Samuel de Champlain
http://www.mrnussbaum.com/explorers/champlain.htm
Samuel de Champlain was born in Brouage, France around the year 1567. He became one of the most
important explorers in North American and French history and mapped much of Canada and the northeastern
United States.
In 1603, Champlain sailed to France on Francois Grave Du Pont's expedition. The pair and their crew sailed
west through the Gulf of St. Lawrence and into the St. Lawrence and Saguenay Rivers. They also explored
misty Gaspe' Peninsula of Quebec. After returning to France, Champlain decided to sail back to Quebec in the
hopes of discovering the Northwest Passage, a mythical waterway that would serve as a shortcut from the
Atlantic to the Pacific.
Champlain returned to Quebec in 1604 on Pierre de Mont's expedition. For the next three years, Champlain
explored much of the coast of Nova Scotia, the Bay of Fundy and the coasts of Maine, Rhode Island and
Massachusetts. Champlain started his first colony in the New World on Port Royal, Nova Scotia in 1605. In
1608, Champlain started the first permanent French colony in the New World at Quebec (City) on the St.
Lawrence River. The colony was started as a fur-trading center. Unfortunately for the French settlers, they
were not used to the bitter Canadian winter. Of the 32 settlers in the colony, only nine survived the winter.
More colonists would be sent from France to reinforce the colony.
In 1609, Champlain helped the Huron Indians fight the Iroquois, which ultimately led to much bitterness
between the French and Iroquois and the discovery of Lake Champlain. In 1815, Champlain explored much of
upstate New York and parts of Ontario and eastern Michigan. Champlain spent the rest of his life managing
the settlements at Quebec. He died in 1635, apparently of a stroke.