Samuel de Champlain

Samuel de Champlain was a man of colossal scope — soldier, explorer, cartographer, writer and tireless promoter of the colony of New France. As part of the early wave of Europeans who encountered Canada’s First Peoples, he charted coasts and waterways unknown in Europe. Through his work as a writer and mapmaker, Champlain shed new light on the geography of the North America. He ventured by canoe into the wilderness, met and negotiated alliances with Aboriginal peoples, fought in their wars, and traded for furs. By founding a permanent settlement at Quebec City, he spearheaded the expansion of France into the New World.