SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN

1567-1635 | New France

ALTHOUGH THE ICONIC image of Samuel de Champlain is in a birchbark canoe, Champlain was a man with salt water in his veins. The boy from the port of Brouage went to sea as a small child. Later, as a sea captain, he would successfully cross the Atlantic Ocean 27 times, never once losing a ship. His map-making abilities and navigation skills were the stuff of legend. Even today, his maps hold up well when compared with modern charts, especially his impressive charting of the Atlantic seaboard.

Equally adaptable on sea and land, Champlain won the respect of his Indigenous counterparts by learning to paddle and navigate a birchbark canoe, one of the few explorers of the time to do so. Historians such as David Hackett Fischer praise Champlain’s approach to relations with Indigenous Peoples, in sharp contrast to other explorers of the era. Unlike his predecessor Jacques Cartier, Champlain sought to befriend, rather than antagonize, First Nations. He did so by forging alliances with dozens of Indigenous groups — alliances that made New France and, ultimately, Canada, possible.

From his ship, he charted much of what is now Atlantic Canada, as far south as Massachusetts, and north to the tip of Newfoundland. By birchbark canoe, he travelled as far west as Lake Huron, and paddled two Great Lakes. He overwintered in the interior with the Wendat, learning the language of his new allies and satisfying his boundless thirst for knowledge. Indeed, as much as an adventurer, Champlain was also a bibliophile who loved learning. He wrote prolifically on all and sundry, from leadership and seamanship to flora and fauna, and especially of his deep interest in Indigenous cultures. A tough and shrewd leader, he could, as happened at his fledging settlement of Quebec, act with resolution to put down dissension in the ranks, but was also quick to pardon and forgive. His legacy is perhaps best summed up by his famous epithet: le père du Canada.l