IV.

Second Visit

During Champlain’s first visit to North America, he had learned about a pleasant land to the south, with a mild winter climate. He had also been shown a metal, which he thought might be silver. This southern area became Champlain’s destination on his second trip, in 1604, which was undertaken to establish a settlement in this region. The French named the area Acadie (in English, Acadia). A permanent settlement was required in exchange for a commission to govern Acadia that French explorer Pierre du Gua, Sieur de Monts had obtained.

Champlain explored the Atlantic Coast on the north side of the Bay of Fundy, sighting a river flowing from the north that he named the Saint-Jean (now the Saint John River). He learned from the area’s inhabitants, the Maliseet, that the river was their route to the St. Lawrence. Traveling west along the coast, Champlain chose a site on the Saint Croix River for the permanent settlement, but 35 of the 79 men who stayed there during the winter of 1604 to 1605 died of scurvy. The base was then moved, in the spring of 1605, to the south side of the Bay of Fundy and named Port Royal. Champlain remained there for three years, during which he charted the coast as far south as Cape Cod.