Samuel de Champlain ( ? - 1635)

Samuel de Champlain Lithograph attributed to Louis C.-J. Ducornet, 1854 Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, 69.524

In 1608, French explorer Champlain founded Québec and established a trading post at the foot of Cap-aux-Diamants, where the Saint-Charles River and the St. Lawrence River flow together. The native peoples in the region call this point where the river narrows "Kénébec," meaning "narrow passage."

Champlain made sure the colony's business continued to prosper and negotiated agreements with the surrounding Amerindian nations. Still hoping to find a great river leading to China, he continued his explorations to the West. In the process, he discovered the Great Lakes region. Champlain ran the small colony* until he died in 1635.

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