Notes

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On April 7, 1604, he made a second journey, led by Pierre Dugua de Mons. De Mons planned to develop a fur trading monopoly and Champlain wanted to establish a French settlement in the area now called Acadia (L’Acadie). Champlain and Dugua sailed on La Bonne Renommee, while du Pont commanded a second ship, and a third sailed to Tadoussac, Quebec. They landed in Nova Scotia on May 8, where Champlain charted the harbors.

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On May 19, Champlain received orders to explore the coast of Nova Scotia and Maine for a location to establish a colony, and received his first command of an 8-ton pinnace, or ship’s boat. Eventually Champlain and Dugua decided to create the settlement on Sainte-Croix Island in the Sainte-Croix River. From this island Champlain made multiple trips in the pinnace and found copper ore, met with the local Micmac tribe and sailed down the Maine coast, during which he discovered and named a majority of the islands there today.

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On this expedition, Champlain explored and charted most of the coast of New England, including the Kennebec River and its estuaries, the Saco Bay, the Boston Bay, Charles River, Plymouth, and Cape Cod. When they returned to Sainte-Croix, because of the harsh winter, Dugua decided to sail north instead of south and make the new colony at Port-Royal in the Annapolis Basin. They built a colony at Port-Royal and established good relations with the local tribe, the Souriquois led by Membertou. Port Royal became Champlain’s base until 1607.

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Du Pont and Champlain attempted two more expeditions down the east coast but were stopped both times, once by weather and once by shipwreck. After a relatively easy winter de Monts returned with Poutrincourt. Champlain and Poutrincourt then sailed down the east coast one more time to find another spot for a colony. They sailed as far south as modern-day Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket but after trouble with the local tribe, they turned around and sailed back to Port Royal.

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Champlain and du Pont sailed up the St. Lawrence River and landed at the Rock of Quebec on July 3 where they began to build a colony. The winter was harsh and several men died of scurvy. By winter’s end, only eight of the original twenty-four explorers had survived.

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In order to gain the support of the local Huron population, Champlain sailed south with their war party to fight against the Iroquois nation. At Lake Champlain, Champlain and the Huron encountered a war party of Mohawks.

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After the death of King Henry, Champlain left Quebec under the command of Captain Pierre Chauvin and left for France with Pont-Grave on September 5, 1609, to increase royal support for the colony.

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Champlain returned to Quebec in early May 1610. After finding that his men had enjoyed a mild winter, Champlain was once again on the warpath with his new Huron allies. This time the war party attacked an Iroquois fort at the mouth of the Richelieu River, and again massacred the Iroquois with the help of the French.

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On March 1, 1611 Champlain and du Pont sailed back to Quebec. The incredibly cold winter and unusually thick ice thick in Newfoundland delayed their arrival, but they finally landed at Tadoussac on May 13, which made this Champlain’s longest Atlantic crossing. After finding his colony at Quebec fit, Champlain continued down the rapids to the site of Montreal. Here he charted the rapids that had stopped Cartier, and established a trading post between the up-river Native Americans and the French fur-traders. Champlain then returned to France on August 11.

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Back in France, Champlain published his first book and created a new company where it was given another fur-trading monopoly. On March 6, 1613, Champlain returned to Quebec with du Pont. On May 27, Champlain set out down the river to explore the Ottawa river in canoes. They passed by the spot of modern day Ottawa and continued inland, until they finally turned back when convinced by local natives that he could travel no further. Champlain returned to Quebec and on September 26, returned to France.

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Champlain decided that the best way to establish a permament colony at Quebec was to convert the locals to Christianity. On April 24,1615, Champlain sailed from France in the Sainte-Etienne with du Pont and four Franciscan monks. Champlain again went on the warpath, but this time he followed the Ottawa river, and travelled further than before to discover Lake Nipissing, the French River, and Lake Huron. Gathering a huge war party of Hurons, Champlain moved south and discovered Lake Ontario. Here they attacked an Onondaga fort, but their allies never showed up to the battle and the French and Huron were forced to retreat with Champlain wounded in the leg. This retreat was long and hard and Champlain was forced to winter at Lake Huron to recover. Champlain spent this time studying the Hurons and writing about their mannerisms and society. Champlain was finally able to leave in May and arrived in Quebec on July 11, 1616. He returned to France with du Pont on September 10, 1616.