Contemporary Accounts.—For detailed list, consult Thwaites, France in America, 298-303. Numerous publications of Canadian and American historical and antiquarian societies (especially the Champlain Society) contain useful material. Relative to the Northwest, see Wisconsin Historical Collections, XVI-XVIII.
108. Settlement of Canada (1608-1629).
The story of early French efforts at colonization in North America, from Cartier's visit (1534) to Champlain's foundation of Quebec (1608), the first permanent French colony in Canada, has already been told (Chapter II.).
Effect of Iroquois opposition.
It was unfortunate for New France that Champlain incurred at the outset the hostility of the Iroquois (page 196); the French and the Algonquians with whom they maintained friendly relations were long after sorely afflicted by them. Had it not been for the Iroquois wall interposed between Champlain and the South, the French would doubtless have preceded the English upon the Atlantic plain. The presence of this opposition led the founder of New France, in his attempts to extend the sphere of French influence, to explore along the line of least resistance, to the north and west.
Champlain on Lake Huron.
In 1611, Montreal was planted at the first rapids in the St. Lawrence, and near the mouths of the Ottawa and Richelieu. Four years later (1615), Champlain reached Lake Huron by the way of the Ottawa. There were easier highways to the Northwest, but the French were compelled for many years thereafter to take this path, because of its greater security from the all-devouring Iroquois.
To extend the sphere of French influence and the Catholic religion, as well as to induce the savages to patronize French commerce, were objects which inspired both lay and clerical followers of Champlain. Their |Explorers and coureurs de bois.| wonderful zeal illumined the history of New France with a poetic glamour such as is cast over no other part of America north of Mexico. Under Champlain's guidance and inspired by his example, traders and priests soon penetrated to the far west,—the former bent on trafficking for peltries, and the latter on saving souls. Another large class of rovers, styled coureurs de bois, or wood-rangers, wandered far and wide, visiting and fraternizing with remote tribes of Indians; they were attracted by the love of lawless adventure, and conducted an extensive but illicit fur-trade. Many of these explorers left no record of their journeys, hence it is now impossible to say who first made some of the most important geographical discoveries.
109. Exploration of the Northwest (1629-1699).
Early discoveries in the Northwest.