Samuel de Champlain

Bonjour! My name is Samuel de Champlain. I was born in a busy port town in France called Brouage, around the year 1570. My town was right by the sea, and I loved watching the tall ships with their big sails come and go. Seeing them made me dream of adventure! As I grew up, I learned how to navigate, which means finding your way using the stars and a compass. I also became very good at drawing maps of all the new places I saw.

When I was a grown-up, I got to live my dream and become an explorer. In the year 1603, I sailed on a big ship all the way across the wide Atlantic Ocean. We arrived in a land that people in Europe called North America. It was so exciting to see! I traveled up a great, wide river called the St. Lawrence River. There, I met many of the Indigenous peoples who had lived on the land for a very long time. I learned so much from them while I drew maps of the beautiful forests, sparkling lakes, and winding rivers I saw on my journey.

I had a big dream to build a French home, or settlement, in this new land. After exploring, I found the perfect spot on July 3rd, 1608. It was right along the St. Lawrence River, in a place where the river became narrow. I decided to call our new home Quebec. That name comes from an Algonquin word that means 'where the river narrows.' My friends and I got to work right away. We built a strong fort and small houses to live in. It wasn't always easy, especially during the cold winters. I worked closely with my new friends, the Wendat and Algonquin peoples. They taught me how to survive and helped me explore the huge lands all around us.

I spent the rest of my life helping our little settlement of Quebec grow into a big, strong city. I never stopped exploring, and I drew many more maps of the Great Lakes and the areas around them. I lived to be about 68 years old and spent my last days in Quebec, the city I had worked so hard to build. Today, people remember me as the founder of Quebec City and call me the 'Father of New France.' If you ever visit Canada, you can see the city I started. There is also a very large lake named after me—Lake Champlain!