him as far south as the Massachusetts Bay, mapping areas that English explorers, who would land there in 1607, hadn't yet touched. In 1608, Champlain and 32 colonists founded what would later become the city of Quebec.

Of the group, only nine survived the brutal winter to welcome new settlers in the spring. But trade alliances with native tribes led to prosperity and Champlain's Quebec colony flourished. After three years in France, Champlain returned to Quebec in 1613 and organized missions to bolster the sagging French fur trade and further his own explorations. He led a group of Huron-Algonquin warriors in an ill-fated attack on an Iroquois village, but ceased his adventures in 1620 after the King Louis XIII ordered him back to Quebec as an administrator. When Quebec was overtaken during a war with the British in 1628, Champlain was taken to England as a prisoner. He was released after arguing Quebec's surrender to the British had occurred after the war between the two countries had ended. England returned Quebec to France in 1632 and Champlain returned a year later. Champlain died in Quebec in 1635.

Samuel de Champlain | French explorer | Britannica.com Samuel de Champlain Louis de Buade, count de Palluau et de Frontenac Samuel de Champlain, (born 1567, Brouage, France—died December 25, 1635, Quebec, New France [now in Quebec, Canada]), French explorer, acknowledged founder of the city of Quebec (1608), and consolidator of the French colonies in the New World. He discovered the lake that bears his name (1609) and made other explorations of what are now northern New York , the Ottawa River , and the eastern Great Lakes . Samuel de Champlain. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Champlain was probably born a commoner, but, after acquiring a reputation as a navigator (having taken part in an expedition to the West Indies and Central America ), he received an honorary if unofficial title at the court of Henry IV . In 1603 he accepted an invitation to visit what he called the River of Canada ( St. Lawrence River ).

He sailed, as an observer in a longboat, upstream from the mother ship’s anchorage at Tadoussac, a summer trading post, to the site of Montreal and its rapids. His report on the expedition was soon published in France , and in 1604 he accompanied a group of ill-fated settlers to Acadia , a region surrounding the Bay of Fundy . Map depicting the explorations of Samuel de Champlain in North America, early 17th century. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Canada: Samuel de Champlain Champlain spent three winters in Acadia—the first on an island in the St. Croix River , where scurvy killed nearly half the party, and the second and third, which claimed the lives of fewer men, at Annapolis Basin. During the summers he searched for an ideal site for colonization . His explorations led him down the Atlantic coast southward to Massachusetts Bay and beyond, mapping in detail the harbours that his English rivals had only touched. In 1607 the English came to Kennebec (now in Maine ) in southern Acadia. They spent only one winter there, but the threat of conflict increased French interest in colonization.

Heading an expedition that left France in 1608, Champlain undertook his most ambitious project—the founding of Quebec. On earlier expeditions he had been a subordinate, but this time he was the leader of 32 colonists. Colonial exploration routes within Canada. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Champlain and eight others survived the first winter at Quebec and greeted more colonists in June. Allied by an earlier French treaty with the northern Indian tribes , he joined them in defeating Iroquois marauders in a skirmish on Lake Champlain. That and a similar victory in 1610 enhanced French prestige among the allied tribes, and fur trade between France and the Indians increased. In 1610 he left for France, where he married Hélène Boullé, the daughter of the secretary to the king’s chamber. Britannica Stories Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent The fur trade had heavy financial losses in 1611, which prompted Quebec’s sponsors to abandon the colony, but Champlain persuaded Louis XIII to intervene. Eventually the king appointed a viceroy, who made Champlain commandant of New France .

In 1613 he reestablished his authority at Quebec and immediately embarked for the Ottawa River on a mission to restore the ruined fur trade. The following year he organized a company of French merchants to finance trade, religious missions, and his own exploration. French explorer Samuel de Champlain taking an observation with his astrolabe on the Ottawa River, … The Granger Collection, New York Champlain next went to Lake Huron , where native chiefs persuaded him to lead a war party against a fortified village south of Lake Ontario . The Iroquois defenders wounded him and repulsed his Huron - Algonquin warriors, a somewhat disorganized but loyal force, who carried him to safety. After spending a winter in their territory, he returned to France, where political maneuvers were endangering the colony’s future. In 1620 the king reaffirmed Champlain’s authority over Quebec but forbade his personal exploration, directing him instead to employ his talents in administrative tasks. Samuel de Champlain leading an attack on an Iroquois village in western New York in the early 1600s. Rare Book and Special Collections Division/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Exploring Italy and France: Fact or Fiction?

The colony, still dependent on the fur trade and only experimenting in agriculture, hardly prospered under his care or under the patronage of a new and strong company. English privateers, however, considered Quebec worth besieging in 1628, when England and France were at war. Champlain manned the walls until the following summer, when his distressed garrison exhausted its food and gunpowder. Although he surrendered the fort, he did not abandon his colony. Taken to England as a prisoner, he argued that the surrender had occurred after the end of French and English hostilities. In 1632 the colony was restored to France, and in 1633, a year after publishing his seventh book, he made his last voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to Quebec. Method used by Indians for hunting deer, illustration from a book by Samuel de Champlain. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Only a few more settlers were aboard when his ships dropped anchor at Quebec, but others continued to arrive each year. Before he died of a stroke in 1635, his colony extended along both shores of the St. Lawrence River. Champlain Monument, Quebec.

Quebec City Founded by Samuel de Champlain (1608) - This Day in History - English - The Free Dictionary Language Forums Quebec City Founded by Samuel de Champlain (1608) Posted: Sunday, July 03, 2011 12:00:00 AM Rank: Advanced Member Quebec City Founded by Samuel de Champlain (1608) Frenchman Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec City as a trading post at the confluence of the St. Lawrence and St. Charles rivers. From this and subsequent settlements Catholic missionaries, explorers, and fur traders pushed across N America. Begun with just 32 colonists, the city is now home to about 500,000. Most residents are of French descent, despite the fact that the area was ceded to the British in 1763. Because many continental explorations began in the region, Quebec is known as what? More... Samuel de Champlain News | Quotes | Wiki - UPI.com Samuel de Champlain News Today is July 1. Wiki Samuel de Champlain (French pronunciation: born Samuel Champlain; ca.

1567 – December 25, 1635), "The Father of New France", was a French navigator, cartographer, draughtsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He founded New France and Quebec City on July 3, 1608. Born into a family of master mariners, Champlain, while still a young man of 16, began exploring North America in 1603 under the guidance of François Gravé Du Pont. From 1604-1607, Champlain participated in the exploration and settlement of the first permanent European settlement north of Florida, Port Royal, Acadia (1605). Then, in 1608, he established the French settlement that is now Quebec City. Champlain was the first European to explore and describe the Great Lakes, and published maps of his journeys and accounts of what he learned from the natives and the French living among the Natives.

He formed relationships with local Montagnais and Innu and later with others farther west (Ottawa River, Lake Nipissing, or Georgian Bay), with Algonquin and with Huron Wendat, and agreed to provide assistance in their wars against the Iroquois. In 1620, Louis XIII ordered Champlain to cease exploration, return to Quebec, and devote himself to the administration of the country. In every way but formal title, Samuel de Champlain served as Governor of New France, a title that may have been formally unavailable to him owing to his non-noble status. He established trading companies that sent goods, primarily fur, to France, and oversaw the growth of New France in the St. Lawrence River valley until his death in 1635. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License . It uses material from the Wikipedia article " Samuel de Champlain ." Quotes

Question: Which city was founded by Samuel De Champlain in 1608?
Answer: Quebec