Samuel de Champlain

France 1603 - 1635

Samuel de Champlain made his first voyage for King Henry IV of France in 1603. The king wanted France to be powerful in the fur trade in America. A colony of fur traders would have to be established. Hats made of beaver fur were very popular with rich French men because the hats were nice looking hats that lasted a long time. Native Americans traded beavers for axes and knives. At the time of Samuel’s first voyage, there were no European settlements in North America north of the Spanish settlement in “Florida” (What was called “Florida” in 1603 was really all the land in the southeast. That big place called “Florida” in 1603 is now the states of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi.)

When they got to the St. Lawrence River, they stopped at Tadoussac, then sailed upstream to the Saguenay River. Indians (Natives) came to trade furs. The Natives said they lived far away by a sea of salt water. So Samuel and his crew knew there must be a gulf off the Atlantic Ocean. They explored the area for three months. They stopped at Lachine Rapids in the St. Lawrence above Montreal, Canada, but their boats and ships were too big to go any further. They traded goods for many furs and sailed home to France.

The king of France was excited about their discoveries and trade success. Samuel de Champlain was named the “King’s Geographer”! The king sent two ships on their next voyage. For five years they explored the coasts and rivers of North America. Samuel drew maps of the coast. (He charted the coast around the areas that are now called the St. Lawrence, Nova Scotia, and New England areas.)

In 1608 in an area the Natives called Rebec (now called Quebec, Canada), they made their first settlement. This settlement was the first permanent French colony made in the Americas. To this day, people still speak French in Quebec! The Hurons were their neighbors in Rebec and they traded many furs with them. Champlain tried and tried to find a water passage to the Pacific Ocean, but he never did. He died in Quebec (Canada) in 1635.

Information taken from:

Explorers Cooperative Learning Activities

by Mary Strohl and Susan Schneck

Scholastic 1999

The United States Yesterday and Today

Authors:  Timothy Helmus, Edgr Toppin, Norman Pounds, Val Arnsdorf

Silver Burdett & Ginn Inc, 1990

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