The World’s Greatest ExplorersRobert JacksonJune 22, 2010
Samuel de Champlain
Word Bank• Explorer p. 9
• One who searches for food and safety
• One who seeks to be able to trade with others
• One who seeks to conquer others
• One who seeks to spread religion
• One who was curious about undiscovered places
Word Bank• astrolobe p. 51 • A device used for
reading the position of the sun which helps travelers determine their position on the earth’s surface
Word Bank• canal p. 52 • A man-made
waterway connecting two bodies of water
Word Bank• Acadia p. 55 • The original French
name for Canada
Word Bank• scurvy p. 55 • A disease caused
by a lack of Vitamin C.
Scurvy article in Encyclopedia Brittanica
Summary
The French explorer Samuel de Champlain has been called the “Father of Canada.” After getting out of the army in his early 30’s, he set out on expedition to see some of the Spanish colonies. He recorded everything he saw in diaries.
This sparked his interest in further discovery as well as his desire to help his country France gain some of the wealth that Spain had acquired through establishing some of their colonies.
Continued…The next time Champlain set-out he
stayed in Canada for 3 months and spent a portion of this time talking with the Alqonquin Indians learning all he could about this “new” land.
On his next trip back to Canada, he set about exploring and claiming this land for France. He did become the governor of Acadia (Canada) and helped establish the long term viability of this new colony.