Samuel de Champlain

Samuel de Champlain (c. 1567 Brouage near Rochefort, France, † December 25, 1635 Quebec City, Canada) was a French explorer and colonizer. He is the founder of French Canada ( New France ) and became the first governor of the colony.

Life

Champlain traveled before 1600 in a Spanish order, the Caribbean and Central America. In 1601 he was appointed by King Henry IV of France to Hofgeographen. Since 1603 de Champlain undertook several explorations in North America and led the French colonization of Canada (then called New France ) a, the first Governor, he was ("Father of New France ").

On his first trip he arrived in 1603 to what is now Montreal. The second trip took him in the years 1604-1606 for Gaspé Peninsula, to Nova Scotia, on the Bay of Fundy to Cape Cod to the island of Martha 's Vineyard. In 1608 he founded Quebec and discovered in 1609 ( later named after him ) Lake Champlain in Vermont and in today's New York State. In 1611 he founded the trading post Place Royale, from which developed the subsequent Montreal. His last journey was undertaken Champlain from 1613 to 1616 along the Ottawa River to Lake Nipissing and Georgian Bay of Lake Huron, which he reached in 1615, to Lake Simcoe and Lake Ontario. The trip ended with participation in a raid on a camp of the Iroquois at Oneida Lake.

Returned in July 1616 to Quebec, Champlain worked on the evaluation of its travel, and from 1627 as governor of New France. As a " Lieutenant General in New France ," he claimed in the early 17th century, many areas north of the English colony of New England for France. He tightened at the instigation of Cardinal Richelieu, the French settlement in Acadia aspirations. 1632 came thanks to Champlain to the Treaty of Saint- Germain -en- Laye, the confirmation of the French claim to Acadia and Quebec. Shortly before his death he sent yet 1634 Jean Nicolet on a reconnaissance trip to the Great Lakes. De Champlain was also known for his exploration of the Saint Lawrence River at the present-day border between the U.S. and Canada.

Honors

Several places in Canada, but also in New York and Vermont, were named after him, see Champlain. Also, lakes, mountains and buildings bear his name. In many cities were erected Champlain monuments. One of the most famous is in Quebec compared to the Château Frontenac.