THE MEN WHO PLANTED NEW FRANCE IN AMERICA, FOUNDED QUEBEC, EXPLORED THE GREAT LAKE REGION, AND PENETRATED THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY
SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN, THE FATHER OF NEW FRANCE
Cartier, 1534
31. The French in North America. France was the slowest of the great nations in the race for North America. Not until 1534 did Jacques Cartier, a French sea captain searching for a shorter route to India, sail into the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. He reached an Indian village where Montreal now stands and took possession of the country for his king.
SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN
From the portrait painting in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania