INDEPTH: CHAMPLAIN ANNIVERSARY
Timeline
Alison Hancock, CBC News Online | March 5, 2004
Giovanni da Verrazano
|
1504
Fishing vessels from France and other European nations began to cross the Atlantic annually to fish for cod off the Grand Banks and Newfoundland.
1524
Giovanni da Verrazano, an Italian in the service of King Francis I of France, explored the coast of America between Florida and Cape Breton. He named it Nova Gallia, and New France was born. Verrazano also gave the name Arcadia to the same stretch of coast.
1534: Jacques Cartier's first voyage
Jacques Cartier sailed from St-Malo Brittany on April 20th. He charted the coasts of Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, the Baie de Chaleur and the Gaspé peninsula.
Jacques Cartier
Courtesy: civilization.ca
|
1535-36: Cartier's second voyage
Sailing for Newfoundland from St-Malo on May 19th 1535, Cartier explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence and sailed up the St. Lawrence River as far as Hochelaga (Montreal). He spent the winter near Stadacona (Quebec City), and returned to France with ten natives, including Chief Donnacona and his sons Dom Agaya and Taignoagny.
1541-43
Jacques Cartier and Jean-Francois de la Roche, Sieur de Roberval attempted to set up a colony at Cap Rouge, near Stadacona on the St. Lawrence. Its survivors were returned to France in 1543.
1555
Villegaignon set up a refuge for Huguenots in Brazil, but it was destroyed by the Portuguese in 1560.
1562 and 1564
Two Huguenot colonies were established in Carolina and Florida, but were destroyed by the Spanish in 1565.
1598
The Treaty of Vervins between Henry IV of France and Philip II of Spain ended the Wars of Religion, and Philip withdrew his troops from France. With domestic peace, France's interest in the colonization of New France was rekindled.
Sable Island Nova Scotia
Courtesy: NASA
|
1598: Sable Island
The Marquise de La Roche set up a colony on Sable Island off the Nova Scotia coast.
It lasted five years, and 11 bedraggled survivors were repatriated to France in 1603.
1600-01
The fur trader Pierre Chauvin attempted to set up a year-round settlement at the St. Lawrence trading centre of Tadoussac, and left 16 people to spend the winter there.
March 15th, 1603
Samuel de Champlain sailed to the St. Lawrence with fur trader Pont-Gravé to survey the region with a view to future settlement. Champlain spent the winter at Tadoussac, and on his return published an account of his voyage: Des Sauvages.
November, 1603: Fontainebleau, France
King Henry IV of France issued a Commission to Pierre du Gua de Monts appointing him Lieutenant-Governor of "La Cadie," by which he meant lands between the 40th and 46th parallel – from Philadelphia to Cape Breton. De Monts was granted a 10-year monopoly of the fur trade.
published in Paris 1603
|
March 7th, 1604: Havre de Grace (now le Havre), Normandy.
De Monts, Samuel de Champlain and le Sieur de Poutrincourt, who wanted to relocate his family to New France, sailed for Acadia with the intention of establishing a settlement. Three days later Pont-Gravé sailed from Havre de Grace.
May 1st, 1604
Champlain sighted Sable Island off the coast of Nova Scotia, and a week later the French were off the south shore at a bay they named La Have, a name it retains today.
May 12th
De Monts confiscated the vessel of a Captain Rossignol who was illegally engaged in the fur trade in defiance of de Monts' monopoly. The harbour was named Port Rossignol to mark the incident. (now Liverpool Harbour, NS).
May 13th
The French party landed at Port Mouton, so named because a sheep fell overboard and drowned, and built cabins there. Port Mouton retains this name today. De Monts sent a small boat to look for Pont-Gravé and the second vessel at Canso, their intended rendezvous.
May 19th
Champlain left Port Mouton in a small boat to scout for a suitable location for the settlement. He skirted the coast of Nova Scotia, passed Yarmouth (which he called Port Forchu) and entered the Bay of Fundy. He reached St. Mary's Bay, and after three weeks returned to Port Mouton. The next day, de Monts relocated the large ships to St. Mary's Bay. It was here that a priest, Nicolas Aubry, was lost for 17 days.
Champlain's chart of Rossignol Harbour
|
June 16th
Champlain and de Monts left St. Mary's Bay to further explore the Bay of Fundy.
June 20th
They reached the Annapolis Basin, and Champlain named the whole area Port Royal. The following year, 1605, the French would settle here. De Poutrincourt requested this land for his retirement, a request de Monts granted.
June 24th: St. John the Baptist's Day
They named the St. John River, and continued on to Passamaquoddy Bay.
June 26th
Champlain and de Monts chose an island in what is now the St. Croix River for their settlement, and sent back to St. Mary's Bay for the rest of the party. De Monts named the settlement Ste-Croix. Today the river is called the St. Croix, and the island Dochet Island, Maine. Champlain called the St. Croix River the River of the Etchemins, naming it after the local inhabitants.
July, August 1604
The French built a fort and other buildings on Ste-Croix Island and started gardens. Pont-Gravé arrived from Canso. The large ships returned to France with de Poutrincourt and Pont-Gravé, leaving the French with only their longboats.
Champlain's drawing of Ste-Croix Island
|
September 2nd
De Monts placed Champlain in charge of an expedition to explore the coast to the south, and he set off in an 18-ton pinnace (a ship's boat or small schooner) – the first of three trips he would make to the Gulf of Maine. His were the first detailed maps made of the New England coast.
September 16th
Champlain met friendly Etchemin people up the Penobscot River. He sailed as far as the Kennebec River, and by October 2nd was back at Ste-Croix.
October 6th
There was heavy snow, the prelude to a very severe winter during which 35 of the 79 French died of scurvy.
1605
June 15th
Pont-Gravé arrived from France with supplies and 45 new colonists.
June 18th
Champlain and de Monts set out with 20 sailors and a native guide to look for a better place for the settlement to the south in the Gulf of Maine.
Champlain's chart of Kennebec estuary
|
July 1st
Exploring the coast of Maine, Champlain again reached the Kennebec River and reported having another friendly encounter with the natives he met there.
July 19th
The French party rounded Cape Cod and entered Nauset Harbour which Champlain called Mallebarre, or bad bar.
July 23rd
Native arrows killed a French carpenter at Mallebarre in an incident involving a stolen kettle.
August 2nd
After a five week trip during which they still had not found a better location, Champlain and de Monts returned to Ste-Croix, and relocated the settlement to Port Royal.
September 1605
De Monts returned to France, leaving Pont-Gravé in charge of 45 people.
Winter 1605/06
Although the winter was less severe, 12 died of scurvy.
March and April 1606
Two unsuccessful attempts were made to explore south for a warmer place for the settlement, with the loss of a pinnace.
May 1606
De Poutrincourt and Marc Lescarbot – Parisian lawyer, poet, play-wright and first historian of New France – sailed from La Rochelle on the Jonas.
July 26th
The Jonas arrived at Port Royal.
August 28th
Pont-Gravé returned to France, leaving de Poutrincourt in charge at Port Royal
September 5th
Champlain once more sailed south to the Gulf of Maine, this time with de Poutrincourt.
September 21st
They reached Gloucester Harbour and noted it as a favourable site for a colony.
October 15th
Champlain arrived at Chatham. Natives killed four French who were sleeping on the shore, where they had been making bread. Champlain named this place Port Fortuné, and the next day departed on the return voyage to Port Royal.
November 14th
They arrived back at Port Royal and were greeted with Lescarbot's masque, le Theatre de Neptune en la Nouvelle France, the first European drama produced in New France.
May 14, 1607
The Virginia Company explorers landed on Jamestown Island and established the Virginia English Colony on the banks of the James River, 60 miles from the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. One hundred-and-five colonists landed at Jamestown. By 1609, 500 settlers had arrived.
May 24th
The Jonas returned from France with the news that there was no longer support for the Port Royal settlement, and that de Monts' trading monopoly had been revoked. The colonists must return to France.
September, 1607
Champlain sailed from Canso, and was back in France by the end of the month. In April 1608 he sailed for New France once more.
July 3rd, 1608
Champlain established the Quebec habitation on the St. Lawrence.
Champlain's drawing of the Quebec Habitation
|
June 1610: Second attempt to settle at Port Royal
De Poutrincourt returned to Port Royal with his family and a group of colonists. Among them were two priests who converted and baptized the local Mi’kmaq including Membertou. The following year more colonists including two Jesuit missionaries arrived at Port Royal.
November 1613
The Englishman Samuel Argall sailed from Virginia and raided Port Royal, destroying the French settlement.
^TOP
|
|
 |
 MENU |
|
|
| RELATED: |
|
|
| BIBLIOGRAPHY: |
CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites. Links will open in new window.
The Works of Champlain and The History of New France by Marc Lescarbot are available at: The Champlain Society
READING:
Champlain by Joe C. W. Armstrong (MacMillan of Canada, 1987)
The Beginnings of New France 1524-1663 by Marcel Trudel (McLelland and Stewart, 1973)
Samuel de Champlain: Father of New France by Samuel Eliot Morison (Little Brown and Company, 1972)
|
|
| EXTERNAL LINKS: |
|
|
| MORE: |
|
|
|
