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To the south of the continent, Magellan discovered a narrow area that could provide access to the Pacific Ocean, but that route was very long. The contemporaries of the Portuguese explorer then hoped that there would be a similar narrowing at the northern tip of the continent, in keeping with the principle of symmetry. Champlain spent a large part of his life looking for this northern massage, as did many who came after him.

In 1603, Champlain took part in an initial trip heading for the St. Lawrence River, as an observer, on a ship commanded by François Gravé Du Pont. Champlain, who took a very active interest in discovery, questioned the Amerindians, and learned about the existence of a salt body of water to the north of the Saguenay, as well as about the great lakes that lay beyond Sault Saint-Louis. These two pieces of information gave him hope that he would find the coveted northwest passage. Champlain accompanied Gravé Du Pont as he explored the river. He sailed onto the Richelieu, then headed to Sault Saint-Louis. As a result of the size of the ship in which they traveled, they could go no further and Champlain promised to return by canoe. They were not the first Europeans to navigate on the river, but Champlain was the first to make such a detailed description of it.

First departure
On May 15, 1603, at Honfleur, Champlain boarded the Bonne-Renommée, at the invitation of Aymar de Chaste who held a monopoly for the fur trade.

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Ultimate frontier
Known today as the Lachine rapids, Sault Saint-Louis is the site where Jacques Cartier, was also forced to stop.

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Predecessors
Before Champlain, Jacques Cartier had surveyed the St. Lawrence River and Guillaume Levasseur had drawn a map of it in 1601. Archeological digs, moreover, confirm the presence of Basque fishers in the Tadoussac region.

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On the way back, a chance encounter, provided a new direction for Champlain’s exploration projects. In fact, Jean Sarcel de Prévert, a merchant from St. Malo, spoke to him about Arcadie, a region with which the French were more familiar, boasting about the fertile soil, the hospital bays and the promising mines. Acadia was the destination for Champlain’s second trip, commanded by Pierre Dugua de Monts. While taking part in exploration missions, Champlain looked for mines, identified the best places for establishing a colony and evaluated the chances of finding a passageway to Asia. He explored Baie Sainte-Marie, Fundy Bay, the Penobscot River, traveled down the so-called Florida Coast to Cape Cod. The French founded Port-Royal, in 1604, the first lasting French settlement in North America.

Arcadia
In 1525, Verrazzano designated the region of Washington by this name, referring to Ancient Greece. Cartographers shifted this region northeast. It was then named “Cadia” and later “Acadia”.

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The French in Acadia
Since the middle of the 16th century, the French had traveled to the shores of Acadia, drying cod there and trading with the Amerindians. Some of the Native People Champlain met talked French and dressed in European style clothing.

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Pierre Dugua de Monts
He replaced Aymar de Chaste, as the owner of the fur trade monopoly. He had already visited Tadoussac and hoped to establish a settlement somewhere where the climate was more favorable.

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The Florida coast
In the 1650s, the French tried unsuccessfully to establish a colony in Florida. Following this, the archives frequently used the expression the “Florida coast” to refer to a larger portion of the American coasts that extended to New England.

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First French settlements
The first site chosen by Champlain for a settlement was an island near Sainte-Croix. The winter spent there was a catastrophe. Port-Royal turned out to be a better choice.

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During his following trips, he returned to the St. Lawrence. In 1608, Champlain traveled up the river by ship to found Quebec on July 3. In 1609, he explored the Richelieu River, traveling as far as Lake Champlain where he fought a battle with his Amerindian allies. In 1611, he traveled to Montreal naming Île Sainte-Hélène in honor of his wife Hélène Boullé.

Hélène Boullé
Hélène Boullé was 12 years old when she signed a marriage contract with Samuel de Champlain, in 1610. Champlain immediately received a portion of her dowry, a most interesting sum, to finance his undertakings. Hélène Boullé only came to Canada once, a trip she found difficult. Once she was widowed, she became a nun and founded the Ursulines of Meaux.

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Major progress was made with respect to the exploration of the interior of the continent in 1613 and 1615, when Champlain traveled in the direction of the Great Lakes. Accompanied by a few French men and guided by the Amerindians, in 1613 he went as far as l’île aux Allumettes, and in 1615, he reached Lake Huron. He was the first European to describe the river that was so important for the fur trade.

Île aux Allumettes
The island where Champlain was stopped is called Morrison Island today. It is part of the municipality of L'Isle-aux-Allumettes, in the Outaouais region. Its original name may have been inspired by the reeds found there, which the first colonists used as matches. During Champlain’s time, the Native People who lived there tried to slow the progress of the French explorers, out of fear of losing their privileged position.

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Since they were thoroughly familiar with the country and better equipped to undertake such trips, the Amerindians were valuable guides. They promised to help Champlain if, in exchange, he would agree to fight their enemies. These trips were difficult for the French who, in addition to other things, had to deal with portages and flies. Champlain was strong and maintained good morale, as shown by his writings. During one of these trips, Champlain apparently lost an astrolabe which was found in the 19^th century.

Amerindian know-how
The Native Peoples built light bark canoes that were easy to handle and most suitable for use on Canadian rivers. Familiar with the routes traveled, they hid food supplies along the way. They used dried corn to prepare sagamite.

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Difficult route
The French found travel within the continent difficult as a result of the great dangers they faced and the difficult living conditions. Here are translations of two extracts from the work Les voyages du sieur de Champlain (1613) which provide an idea of these difficulties:

This was the place where we had a hard time; for, not being able to carry our canoes by land on account of the density of the wood, we had to drag them in the water with ropes, and in drawing mine I came near losing my life, as it crossed into one of the eddies, and if I had not had the good fortune to fall between two rocks the canoe would have dragged me in, inasmuch as I was unable to undo quickly enough the rope which was wound around my hand, and which hurt me severely and came near cutting it off. In this danger I cried to God and began to pull my canoe, which was returned to me by the refluent water, such as occurs in these falls. Having thus escaped I thanked God, begging Him to preserve us.

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We had much difficulty in going this distance overland. I, for my part, was loaded only with three arquebuses, as many oars, my cloak, and some small articles. I cheered on our men, who were somewhat more heavily loaded, but more troubled by the mosquitoes than by their loads. Thus after passing four small ponds and having gone a distance of two and a half leagues, we were so wearied that it was impossible to go farther, not having eaten for twenty-four hours anything but a little broiled fish without seasoning (...)

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Astrolabe
An instrument used by navigators, the astrolabe measures the height of the stars. An astrolabe dated 1603 was found near Green Lake, in 1867. Could it be Champlain's? Unfortunately, there is nothing to confirm this with any certainty.

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After this trip, Champlain spent less time exploring and more time setting up and administering the new colony. Nevertheless, he never lost sight of the dream of China, hoping that, one day, the settlements that were founded would serve as customs stations for France for trade with the East.

Champlain’s explorations provided a great deal of information about the North American territory. To learn more about the maps drawn by Samuel de Champlain, we invite you to return on January 8, 2008.

These lines, honoring Champlain, were written in 1607 and published in the Muses de la Nouvelle-France.

Sources

LITALIEN, Raymonde and Denis Vaugeois (dir). Champlain: la naissance de l'Amérique française. [Paris], Nouveau Monde éditions; Sillery, Septentrion, 2004, 397 pages.

MONTEL-GLÉNISSON, Caroline. Champlain: la découverte du Canada. [Paris], Nouveau Monde éditions, 2004, 188 pages.

TRUDEL, Marcel. “Samuel de Champlain”, Dictionnaire biographique du Canada, Vol. 1, [Québec], Presses de l’Université Laval, 1966, pages 192 to 204.

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