III.

First Visit to North America

In 1603 Champlain made his first visit to North America as a royal geographer on a fur trading expedition. The expedition sailed to Tadoussac, at the mouth of the Saguenay River, which had long been a trading center for the indigenous peoples living along the St. Lawrence. Here the French were accustomed to meeting the Montagnais people bringing furs to trade for French cloth and metal wares.

Champlain made good use of his time there. He ventured far up the Saguenay, up the St. Lawrence River to Montréal Island, and up the river that would be named the Richelieu. He gathered information from the Montagnais on the geography of the northeastern section of the continent. He used this information to draw a remarkably accurate map showing a large bay to the north (Hudson Bay) and water to the west, which he later discovered was the Great Lakes. This western body of water was so large that he believed it must connect with the Pacific Ocean, thus forming the fabled Northwest Passage through the continent. Many 17th-century explorers were searching for that passage, believing it would provide an easy water route to the wealth of China.