samuel de champlain first voyage map

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Samuel de Champlain’s General Maps of New France

In the fall of 1612, Samuel de Champlain had an engraving of his first detailed map of New France made in Paris. The map contained new geographic information, based on his own explorations from 1603 onward. The site of Montreal is clearly identified. Using information obtained from Aboriginal peoples, he was able to include previously uncharted areas, such as Lake Ontario and Niagara Falls. He also made use of other maps to depict certain regions, including Newfoundland. Although the engraving was made in 1612, the map was not published until the following year as an appendix to Voyages , Champlain’s 1613 account of his journeys.

Carte geographique de la Nouvelle Franse faictte par le sieur de Champlain Saint Tongois cappitaine ordinaire pour le roy en la marine. Faict len 1612. (e010764733)

While back in France in the summer of 1613, Champlain had an engraving made of a second version of a general map that he had begun the previous year, which he also published in his 1613 book. In that map, he incorporated his most recent geographic findings, including the Ottawa River, which he was the first to depict. His depiction of Hudson Bay was deliberately inspired by a map of Henry Hudson’s voyages.  

Carte geographique de la Nouvelle Franse en son vray meridiein. Faictte par le Sr Champlain, Cappine. por le Roy en la marine – 1613. ( e010764734 )

An incomplete general map by Champlain also exists. The engraving was made in 1616, although the map was never published. The only known copy is held by the John Carter Brown Library .

In 1632, Champlain published his last major map of New France, which was included in his final book, Les Voyages de la Nouvelle France occidentale, dicte Canada . He had been living in France for nearly three years, having been driven out of Quebec by the Kirke brothers in 1629. This updated map contains little new information verified by Champlain himself, as his own explorations came to an end in 1616. He based the revised version on the invaluable information conveyed to him by others, chief among them Étienne Brûlé. Nevertheless, this map represents an important milestone in the history of North American cartography and was widely used by other mapmakers. There are two versions of this map. Among the differences between them are the representation of Bras d’Or Lake or a chain of mountains on Cape Breton Island. Both versions of the map are held by Library and Archives Canada. The first can be seen here:

Carte de la Nouvelle France, augmentée depuis la derniere, servant a la navigation faicte en son vray meridien, 1632. (e010771375)

Suggested reading to learn more about this subject: Conrad E. Heidenreich and Edward H. Dahl, “Samuel de Champlain’s Cartography, 1603-32”, in Raymonde Litalien and Denis Vaugeois, eds., Champlain: The Birth of French America . Sillery: Les éditions du Septentrion; and Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2004, pp. 312-332.

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8 thoughts on “ samuel de champlain’s general maps of new france ”.

Reblogged this on Bite Size Canada and commented: Champlain’s maps and more! Great blog, too, btw! – tk

I agree with tkmorin, but what’s not to like about historic cartography? I enjoy the extraneous and obscure but helpful decoration historic maps tended to have.

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Champlain’s family background (in french).

https://pierredubeaublog.wordpress.com/2017/03/28/les-origines-nobles-de-la-famille-de-samuel-de-champlain/

Champlain family’s background.

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I have a tremendous fascination with historical maps like this. I have several copies of maps of New Orleans where I live and continue mapping to this day.

Thankk you for sharing

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II. Samuel de Champlain and New France

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The French Crown paid little attention to the St. Lawrence and northeast North America after the failure of Jacques Cartier’s settlement at Kébec/Québec (1535-41). The fishermen and fur trappers continued on their annual migrations to the St. Lawrence without government interference. This changed soon after 1600, when Henri IV sought once again to encourage permanent French settlement in the region. A small fleet was sent out in 1604-07 under the sieur de Mons to establish this colony somewhere in Acadia. Verrazano had originally called the area of present-day New Jersey ‘Acadia,’ but the area had been steadily pushed eastwards across the map, until it covered the region from Nova Scotia to Maine. De Mons fixed on the estuary of the St. Croix River for his initial base before founding Port Royal in Nova Scotia. Accompanying the fleet was an experienced mariner and soldier, Samuel de Champlain, who had already sailed to New France and back in 1603. Champlain was now given the task of charting the coast of Acadia in detail, from Cape Cod to the Bay of Fundy. In addition to mapping the general course and character of the coast, Champlain made detailed maps of potentially important estuaries and bays. Furthermore, Champlain extended his examination and recording of the landscape to encompass the indigenous vegetation, the Native peoples, and their activities. The results were the first printed large-scale maps and the first detailed ethnographic images produced for the New England region (9-14). Champlain published his journals and maps from his 1604-07 voyages in conjunction with those from his 1608-13 explorations and military campaigns along the St. Lawrence. The general map accompanying Les Voyages de Sieur de Champlain (Paris, 1613) defined the basic geography of the region for much of the seventeenth century (15). Champlain did make some modifications to his maps as he gathered more information on his subsequent voyages of 1615-16 and 1618 (17-20), and the changes were picked up by other mapmakers in Paris. The corpus of Champlain’s maps which has been gathered together here thus constitutes a rich and varied record of the territorial development of New France.

FIGVRE DE LA TERRE NEVVE ...

Lescarbot had taken part in de Mons' expedition to Acadia in 1603-07. He wrote the first history of the expedition and its settlements, publishing it in Paris in 1609. For his map, Lescarbot used Champlain's manuscript chart of his explorations (now in the Library of Congress); for the area of New England, his map is therefore very similar to Champlains (15). For the St. Lawrence, however, he had to rely on much older information.

map/7359.0072

MARC LESCARBOT (French, 1590-1630) FIGVRE DE LA TERRE NEVVE ... In: Histoire de la Nouvelle-France ..., 2nd ed. (Paris: Jean Millot, 1612) Woodcut, 17.6 x 42.5 cm Osher Collection

SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN

These are the four large-scale maps produced by Champlain's detailed surveys of Maine river estuaries (9-12). The two St. Croix plans were produced during the winter of 1604-05, as de Mons' expedition wintered on the island. The highly accurate maps of the mouths of the Kennebeck and Saco rivers, complete with soundings and sand bars, were made in July 1605. Two more of Champlain's large-scale estuary maps depict sites in Massachusetts, including an attack on a later French expedition to the Cape Cod area (13, 14). Unlike Champlain's charts and regional maps, which were constructed rather abstractly from the distances and directions of his voyages, these large-scale maps were made from Champlain's direct observation and sketching of the landscape itself. The results were highly accurate for such small areas.

Isle de sainte Croix Engraving, 15.1 x 25.4 cm (image) From: Les Voyages de Sieur de Champlain ... (Paris, 1613) Osher Collection

Habitasion de l ile stte croix Engraving, 11.4 x 15.2 cm (image) Osher Collection

Qui ni be quy [Mouth of the Kennebec River]

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Qui ni be quy [Mouth of the Kennebec River] Engraving, 11.1 x 16.1 cm (image) Browder Collection

Chouacoit [Saco Bay]

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Chouacoit [Saco Bay] Engraving, 11.2 x 15.7 cm (image) Browder Collection

[Attack at Chatham, Mass., October 15, 1606]

img/flat/car39.jpg

[Attack at Chatham, Mass., October 15, 1606] Engraving, 14.8 x 23.7 cm Browder Collection

Malle Barre [Nauset, Mass.]

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Malle Barre [Nauset, Mass.] Engraving, 14.9 x 24.2 cm (image) Browder Collection

CARTE GEOGRAPHIQUE DE LA NOVVELLE FRANSE . . . faict len 1612

Champlain merged his general information regarding the New England coast with his later explorations of the St. Lawrence valley (to 1612). The result is his large and ornate general map of New France (15). Even on this map, however, Champlain refers to the manner in which he himself had seen this entire region by including the ethnographic and botanical drawings (15).

map/4072.0001

SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN (French, 1567-1635) From: Les Voyages de Sieur de Champlain ... (Paris, 1613) CARTE GEOGRAPHIQUE DE LA NOVVELLE FRANSE . . . faict len 1612 Facsimile of hand-colored engraving, 43.0 x 77.6 cm Smith Collection

[Various Ethnographic Images]

Champlain had applied to New France the European habit of examining Native peoples in the same way as they examined landscapes. He was not alone in this regard. A century later, the tradition was still strong when the baron de Lahontan sketched these ethnographic images of various ceremonies and practices among the Abanaki.

img/flat/car11.jpg

LOUIS DE LAHONTAN (French, 1666-1715) [Various Ethnographic Images] From: Nouveaux voyages ... dans l'Amerique septentrionale ... (Paris, 1703, 2 vols.) Facsimiles of wood-cuts, each 13.4 x 8.5 cm Smith Collection

Carte de la nouuelle france ...

After constructing his map of 1612 (15), Champlain returned to New France several times and acquired yet further information. The expansion of the French fur trade led to increasing interaction with, and the gathering of more geographical information from, the Hurons of the St. Lawrence valley. Champlain accordingly updated his map and expanded its geographical scope in this map made to accompany his general history of New France.

img/flat/car12.jpg

SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN (French, 1567-1635) Carte de la nouuelle france ... In: Les Voyages de la Novvelle France occidentale ... (Paris, 1632) Engraving, 52.2 x ca.96.5 Osher Collection

DESCRIPTION DE LA NOVVELLE FRANCE

JBoisseau took Champlain's large map of 1632 (17) and reduced it in size to make a more commercially viable product. He was, after all, a commercial cartographer and not a navigator. Although eleven years had passed since Champlain's original map had been published, Boiseau did not try to add any new details or place-names from any of the English or other French voyages. Instead, as has almost always been the case in commercial mapmaking, he simply copied his source directly. One benefit of Boisseau's reduction of Champlain's map is that it is now easier to contrast the configuration of New England on Champlain's original (15b) and later (18a) maps.

JEAN BOISSEAU (French, fl. 1637-1658) DESCRIPTION DE LA NOVVELLE FRANCE Paris: Jean Boisseau, 1643 Engraving, hand colored, 35.0 x 55.0 cm Osher Collection

[La Nouvelle France] faict par le Sr. de Champlain. 1616

img/flat/car14.jpg

SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN (French, 1567-1635) [La Nouvelle France] faict par le Sr. de Champlain. 1616 Paris, ca.1619 Facsimile of an engraving, 34.5 x 53.7 cm Smith Collection

LE CANADA faict par le Sr de Champlain ...

Champlain's cartographic record is made all the more complex by his construction in 1616 of a new regional map of New France, with the addition of his explorations since 1612 (19). The image is clearly similar to what Champlain eventually published in 1632 (17), but is much smaller in scale. The only copy known of this map is now in the John Carter Brown Library, R.I. It is clearly an unfinished printer's proof copy. Despite the date on the map (1616), the evidence of the paper dates this impression of the map to about 1653. That is, Champlain had the new map engraved, but abandoned the project before completion. The copper plate survived, however, and was acquired by Pierre Du Val. Du Val finished the map and published it in 1653; on display here is a later state, from 1677 (20).

PIERRE DU VAL (French, 1618-1683) LE CANADA faict par le Sr de Champlain ... Paris, 1677 Engraving, hand colored, 34.8 x 54.3 cm Smith Collection

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The Ages of Exploration

Samuel de champlain, age of discovery.

Quick Facts:

French explorer and cartographer best known for establishing and governing settlements in Canada, mapping the St. Lawrence River, discovering the Great Lakes, and founding the city of Quebec

Name : Samuel de Champlain [sam-yoo-uh l; (French) sa-my-el ] [ duh] [sham-pleyn; (French) shahn-plan]

Birth/Death : ca. 1567 - December 25, 1635

Nationality : French

Birthplace : Brouage, France

Samuel de Champlain (1567-1635), most likely styled after a portrait by Moncornet, 19th century. Source: A Popular History of France from the Earliest Times, Vol. 6, Chapter 53, p. 190. {{PD-Art}

Introduction Samuel de Champlain was a French explorer famous for his journeys in modern day Canada. During his travels, he mapped the Atlantic coast of Canada, parts of the St. Lawrence River, and parts of the Great Lakes. He is best known for establishing the first French settlement in the Canadian territory, and founding the city of Quebec. Because of this, Champlain became known as the “Father of New France.” 1

Biography Early Life Samuel de Champlain was born in the French village Brouage in the Province of Saintonge. Historians do not know his exact date of birth, but most agree it was between 1567 and 1570. 2 His father was Antoine Champlain and his mother was Marguerite Le Roy. Brouage was a seaport town where Antoine Champlain was a sea captain in the merchant marine. 3 Samuel de Champlain probably would have had a modest education where he learned to read and write. But his real skill was navigation. He went to sea at a young age, and learned to navigate, draw, and make nautical charts. During this time period, the French were at war against the Spanish. In 1593, Champlain served in the army of Henry of Navarre – also known as King Henry IV of France. He served in the army for 5 years, until King Henry’s and France’s victory in 1598. When the war ended, Champlain joined his uncle, Captain Provençal, on a mission from the King to return any captured Spanish soldiers to Spain.

Champlain and Provençal, along with their crew and captured Spanish soldiers, left France aboard the St. Julien September 9, 1598. They delivered the soldiers to Spain, but did not return back to France. Instead, the Spanish government hired Provençal and Champlain for a trip to its colonies in the West Indies (the Caribbean region). They accepted, and between 1599 and 1601, Champlain made three voyages for Spain to her American colonies. During these years, he visited several places, including the Virgin Islands and other Caribbean islands, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Panama. Along the way he recorded much of his journey. In 1601, he wrote a detailed report to King Henry about his trip, which included maps, and drawings of plants and animals. He even mentioned the idea of a canal that should cut through Panama to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. 4 300 years later, this would be seen in the creation of the Panama canal. The King was impressed with Champlain’s descriptions. King Henry IV wanted to the French to begin settling in the New World in hopes that wealth could be brought back to France. So he sent an expedition to locate a place in the New World to establish a French colony and fur trade settlement. Samuel de Champlain would be among the men who would take part in this venture.

Voyages Principal Voyage Samuel de Champlain would take his second New World voyage under the expedition of François Gravé Du Pont. The fleet set sail from France on March 15, 1603. They crossed the Atlantic Ocean and arrived in North America. They continued past Newfoundland, entered the St. Lawrence River. They anchored in the harbor of Tadoussac near the mouth of the Saguenay River on May 26, 1603. 5 While here, the French interacted with some of the natives, and Champlain recorded the customs and interactions of these people. The expedition soon continued up the St. Lawrence River, and made it as far as present day Montréal. The native guides that had helped the Frenchmen spoke of a great sea to the west. Champlain hoped this sea to be the Pacific Ocean and the Northwest Passage to Asia. However, due to the strong rapids, the French were unable to explore much further. It would later be known that the “sea” the natives referred to were the Great Lakes. 6 Champlain continued to explore and interactive with the different native tribes, which included the Algonquin, Montagnais, and Hurons. The expedition ended when they returned to France in September 1603.

In France, Champlain reported the details of his trip to the King. By 1604, Champlain was once more heading to the New World. This time the expedition was led by Pierre du Gua de Monts. De Monts had been granted monopoly – exclusive possession – of the fur trade. They would spend the next three years exploring and mapping parts of North America. The expedition set sail on three ships, including La Bonne Renommée and Don de Dieu which Champlain sailed on. The goal was to once again try to find a good place for a French settlement. They landed on the coast of Nova Scotia, sailed around to the Bay of Fundy. 7 The expedition focused much its efforts on areas south of the St. Lawrence River. After a few months, they settled for winter at Saint Croix Island in the St. Croix River. After enduring a harsh winter, they began exploring the eastern coastline as far down as Cape Cod. In 1605, they established their first successful settlement – Port Royal (now known as Annapolis Royal) in Nova Scotia. In 1606, this site would become the capital of the area known as Acadia. Du Gua had to return to France in September 1605. His company was having financial hardship. Champlain and the expedition continued exploring these areas for the next few years. In July 1607, du Gua’s fur trade monopoly ended. Port Royal was forced to end, and Champlain and the settlers returned to France. 8

Subsequent Voyages In 1608, Champlain was chosen as du Gua’s lieutenant on another expedition across the Atlantic. Champlain left France on April 13, 1608 and headed for the St. Lawrence river. Once again, the goal was to start a new French colony. Champlain found an area on the shores of the St. Lawrence river and began constructing a fort and other buildings. In July 1608, Samuel de Champlain and his men created the first successful French colony in New France. The site of the colony was at a place the native Indians called kebec which means “ the narrowing of the waters.” 9 Champlain and the French spelled it Quebec. During the very harsh winter here, several of the men died of scurvy. In the summer of 1609, Champlain planned to head west further inland to explore and map the land. Before he could go, the Algonquins and Huron natives asked Champlain to help them attack the powerful Iroquois tribe. He joined them, and on July 29, they all defeated the Iroquois army. This expedition also enabled Champlain to explore the Richelieu River and to become the first European to map Lake Champlain. This battle would lead to several years of hostility between the French and Iroquois natives. With the death of King Henry, however, Champlain returned to France to discuss his political future.

Champlain returned to France and reported the success of creating the settlement of Quebec. It was decided that it would be the center for the French fur trade. Champlain returned to New France and Quebec many times over the next several years where he went on to explore and map much of the land. In 1610, he fought against the Iroquois once again. In spring 1611, he sailed up the St. Lawrence river and made it as far as present day Montreal. When he returned to France, the King chose Champlain to be his lieutenant in New France. 10 He was back in Quebec by March 1613. This time he went as far as the Ottawa River and explored areas connected to the Great Lakes. In 1615, he traveled up the Ottawa River to Lake Nipissing and the French River. He saw the Great Lakes for the first time when he arrived at Georgian Bay on the east side of Lake Huron. 11 When he returned to France, Champlain’s position as lieutenant in New France was taken away. This discovery would be his last great voyage of exploration. He would spend the next years of his life trying to re-establish and maintain his authority in New France.

Later Years and Death Samuel de Champlain returned to France in July 1616 where he learned his title of lieutenant had been taken away. He suggested to the French King that they begin growing the colony of Quebec. The King agreed, and Champlain returned to New France again in 1620. He spent the rest of his life focusing on governing and growing the territory rather than exploration. In 1628, Champlain became the deputy of the “Company One Hundred Associates” organized by Cardinal Richelieu to colonize New France. The company was given all the lands between Florida and the Arctic Circle, with a monopoly of trade with the exception of cod and whale fisheries. The Quebec colony had continued problems from the natives. In 1629 Champlain was forced to surrender Quebec to the English until 1632 when the colony was returned to France. In 1633, Champlain returned to Quebec where he continued to serve as governor. As he grew older, he became ill in late 1635. Champlain died in Quebec on Christmas Day – December 25, 1635.

Legacy Samuel de Champlain is remembered as one of the greatest pioneers of French expansion in the 17th century. He formed several settlements, including Acadia and Quebec City. He also mapped and explored much of the region. His travels enabled France to gain control on the North American continent and form the country of Canada. Champlain wrote down and left behind his writings related to his voyages. His accounts described many areas he explored, indigenous peoples, local plants and animals, and numerous maps. Champlain is honored throughout Canada. Many places bear his name, including Lake Champlain. But his legacy is best seen in the city of Quebec. By the time of Champlain’s death, there were almost 300 French pioneers living in New France. 12 Now, they have a population of over 7 million people. 13 Quebec City continues to be a thriving area and is the capital of the Quebec Province in Canada still today.

• Adrianna Morganelli, Samuel de Champlain: From New France to Cape Cod (New York: Crabtree Publishing Company, 2006), 4.
• Josepha Sherman, Samuel de Champlain, Explorer of the Great Lakes Region and Founder of Quebec (New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 2003), 7.
• Sherman, Samuel de Champlain , 7.
• Harold Faber, Samuel de Champlain, Explorer of Canada (New York: Benchmark Books, 2005), 10.
• Daniel B. Baker, ed., Explorers and Discoverers of the World (Detroit: Gale Research, Inc., 1993), 131.
• Morganelli, Samuel de Champlain , 10.
• Baker, Explorers and Discoverers of the World , 131.
• Raymonde Litalien and Denis Vaugeois, eds., Champlain: The Birth of French America (Canada: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2004), 146.
• Richard E. Bohlander, ed., World Explorers and Discoverers (New York: MacMillan Publishing Company, 1992), 106.
• Baker, Explorers and Discoverers of the World , 132.
• Bohlander, World Explorers and Discoverers , 108.
• Francois Remillard and Ulysses Travel Guides, Quebec (Montreal: Hunter Publishing, Inc., 2003), 13.
• Remillard and Ulysses Travel Guides, Quebec , 25.

Bibliography

Baker, Daniel B., ed. Explorers and Discoverers of the World . Detroit: Gale Research, Inc., 1993.

Bohlander, Richard E., ed. World Explorers and Discoverers . New York: MacMillan Publishing Company, 1992.

Faber, Harold. Samuel de Champlain, Explorer of Canada . New York: Benchmark Books, 2005.

Litalien, Raymonde, and Denis Vaugeois, eds. Champlain: The Birth of French America . Canada: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2004.

Morganelli, Adrianna. Samuel de Champlain: From New France to Cape Cod . New York: Crabtree Publishing Company, 2006

Remillard, Francois, and Ulysses Travel Guides. Quebec . Montreal: Hunter Publishing, Inc., 2003.

Sherman, Josepha. Samuel de Champlain, Explorer of the Great Lakes Region and Founder of Quebec . New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 2003.

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Samuel de Champlain (sometimes called Samuel Champlain in English documents) was born at Brouage, in the Saintonge province of Western France, about 1570. He wrote in 1613 that he acquired an interest “from a very young age in the art of navigation, along with a love of the high seas.” He was not yet twenty when he made his first voyage, to Spain and from there to the West Indies and South America. He visited Porto Rico (now Puerto Rico,) Mexico, Colombia, the Bermudas and Panama. Between 1603 and 1635, he made 12 stays in North America. He was an indefatigable explorer – and an assistant to other explorers – in the quest for an overland route across America to the Pacific, and onwards to the riches of the Orient.  

The Mystery of Samuel de Champlain

In the title of his first book, published in 1603, Des Sauvages, ou voyage de Samuel Champlain, de Brouage, fait en la France nouvelle l’an mil six cens trois… [“Concerning the Primitives: Or Travels of Samuel Champlain of Brouage, Made in New France in the Year 1603”], Samuel de Champlain indicated that he was a native of Brouage in the Saintonge region of France. But a fire in the 17th century completely destroyed the town records of Brouage, where the young Champlain was believed to have spent his childhood. Since then, historians have speculated about the birth date of the man often described as the “Father of New France.”

The name “Samuel,” taken from the Old Testament, suggests the possibility that Champlain was born into a Protestant family during a period when France was torn by endless conflicts over religion. However, by the time he undertook his voyages of discovery and exploration to Canada, he had definitely converted to Catholicism. The marriage contract between Samuel de Champlain and Hélène Boullé, dated 1610, shows that he was the son of the then-deceased sea captain, Anthoine de Champlain, and Marguerite Le Roy. On this basis, several historians have deduced that Champlain must have been born around 1570.

These are the few facts that history reveals, leaving room for all sorts of hypotheses about Champlain’s date of birth. But things were to take a different turn in the spring of 2012 when Jean-Marie Germe, a French genealogist, was examining the archives of the Protestant parish of Saint Yon de La Rochelle. In Champlain’s time, La Rochelle was a neighbouring town and rival of Brouage. What Mr. Germe found there was the baptismal record of Samuel Chapeleau, son of Antoine Chapeleau and Marguerite Le Roy, dated August 13, 1574.

Baptismal certificate of our Samuel de Champlain

Is this the baptismal certificate of the “Father of New France”? Certainly the document is difficult to read; the letters often have to be deciphered as much from their context, as from their appearance. Moreover, in that era the rules of spelling were flexible, to say the least. The different spellings used for the family name of the child and his father can be explained by the fact these names had perhaps previously been written down only rarely. A standard spelling had possibly not yet been adopted.

What are the chances of finding another baptismal certificate dating from this era where the names are identical to those we find in other historical documents? The chances are in fact very small indeed. However, even though the family names of Chapeleau and Champlain are similar, this small difference — understandable as it may be — cautions us not to jump to conclusions. Although the probability is slight, it is still possible that this document has nothing to do with our Samuel de Champlain.

If we are indeed looking at the baptismal certificate of our Samuel de Champlain, we can now say for certain that he was born into a Protestant family, most probably during the summer of 1574. But unless there is another discovery to equal the one made by Mr. Germe, a complete mystery will continue to surround Samuel de Champlain’s date and place of birth.

Baptismal certificate of our Samuel de Champlain, detail

“On Friday, the thirteenth day of August, fifteen hundred and seventy-four, Samuel, son of Antoine Chapeleau and of m [word crossed out] Marguerite Le Roy, was baptized. Godfather, Étienne Paris; godmother, Marie Rousseau. Denors N. Girault.”

In the Footsteps of Jacques Cartier

In 1602 or thereabouts, Henry IV of France appointed Champlain as hydrographer royal. Aymar de Chaste, governor of Dieppe in Northern France, had obtained a monopoly of the fur trade and set up a trading post at Tadoussac. He invited Champlain to join an expedition he was sending there. Champlain’s mission was clear; it was to explore the country called New France, examine its waterways and then choose a site for a large trading factory.

Thus Champlain sailed from Honfleur on the fifteenth of March, 1603, and prepared to follow the route that Jacques Cartier had opened up in 1535. He proceeded to explore part of the valley of the Saguenay river and was led to suspect the existence of Hudson Bay. He then sailed up the St. Lawrence as far as Hochelaga (the site of Montreal.) Nothing was to be seen of the Amerindian people and village which Cartier had visited, and Sault St. Louis (the Lachine Rapids) still seemed impassable. However, Champlain learned from his guides that above the rapids there were three great lakes (Erie, Huron and Ontario) to be explored.

Acadia and the Atlantic Coast

After Aymar de Chaste died in France in 1603, Pierre Du Gua de Monts became lieutenant-general of Acadia. In exchange for a ten years exclusive trading patent, de Monts undertook to settle sixty homesteaders a year in that part of New France. From 1604 to 1607, the search went on for a suitable permanent site for them. It led to the establishment of a short-lived settlement at Port Royal (Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia.)

While the settlers were tilling, building, hunting and fishing, Champlain carried on with his appointed task of investigating the coastline and looking for safe harbours.

The three years stay in Acadia allowed him plenty of time for exploration, description and map-making. He journeyed almost 1,500 kilometres along the Atlantic coast from Maine as far as southernmost Cape Cod.

From Quebec to Lake Champlain

In 1608, Champlain proposed a return to the valley of the St. Lawrence, specifically to Stadacona, which he called Quebec. In his opinion, nowhere else was so suitable for the fur trade and as a starting point from which to search for the elusive route to China. During this third voyage he learned of the existence of Lac Saint Jean (Lake St. John), and on the third of July, 1608, he founded what was to become Quebec City. He immediately set about building his Habitation (residence) there.

Champlain also explored the Iroquois River (now called the Richelieu), which led him on the fourteenth of July, 1609, to the lake which would later bear his name. Like the traders who had preceded him, he sided with the Hurons, Algonquins and Montaignais against the Iroquois. This intervention in local politics was ultimately responsible for the warlike relations that were to pit the Iroquois against the French for generations.

From the Ottawa Valley to Lake Huron

In 1611, Champlain returned to the area of the Hochelaga islands. He found an ideal harbour, and facing it he built the Place Royale (royal square), around which the town would later develop from 1642 onwards.

Even more important, he succeeded in penetrating beyond the Lachine Rapids, becoming the first European (apart from Étienne Brûlé) to start exploring the St. Lawrence and its tributaries as a route towards the interior of the continent. Champlain was so convinced that it was the route to the Orient that in 1612 he obtained a commission to “search for a free passage by which to reach the country called China.” Like most of the explorers who followed after him, he could not carry out his mission without the support of the Amerindian population.

The following year Champlain was induced to make a voyage up the Ottawa River in the course of which he reached Allumette Island. It was his initial foray along the route that was to lead him to the heartland of present-day Ontario and eventually to reach Lake Huron on the first of August, 1615.

That was to be Champlain’s last voyage of exploration. In the years that followed, he devoted all his efforts to founding a French colony in the St. Lawrence valley. The keystone of his project was the settlement at Quebec.

When it capitulated to the English Kirke brothers in 1629, Champlain returned to France, where he lobbied incessantly for the cause of New France. He finally returned to Canada on the twenty-second of May, 1633. At the time of his death at Quebec on the twenty-fifth of December, 1635, there were one hundred and fifty French men and women living in the colony.

Samuel de Champlain

Samuel de Champlain was a French explorer and cartographer best known for establishing and governing the settlements of New France and the city of Quebec.

Who Was Samuel de Champlain?

French explorer Samuel de Champlain began exploring North America in 1603, establishing the city of Quebec in the northern colony of New France, and mapping the Atlantic coast and the Great Lakes, before settling into an administrative role as the de facto governor of New France in 1620.

Samuel de Champlain was born in 1574 (according to his baptismal certificate, which was discovered in 2012), in Brouage, a small port town in the province of Saintonge, on the western coast of France. Although Champlain wrote extensively of his voyages and later life, little is known of his childhood. He was likely born a Protestant, but converted to Catholicism as a young adult.

First Explorations and Voyages

Champlain's earliest travels were with his uncle, and he ventured as far as Spain and the West Indies. From 1601 to 1603, he was a geographer for King Henry IV, and then joined François Gravé Du Pont's expedition to Canada in 1603. The group sailed up the St. Lawrence and Saguenay rivers and explored the Gaspé Peninsula, ultimately arriving in Montreal. Although Champlain had no official role or title on the expedition, he proved his mettle by making uncanny predictions about the network of lakes and other geographic features of the region.

Given his usefulness on Du Pont's voyage, the following year Champlain was chosen to be geographer on an expedition to Acadia led by Lieutenant-General Pierre Du Gua de Monts. They landed in May on the southeast coast of what is now Nova Scotia and Champlain was asked to choose a location for a temporary settlement. He explored the Bay of Fundy and St. John River area before selecting a small island in the St. Croix River. The team built a fort and spent the winter there.

In the summer of 1605, the team sailed down the coast of New England as far south as Cape Cod. Although a few British explorers had navigated the terrain before, Champlain was the first to give a precise and detailed accounting of the region that would one day become Plymouth Rock.

Establishing Quebec

In 1608, Champlain was named lieutenant to de Monts, and they set off on another expedition up the St. Lawrence. When they arrived in June 1608, they constructed a fort in what is now Quebec City. Quebec would soon become the hub for French fur trading. The following summer, Champlain fought the first major battle against the Iroquois, cementing a hostile relationship that would last for more than a century.

In 1615, Champlain made a brave voyage into the interior of Canada accompanied by a tribe of Native Americans with whom he had good relations, the Hurons. Champlain and the French aided the Hurons in an attack on the Iroquois, but they lost the battle and Champlain was hit in the knee with an arrow and unable to walk. He lived with the Hurons that winter, between the foot of Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe. During his stay, he composed one of the earliest and most detailed accounts of Native American life.

Later Years and Death

When Champlain returned to France, he found himself embroiled in lawsuits and was unable to return to Quebec. He spent this time writing the stories of his voyages, complete with maps and illustrations. When he was reinstated as lieutenant, he returned to Canada with his wife, who was 30 years his junior. In 1627, Louis XIII's chief minister, Cardinal de Richelieu, formed the Company of 100 Associates to rule New France and placed Champlain in charge.

Things didn't go smoothly for Champlain for long. Eager to capitalize on the profitable fur trade in the region, Charles I of England commissioned an expedition under David Kirke to displace the French. They attacked the fort and seized supply ships, cutting off necessities to the colony. Champlain surrendered on July 19, 1629 and returned to France.

Champlain spent some time writing about his travels until, in 1632, the British and the French signed the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, returning Quebec to the French. Champlain returned to be its governor. By this time, however, his health was failing and he was forced to retire in 1633. He died in Quebec on Christmas Day in 1635.

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Quick facts.

• Name: Samuel de Champlain
• Birth City: Brouage, Province of Saintonge
• Birth Country: France
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Samuel de Champlain was a French explorer and cartographer best known for establishing and governing the settlements of New France and the city of Quebec.
• Politics and Government
• War and Militaries
• Technology and Engineering
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• Death Year: 1635
• Death date: December 25, 1635
• Death City: Quebec
• Death Country: Canada
• The advice I give to all adventurers is to seek a place where they may sleep in safety.

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Champlain and the settlement of acadia 1604-1607, champlain's map of the gulf of maine and bay of fundy.

Champlain’s Descr(i)psion des costes -(1607) is the first detailed map of the gulf of Maine.  Drafted at Port Royal, the map shows capes, bays, islands, shoals, and rivers along the coast; heights of land useful for navigation; and principal native settlements.  Indian guides helped Champlain explore parts of the coast, and also provided information about the interior.  Of the French names given to geographical features along the Maine coast, only Mount Desert and Isle au Haut have survived to the present.  [ larger version of map ]

This project commemorates the 400th anniversaries of the French settlements on Saint Croix Island (Maine) in 1604 and at Port-Royal (now Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia) in 1605. Although both settlements were short-lived, they mark the beginnings of a French presence in the area that the French called Acadie (Acadia) and that today comprises eastern Maine and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.

In the early 1600s, the French and the English, taking advantage of weakening Spanish power in the western Atlantic, began to assert their claims to the eastern seaboard of North America. In the northeast, these claims overlapped; the Gulf of Maine was soon divided between English interests in and around Massachusetts Bay and French concerns around the Bay of Fundy.

The Settlement of Acadia 1604-1607

In 1604 , a French expedition led by merchant venturer Pierre Du Gua, Sieur de Monts, and including geographer and cartographer Samuel de Champlain, arrived off the coast of what is today southwestern Nova Scotia. After exploration of the Bay of Fundy, a settlement was established on Saint Croix Island. During the summer and early fall of 1604, Champlain ventured along the mid-Maine coast as far as Georges River. He named the islands of Mount Desert and Isle au Haut, both significant navigational landmarks, and explored up the Penobscot River in search of the mythical city of Norumbega.

Saint Croix Island 1604

The French selected Saint Croix Island because of its good location, safe anchorage, and apparently defensible site. During the summer, houses, stores, and a chapel were hastily erected, while gardens were planted on the island and on a neighboring river bank. However, a bitter winter led to the abandonment of the settlement. The freezing of the Saint Croix River left the site vulnerable to attack, while a shortage of fresh food led to an outbreak of scurvy and the death of thirty-five men, nearly half of De Monts’ company.

The French first settled on Saint Croix Island in the middle of the Saint Croix River.  In his journal, Samuel de Champlain observed: “ It was difficult to know this country without having wintered there; for on arriving in summer everything is very pleasant on account of the woods, the beautiful landscapes, and the fine fishing for the many kinds of fish we found there.  there are six months of winter in that country.”

The following summer , De Monts and Champlain took a small expedition southward along the coasts of present-day Maine and Massachusetts as far as Cape Cod. The party entered the Kennebec and Androscoggin rivers, sailed across Cape Cod Bay, and reached Nauset Harbor on the Cape. On their return, De Monts removed the settlement from St. Croix across the Bay of Fundy to a new location at Port-Royal overlooking Annapolis Basin. The habitation built at Port-Royal was a defensive structure that accommodated the colonists, their supplies, and workshops; it was the forerunner of similar trading posts built by the French elsewhere on the continent during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. During the winter of 1605/6, a further twelve men died of scurvy.

In the summer of 1606 , Champlain worked on his map of the region, as well as explored around the southern tip of Cape Cod. The winter of 1606/7 was much easier, but just as the small colony seemed to be establishing itself, the French crown revoked De Monts’ charter. In the summer of 1607, all the colonists, except a caretaker, left for France. During their four years of colonization, the French had acquired considerable geographical knowledge of the region, traded with native peoples, and shown that arable cultivation was viable.

In the early twentieth century , French exploration and settlement of Acadia was commemorated in Maine and Nova Scotia. In Maine, the federally-protected lands on Mount Desert Island were first named the Sieur De Monts National Monument, then Lafayette National Park (after the Revolutionary War hero), and finally Acadia National Park. A mountain in the park was named after Champlain and a spring after Sieur De Monts. In Nova Scotia, the habitation at Port-Royal was reconstructed in the 1930s and is now a National Historic Site. The names of the national park and the reconstructed habitation are significant monuments of the Colonial Revival movement.

Credits: Explanatory Maps of Saint Croix & Acadia

Explanatory maps of saint croix & acadia canadian-american center university of maine 154 college ave orono, me 04473 www.umaine.edu/canam, credits: editor: stephen j. hornsby cartographers: michael j. hermann, matthew cote research assistants: hans carlson, elizabeth hedler translator: raymond j. pelletieroutreach coordinator: betsy arntzen photographs: stephen j. hornsby, claude degrace cover image by ron garnett, www.airscapes.ca, sources: acadian population taken from the 2001 canadian census. figures and distribution represented statistics canada’s weighted aggregate of those people who entered acadian as one of their ethnic identities o census from2b. h.p. biggar (ed.), the works of samuel de champlain volume 1 1599-1607. toronto: champlain society, 1922. jean daigle, robert leblanc, “acadian deportation and return” in historical atlas of canada, volume 1, from the beginning to 1800, edited by r. cole harris, plate 30. toronto: university of toronto press, 1987..

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Mapping Champlain's journeys

Samuel de Champlain spent much time writing descriptions of the territory and peoples he encountered in the place that is now North America. He was also a maker of maps. His maps and writings provide us with an understanding of where he travelled and how he interpreted the places he visited and people he met.

“Although today Champlain is best known to the general public for having placed on a permanent footing the French presence in North America, individuals interested in the history of cartography and of exploration hold him in high regard for the exceptional quality of his maps and plans.” – Conrad E. Heidenreich and Edward H. Dahl, “Samuel de Champlain’s Cartography, 1603-32,” 2004.

Modern cartographers have drawn upon Champlain’s maps and descriptions to produce their own representations of his travels and explorations in North America. Their maps help place Champlain’s journeys in the context of a more current understanding of the geography of North America.

The maps shown here provide a more recent interpretation of Champlain’s journeys and the territories and trade routes of the aboriginal nations he encountered.

As our understanding of Champlain’s journeys in North America and his relationship with its Aboriginal Peoples continues to evolve, so do the writings and maps produced about him and his travels. These written and cartographic contributions to the story of Champlain are in many ways products of the time and place in which they were produced. Changes in technology also lead to new possibilities for cartographic interpretations of his travels, explorations and interactions.

A recent mapping project undertaken by cartographers at the Canadian-American Center, University of Maine, resulted in a new explanatory map that illustrates the travels and explorations of Samuel de Champlain in Canada between 1603 and 1616. Through its creative inclusion of stories, emotions and Aboriginal voices and place names, this map broadens our understanding of Champlain’s journeys in North America and opens up new possibilities for cartographic interpretation of this aspect of Canadian history.

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Des Sauvages, ou, Voyage de Samuel Champlain

Article by Michèle Lacombe

Published Online February 7, 2006

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Des Sauvages, ou, Voyage de Samuel Champlain (1603) records Champlain 's first voyage to Canada as François Gravé du Pont's guest aboard La Bonne Renommée searching for the Northwest Passage . The 1603 summer voyage took them up the St Lawrence to the present location of Montréal ; Champlain describes the Gaspé coast, the Saguenay River and the Lachine Rapids. Cast as a diary, his first book of travels relates conversations with Mi'kmaq and Montagnais , and includes useful impressions of the climate and topography. Gravé du Pont took a Mi'kmaq family back to France, and Champlain contributed to the European fascination with the Indigenous people by recounting Indigenous legends and customs and telling of his attempt to convert Indigenous people to Christianity . Des Sauvages is included in the first Canadian edition of Champlain's complete works ( Oeuvres de Champlain , 6 vols, 1870) and in the standard Champlain Society edition (1922-35). A facsimile of Des Sauvages appeared in 1978.

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Voyages of Samuel de Champlain 1604-1618 : with a map and two plans / edited by W.L. Grant.

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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.

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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.

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.

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.

"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."

"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."

"Those seeking cold, hard statistics on Maine communities won't be disappointed." —Bangor Daily News

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• Champlain, Samuel De

(1570?-1635) led an expedition to the Gulf of Maine and along the Maine coast in 1604 seeking a better location for the French colony at St. Croix.

He named Mount Desert Island “the island of desert-like mountains,” writing that the island “is very high, notched in places, so that there is the appearance to one at sea, as of seven or eight mountains extending along near each other. The summit of most of them is destitute of trees, as there are only rocks on them. The woods consist of pines, firs, and birches only. I name it Isles des Mounts Deserts.”

Map by Samuel de Champlain from interior of Penobscot Narrows Observatory (2012)

Champlain also gave names to Petit Manan and Isle au Haut during the 1604 voyage, in which he sailed up the Penobscot River passing Bucksport to what is now Bangor . In 1605 and 1606 he made similar trips along the coast, each time probing further south to Cape Cod.

As a young man, Champlain joined the French army where he served as an officer during France’s religious wars. At the end of these, King Henry IV rewarded him by supporting his voyages to North America.

In 1608 he founded the first permanent settlement in New France – Quebec. After enduring a hard winter, Champlain befriended the local Algonquian and Huron Indians by helping them in a raid on the rival Iroquois.

The English captured Quebec in 1628 and returned Champlain to France. The settlement was returned to France by treaty and he sailed back in 1633 where he remained until his death. His reports and accounts of his voyages provide valuable insights about Maine and Canada during the early seventeenth century.

Additional resources

Brown, John Marshall. Coasting Voyages in the Gulf of Maine: Made in the Years 1604, 5 and 6 by Samuel Champlain: a paper read at the winter meeting of the Maine Historical Society in Portland, Feb. 18, 1875. 1875. Bath, Me. Printed by E. Upton & Son.

Champlain, Samuel de, 1567-1635. The Voyages and Explorations of Samuel de Champlain (1604-1616) narrated by himself. New York, A. S. Barnes & Company. 1906.

Ganong, William F. Champlain’s Island: An Expanded Edition of Ste. Croix (Dochet) Island. Saint John, N.B. New Brunswick Museum = Musée du Nouveau-Brunswick. c2003.

Heidenreich, Conrad. Explorations and Mapping of Samuel de Champlain, 1603-1632. Toronto. B. V. Gutsell. 1976.

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Champlain's Visit - Monument & Plaque

The Samuel de Champlain 1606 Voyage Commemoration Monument on Stage Harbor Road was the creation of Carol Wight, a professor at The University of Johns Hopkins, and the husband of Alice Stallknecht (Wight), whose murals hang in the Mural Barn at the Atwood Museum. Their home, and the mural barn as well, were located across the street from the present Champlain Monument location. Wight bought the plot of land and paid for the first plaque. This was probably in the 1930's. The original monument or plaque was stolen, and one or more replacements have been installed.

A historic plaque was installed on this site in 2012 during the celebration of Chatham's 300th anniversary.

Plaque Content: Samuel de Champlain was a French explorer, navigator, map maker, journalist, artist and soldier. In 1605 and again in 1606 he sailed from Nova Scotia to Cape Cod exploring and mapping much of the coast along the way while searching for a site for a permanent French settlement. In his 1605 expedition, he landed along the coast of Cape Cod at Nauset near the present location of the Cape Cod National Seashore Visitors Center. In October of 1606 he returned, this time visiting the shores of Monomoit, now Chatham. He described the harbor as not being deep enough to start a settlement. Although he stayed for only ten days, Champlain explored the land, described it in his journal and made a map and drawings of what he saw thus leaving us a wealth of information which was so accurate that we can still recognize Mill Pond, Oyster Pond and Great Hill today. He described the land as hilly and wooded with oak, cedar, and a few pines. Wild grapes were common as were beach plums. The harbor and bay were filled with every variety of fish and oysters. Game birds were also plentiful. The natives were not so much great hunters as good farmers. Primary crops were beans, corn, pumpkins and squash as well as tobacco. During his stay, Champlain traded iron hatchets and knives for tobacco and wampum and the explorers were supplied with fish, corn and beans. Although interaction between the French and the Wampanoag in the beginning was positive, a moment of misunderstanding regarding a hatchet ultimately led to a deadly confrontation which resulted in loss of life on both sides. Champlain sailed back to Canada and never returned to Cape Cod. In 1608 he went on to found the City of Quebec and became known as the Father of New France.

• All of Chatham