Samuel de Champlain, French soldier, geographer, and explorer (b. 1567)
Samuel de Champlain (French: [samɥɛl də ʃɑ̃plɛ̃]; c. 13 August 1567 – 25 December 1635) was a French colonist, navigator, cartographer, draftsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He made between 21 and 29 trips across the Atlantic Ocean, and founded Quebec, and New France, on 3 July 1608. An important figure in Canadian history, Champlain created the first accurate coastal map during his explorations, and founded various colonial settlements.
Born into a family of sailors, Champlain began exploring North America in 1603, under the guidance of his uncle, François Gravé Du Pont. After 1603, Champlain's life and career consolidated into the path he would follow for the rest of his life.From 1604 to 1607, he participated in the exploration and creation of the first permanent European settlement north of Florida, Port Royal, Acadia (1605).
In 1608, he established the French settlement that is now Quebec City.Champlain was the first European to 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 long time relationships with local Montagnais and Innu, and, later, with others farther west—tribes of the Ottawa River, Lake Nipissing, and Georgian Bay, and with Algonquin and Wendat; he also agreed to provide assistance in the Beaver Wars against the Iroquois.
Late in the year of 1615, Champlain returned to the Wendat and stayed with them over the winter, which permitted him to make the first ethnographic observations of this important nation, the events of which form the bulk of his book Voyages et Decouvertes faites en la Nouvelle France, depuis l’année 1615 published in 1619.In 1620, Louis XIII of France 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.Champlain 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.
Champlain is memorialized as the "Father of New France", "Father of Acadia", or in French "Père de la Nouvelle-France" with many places, streets, and structures in northeastern North America bearing his name, most notably Lake Champlain.
1635Dec, 25
Samuel de Champlain
Choose Another Date
Events on 1635
- 30May
Peace of Prague (1635)
Thirty Years' War: The Peace of Prague is signed. - 28Jul
Siege of Schenkenschans
In the Eighty Years' War the Spanish capture the strategic Dutch fortress of Schenkenschans. - 30Jul
Siege of Schenkenschans
Eighty Years' War: The Siege of Schenkenschans begins; Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, begins the recapture of the strategically important fortress from the Spanish Army. - 9Oct
Roger Williams
Founder of Rhode Island Roger Williams is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a religious dissident after he speaks out against punishments for religious offenses and giving away Native American land. - 22Nov
Dutch pacification campaign on Formosa
Dutch colonial forces on Taiwan launch a pacification campaign against native villages, resulting in Dutch control of the middle and south of the island.