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Audio Transcript of Samuel de Champlain (of Brouage, France; for France) 1603 to 1607

Audio Transcript: Champlain's function on his first journey to Canada was to "see the country, and what the colonisers might accomplish there." The expedition left Honfleur, France on 15 March 1603 and reached Tadoussac on 24 May. During the summer, Champlain explored the St. Lawrence River up to the Lachine Rapids. He was back in France on 20 September. On 7 March 1604, Champlain re-embarked for New France not to return again until 28 September 1607. This time, the expedition sailed to Acadia. During these years Champlain explored in some detail the east coast from Cape Canso [Nova Scotia], to Nantucket Sound, Massachusetts. Champlain's function, as on the 1603 expedition, was to conduct a geographical survey. Besides mapping the coast he was to note potential harbours and sites for settlements, mineral deposits, vegetation, fishing grounds and any other resources. By 1607, he had explored some 2000 kilometres of coastline in greater detail than anyone before him, and aided in establishing a settlement at Port Royal in present-day Nova Scotia in 1605.

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Portrait of Samuel de Champlain

Source: Voiceovers by Kyle Rawn, Christian Wyss and LeeAnn McLellan, Algonquin College, Ottawa. Assistance provided by Don Crockford, Coordinator, Broadcasting Radio and Media Design Sector, Algonquin College.