Born c. 1567,
Brouage, France
Died December 25, 1635,
Quebec, New France [now Canada]
After visiting New France, a French colony that became the country of Canada, Samuel de Champlain convinced the French government that the land in North America had potential for settlement and commercial development. Now considered the father of New France and the founder of Quebec, Champlain made 12 journeys to New France to explore and consolidate French holdings in the New World. Champlain wrote six books about his expeditions and the importance of New France. Serving for a time as the king’s lieutenant in New France, he lived to see Quebec established on both shores of the St. Lawrence River.
Champlain was born in the small seaport town of Brouage on the west coast of France in about the year 1567. It is thought that he was born a Protestant and at some point converted to Catholicism during a period of bitter rivalry between Protestants and Catholics over which religion would control the government.
Champlain went to sea at an early age and learned navigation and cartography, or the drafting of maps and charts. Until 1598 he fought as a sergeant on the side of Protestant King Henry IV in the religious wars; he then made a voyage of two and a half years to the West Indies.
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