Champlain, Samuel De

(born 1567, Brouage, France—died Dec. 25, 1635, Quebec, New France) French explorer. He made several expeditions to North America before founding Quebec in 1608 with 32 colonists, most of whom did not survive the first winter.

He joined with the northern Indian tribes to defeat Iroquois marauders and promoted the fur trade with the Indians. He discovered Lake Champlain in 1609 and made other explorations of what are now northern New York, the Ottawa River, and the eastern Great Lakes. English privateers besieged Quebec in 1628, when England and France were at war, and he was taken prisoner. In 1632 the colony was restored to France, and in 1633 Champlain made his last voyage to Quebec, where he lived until his death.