As we move towards a deep dive into the Golden Age of New France, let’s first set the table with a wrapup of the founding and early development of the fledgling Colony at the start of the 17th century. (Above, King Henry IV of France) Almost every year after John Cabot‘s historic 1497 Voyage, an international mixture of fishing vessels could be seen on the offshore fisheries southeast of New Finland and east of Nova Scotia, Canada. Click here for a 19-minute video about Champlain’s exploration of North Americ posted on June 19, 2024 by Timeline.

On his voyage of 1534, Jacques Cartier sailed a route that was for the most part already well known by captains of transatlantic fishing vessels. He soon began trading for the valuable furs that the Native populations held.

Samuel deChamplain‘s powerful friendship and special relationship with his Monarch, King Henry IV, is in part well documented but also shrouded in mystery. Henry’s many favors to Champlain and his family were acts of extraordinary largess. 

In 1608, Champlain founded France’s first permanent Canadian colony, which he named “Quebec“, an Indigenous word meaning “Where the River Narrows”. Slowly Champlain administered its affairs and took personal charge of an organized exploration of the unknown interior during the summer of 1609.