Editing Samuel de Champlain (section)

==Early travels==
[[File:SamuelDeChamplainStatueILMVT.JPG|thumb|Champlain and guide<ref>[[#Weber1967|Weber (1967)]]</ref> in [[Isle La Motte, Vermont]], at the site Champlain is said to have first set foot in [[Vermont]] (and encamped) in 1609. [[Lake Champlain]] is in the background. <small>(Sculptor E.L.Weber, 1967; Photo by Matt Wills, 2009)</small>]]

In year 3, his uncle-in-law, a navigator whose ship ''Saint-Julien'' was to transport Spanish troops to [[Cádiz]] under the [[Treaty of Vervins]], allowed Champlain to accompany him.

After a difficult passage, he spent some time in Cádiz before his uncle, whose ship was then chartered to accompany a large Spanish fleet to the [[West Indies]], again offered him a place on the ship. His uncle, who gave command of the ship to Jeronimo de Valaebrera, instructed the young Champlain to watch over the ship.<ref>[[#Litalien|Litalien (2004)]], p. 87</ref>

This journey lasted two years and allowed Champlain to see or hear about Spanish holdings from the Caribbean to [[Mexico City]]. Along the way, he took detailed notes, wrote an illustrated report on what he learned on this trip, and gave this secret report to King Henry,<ref group=Note>Three different handwritten copies of this report still exist. One of them is at the [[John Carter Brown Library]] at [[Brown University]].</ref> who rewarded Champlain with an annual pension.

This report was published for the first time in 1870, by Laverdière, as ''Brief Discours des Choses plus remarquables que Samuel Champlain de Brouage a reconneues aux Indes Occidentalles au voiage qu'il en a faict en icettes en l'année 1599 et en l'année 1601, comme ensuite'' (and in English as ''Narrative of a Voyage to the West Indies and Mexico 1599–1602'').

The authenticity of this account as a work written by Champlain has frequently been questioned, due to inaccuracies and discrepancies with other sources on some points; however, recent scholarship indicates that the work probably was authored by Champlain.<ref group=Note>For a detailed treatment of claims against Champlain's authorship, see the chapter by François-Marc Gagnon in [[#Litalien|Litalien (2004)]], pp. 84ff. [[#Fischer|Fischer (2008)]], pp. 586ff also addresses these claims and accepts Champlain's authorship.</ref>

On Champlain's return to Cádiz in August 1600, his uncle Guillermo Elena (Guillaume Allene),<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Heidenreich |editor1-first=Conrad E. |editor2-last=Ritch |editor2-first=K. Janet |title=Samuel de Champlain before 1604: Des Sauvages and Other Documents Related to the Period |date=2010 |publisher=The Publications of the Champlain Society |page=14 |doi=10.3138/9781442620339 |isbn=978-0-7735-3756-9 }}</ref> who had fallen ill, asked him to look after his business affairs. This Champlain did, and when his uncle died in June 1601, Champlain inherited his substantial estate. It included an estate near [[La Rochelle]], commercial properties in Spain, and a 150-ton merchant ship.<ref>[[#Fischer|Fischer (2008)]], pp. 98–99</ref>

This inheritance, combined with the king's annual pension, gave the young explorer a great deal of independence, as he did not need to rely on the financial backing of merchants and other investors.<ref>[[#Fischer|Fischer (2008)]], p. 100</ref>

From 1601 to 1603 Champlain served as a geographer in the court of King Henry IV. As part of his duties, he traveled to French ports. He learned much about North America from the fishermen that seasonally traveled to coastal areas from [[Nantucket]] to [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]] to capitalize on the rich fishing grounds there.

He also made a study of previous French failures at colonization in the area, including that of [[Pierre de Chauvin de Tonnetuit|Pierre de Chauvin]] at [[Tadoussac]].<ref>[[#Fischer|Fischer (2008)]], pp. 100–117</ref> When Chauvin forfeited his monopoly on the fur trade in North America in 1602, responsibility for renewing the trade was given to [[Aymar de Chaste]]. Champlain approached de Chaste about a position on the first voyage, which he received with the king's assent.<ref>[[#Fischer|Fischer (2008)]], pp. 121–123</ref>

Champlain's first trip to North America was as an observer on a fur-trading expedition led by [[François Gravé Du Pont]]. Du Pont was a navigator and merchant who had been a ship's captain on Chauvin's expedition, and with whom Champlain established a firm lifelong friendship.

He educated Champlain about navigation in North America, including the [[Saint Lawrence River]]. In dealing with the natives there (and in [[Acadia]] after).<ref name="Davignon"/> The ''Bonne-Renommée'' (the ''Good Fame'') arrived at Tadoussac on March 15, 1603. Champlain was anxious to see all of the places that [[Jacques Cartier]] had seen and described sixty years earlier, and wanted to go even further than Cartier, if possible.

Champlain created a map of the Saint Lawrence on this trip and, after his return to France on 20 September, published an account as ''Des Sauvages: ou voyage de Samuel Champlain, de Brouages, faite en la France nouvelle l'an 1603'' ("Concerning the Savages: or travels of Samuel Champlain of Brouages, made in New France in the year 1603").<ref group=Note>Champlain did not begin using the honorific ''de'' in his name until at least 1610 when he married, the year King Henry was murdered. A reprint of this book in 1612 was credited to "Sieur ''de'' Champlain, [http://www.civilization.ca/vmnf/expos/champlain/oeuv_eng.html civilization.ca] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311143335/http://www.civilization.ca/vmnf/expos/champlain/oeuv_eng.html |date=2007-03-11 }}</ref>

Included in his account were meetings with [[Begourat]], chief of the [[Innu people|Montagnais]] at Tadoussac, in which positive relationships were established between the French and the many Montagnais gathered there, with some [[Algonquin people|Algonquin]] friends.

Promising to King Henry to report on further discoveries, Champlain joined a second expedition to New France in the spring of 1604. This trip, once again an exploratory journey without women and children, lasted several years, and focused on areas south of the St. Lawrence River, in what later became known as [[Acadia]]. It was led by [[Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons|Pierre Dugua de Mons]], a noble and Protestant merchant who had been given a fur trading monopoly in New France by the king. Dugua asked Champlain to find a site for winter settlement.

After exploring possible sites in the [[Bay of Fundy]], Champlain selected [[Saint Croix Island, New Brunswick|Saint Croix Island]] in the [[Saint Croix River (Maine – New Brunswick)|St. Croix River]] as the site of the expedition's first winter settlement. After enduring a harsh winter on the island the settlement was relocated across the bay where they established [[Habitation at Port-Royal|Port Royal]]. Until 1607, Champlain used that site as his base, while he explored the Atlantic coast. Dugua was forced to leave the settlement for France in September 1605, because he learned that his monopoly was at risk. His monopoly was rescinded by the king in July 1607 under pressure from other merchants and proponents of free trade, leading to the abandonment of the settlement.

In 1605 and 1606, Champlain explored the North American coast as far south as [[Cape Cod]], searching for sites for a permanent settlement. Minor skirmishes with the resident [[Nauset]]s dissuaded him from the idea of establishing one near present-day [[Chatham, Massachusetts]]. He named the area Mallebar ("bad bar").<ref>[[#NPS|NPS]]</ref><ref name="map">[[#Vermont Map|Vermont Map]]</ref>