Champlain

“One July day four hundred years ago, Samuel de Champlain stepped out of a small boat at Quebec and began a great adventure.” So begins Christopher Moore’s riveting account of the life of the extraordinary, daring “father of New France.”

Samuel de Champlain helped found the first permanent French settlement in the New World; he established the village that eventually became the great city of Quebec; he was a skilled cartographer who gave us many of our first accurate maps of North America; he forged alliances with Native nations that laid the foundations for vast trading networks; and as governor, he set New France on the road to becoming a productive, self-sufficient, thriving colony.

But Champlain was also a man who suffered his share of defeats and disappointments. That first permanent settlement was abandoned after a disastrous winter claimed the lives of half the colonists. His marriage to a child bride was unhappy and marked by long separations. Eventually Quebec had to be surrendered temporarily to the English in 1629.

In this remarkable book, illustrated entirely with paintings, archival maps, and original artifacts, Christopher Moore brings to life this complex man and, through him, creates a portrait of Canada in its earliest days.

Champlain is illustrated with archival maps and paintings. Additional artwork has been provided by Francis Back.

Christopher Moore has been called Canada’s most versatile writer of history. His first book, Louisbourg Portraits, won a Governor General’s Award. The Story of Canada (co-authored with Janet Lunn), a history of Canada for young people, won the Mr. Christie’s Award for Children’s Books. The Big Book of Canada: Exploring the Provinces and Territories was published by Tundra in 2002 to great critical acclaim. Christopher Moore also co-authored the authoritative Illustrated History of Canada and wrote 1867: How the Fathers Made a Deal. Christopher Moore writes a column for The Beaver. Visit his website at www.christophermoore.ca.