Age Of Exploration

Explorers for France set out across the ocean, not prepared for the reality of what they had to face.

Jacques Cartier led three voyages from 1534-42. His attempts at settlement failed.

The old rival to the French, namely the English, were sending their own explorers. Martin Frobisher sailed into the Arctic in this period, seeking what would come to be called the Northwest Passage.

He thought he found gold. He was wrong. He sent Inuit captives back to England as part of his spoils.

One sample of his ore is in this display case.

An explorer who had a very different perspective on life in the New World was Samuel de Champlain, the Father of New France.

Time spent sailing for the Spanish to their colonies in the Caribbean opened his eyes. He didn't like how the colonists treated the natives.

Leading expeditions of explorations for the French King, Champlain would adopt a very different technique- engaging tribes in a nation-to-nation way, as equals. It succeeded where others had failed, and alliances were created because of that. If only others had learned from that example.

As a partner in alliances with First Nations people, Champlain was obliged to fight their enemies. French settlers would take part in the Post-Contact Wars alongside their allies as a result.

Diplomat, soldier, explorer- Champlain was all of these. An astrolabe is seen here, typical of his period.