What are the names of some French explorers?
FRENCH EXPLORERS. The French colonists of the St. Lawrence River valley were the first Europeans to move into the western Great Lakes, or pays d’en haut ("upper country"). Samuel de Champlain had been the first European to become curious about Michigan’s "water wonderland." On his first visit to the St. Lawrence River in 1603, he heard from the Indians about an all-water …
Who were the first French explorers?
The French first came to the New World as explorers, seeking a route to the Pacific Ocean and wealth. Major French exploration of North America began under the rule of Francis I of France. In 1524, Francis sent Italian-born Giovanni da Verrazzano to explore the region between Florida and Newfoundland for a route to the Pacific Ocean.
Why did the French explorers come to America?
The following is a list of French people known as explorers . Contents 1 Before 1500 2 16th century 3 17th century 4 18th century 5 19th century 6 20th century 7 See also Before 1500 Jean de Béthencourt ( Canary Islands) Gadifer de la Salle (Canary Islands) 16th century Thomas Aubert ( Newfoundland) Jacques Cartier ( North America)
Which French explorer reached the most western point?
French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle (1643–1687), continued exploring the Mississippi valley, eventually reaching the Gulf of Mexico. He made important discoveries in the Great Lakes region, but he was constantly involved in controversies that overshadowed his accomplishments.
Who were the 2 French explorers?
France: Giovanni da Verrazano, Jacques Cartier and Samuel de Champlain. While Spain was building its New World empire, France was also exploring the Americas. In 1524, Giovanni da Verrazzano was commissioned to locate a northwest passage around North America to India.Aug 23, 2021
Who was the first explorers for the French?
French exploration In 1534, navigator Jacques Cartier claimed northern North America for France, naming the area around the St. Lawrence River New France.
What did the French explorers discover?
Besides expanding the fur trade, the French wanted to find a river passage across North America (for a trade route to Asia), explore and secure territory, and establish Christian missions to convert Native peoples.
Who were two significant French explorers and what areas did they claimed for France?
Samuel de Champlain, the greatest of the French explorers, founded Port Royal (1605) and Québec (1608). Jean Nicolet (Nicollet), a companion of Champlain, explored Lake Michigan and surrounding areas in the 1630s. Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette conducted explorations of the Mississippi Basin in 1673.
What are some of the best places to visit in Quebec?
Several monuments have been named for him such as: 1 Jacques-Cartier River, a tributary of the St. Lawrence River 2 Jacques Cartier Park in Gatineau, Quebec 3 Jacques Cartier Bridge, near Montreal, Quebec 4 Jacques Cartier Provincial Park, near Alberton, PEI 5 Jacques-Cartier State Park, in St. Lawrence County, New York 6 Place Jacques-Cartier, a square in Old Montreal
What did the French explorers do in the 1500s?
From the 1500s onwards, many French explorers set off on voyages in a race across the world, competing against neighboring Europeans. The great French navigators and explorers were in search of knowledge and resources, to discover new lands that were beyond their maps and search for riches in far off places.
Where did the French explore?
The French were eager to do the same. From Louisiana, Quebec, eastern Canada, Haiti, the Caribbean islands, East Asia and much more, the French used their sailing skills and superior navy to explore territories, competing with the English, Dutch, and Spanish sailors and privateers in a race to be the first.
Who was the first person to travel to the Americas?
Following in the footsteps of Cartier, was Samuel de Champlain who born in the Charente Maritime in Nouvelle Aquitaine, France. In 1603, he began travelling to the Americas, landing all along the coast from the Carribean to Mexico, Vermont to Nantucket and Newfoundland.
Where did Jacques Cartier go?
Jacques Cartier – Canada. In 1534, a Frenchman named Jacques Cartier set off from Saint-Malo on the west coast of France to discover a western passage to the wealthy markets of Asia. Quebecois flags in Saint-Malo, the hometown of Jacques Cartier.
Who was Joseph Nicollet?
10. Joseph Nicollet – Mississippi and Dakotas. Joseph Nicollet, a French geographer, astronomer, and mathematician is best known for mapping the Upper Mississippi River basin during the 1830s. Nicollet led 3 expeditions in the region around Minnesota, South Dakota, and North Dakota.
Where was Cadillac born?
Born in Saint-Nicolas-de-la-Grave, a small commune in Occitanie in the south of France, Antoine Laumet de La Mothe Cadillac would go on to become an explorer, trapper, and a trader of alcohol and furs.
What river did the French explore?
Guided by the two Iroquois, he sailed west from Anticosti and entered the great river, which the French later called the River of Canada (now the Saint Lawrence River). It became the main gateway for French exploration of Canada for the next two centuries.
Who was the first person to describe the coast of France?
Immediately after landing in France, Verrazano wrote a report on his expedition for King Francis I, in which he gave one of the earliest firsthand descriptions of the eastern coast of
What was the first French colony to colonize North America?
French efforts at colonizing North America began in the early sixteenth century. In 1523 a group of Italian merchants in the French cities of Lyons and Rouen persuaded the king of France, Francis I, to sponsor a voyage by Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano (also spelled Verrazzano; c. 1485–1528) to North America. They hoped to find the Northwest Passage, a direct sea route to Asia via the Pacific Ocean. The king commissioned Verrazano to chart (to make a map of) the entire Atlantic coast of North America, from modern-day Florida to Newfoundland (an island off the coast of Canada). Accompanied by his younger brother Girolamo, a mapmaker, Verrazano set sail aboard the ship La Dauphine in early 1524. The expedition reached the coast and sailed south to Florida. Then, turning north, Verrazano anchored at what is now Cape Hatteras on the Outer Banks, a sandbar separated from the mainland by Pamlico Sound. Unable to see the mainland from this vantage point, he assumed the body of water on the other side of the sandbar was the Pacific Ocean. He concluded he had found the route to China because Girolamo's maps showed North America as a vast continent tapering to a narrow strip of land near the coast of North Carolina.
Where did Verrazano go to explore?
Verrazano could not find a passage to the mainland, so he continued north to the upper reaches of present-day New York Harbor. He anchored La Dauphine at the narrows, which was later named in his honor. (Today the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge spans the entrance of New York Harbor from Brooklyn to Staten Island.) Leaving the harbor, he sailed up the coast to the entrance of Narragansett Bay. He found some islands in the bay and named one of them Rhode Island because it was shaped like Rhodes, the Greek island in the eastern Mediterranean. More than one hundred years later, religious dissident Roger Williams would take the name Rhode Island for new colony he founded on the mainland off Narragansett Bay (see Chapter 4). Verrazano's exploring parties went as far inland as the site of modern Pawtucket. From Rhode Island, Verrazano led his expedition up the coast of Maine to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland before returning to France in July 1524.
What did Cartier bring to Saint Malo?
Upon arriving in Saint-Malo in September 1534, Cartier received a grand welcome. Although he had not found gold, he brought reports of a warm climate and fertile land in New Brunswick and the Gaspé Peninsula. The region had previously been considered suitable for fishing but certainly not for settlement or commercial trade. Intrigued by Cartier's report, the king began planning a second voyage. The following year he provided Cartier with three ships for a return trip to North America. Cartier left Saint-Malo in 1535, taking with him Donnacona's two sons, who had learned French in order to serve as translators.
Where did Giovanni da Verrazano go?
Pursuing a career as a seaman, he moved in 1506 or 1507 to Dieppe, a port on the northwestern coast of France. From Dieppe he sailed to the eastern Mediterranean Sea and may have traveled to Newfoundland in 1508. In 1523 a group of Italian merchants in the French cities of Lyons and Rouen persuaded the French king, Francis I, to sponsor Verrazano's voyage to North America. They hoped to find a more direct sea route to Asia, which was becoming a profitable trading partner. Although Verrazano did not fulfill this mission, in 1524 he became the first European to sight New York Harbor as well as Narragansett Bay and other points along the northeastern Atlantic shore. He made two other voyages to North America. On the final trip, he was killed by members of the hostile Carib tribe in the West Indies. Verrazano did not found any permanent settlements, but he opened the way for French explorers who came to the northeast part of North America in the early seventeenth century.
Who was the first person to describe Native Americans?
After heading an expedition along the eastern coast of North America in 1524, Giovanni da Verrazano wrote a letter to King Francis I of France about his discoveries. The letter is considered an important document in the story of the exploration of North America. In his account Verrazano gave one of the earliest firsthand descriptions of native peoples living in North America. The excerpt below describes his party's initial encounter with Native Americans, near Cape Fear, North Carolina.
What did Samuel Champlain learn?
Born into a family of mariners (both his father and uncle-in-law were sailors, or navigators), Samuel Champlain learned to navigate, draw, make nautical charts, and write practical reports. His education did not include Ancient Greek or Latin, so he did not read or learn from any ancient literature.
How did Champlain die?
Champlain had a severe stroke in October 1635, and died on 25 December, leaving no immediate heirs. Jesuit records state he died in the care of his friend and confessor Charles Lallemant.
When did Champlain first set foot in Vermont?
Champlain and guide in Isle La Motte, Vermont, at the site Champlain is said to have first set foot in Vermont (and encamped) in 1609. Lake Champlain is in the background. (Sculptor E.L.Weber, 1967; Photo by Matt Wills, 2009)
Who was the commander of New France?
Champlain reclaimed his role as commander of New France on behalf of Richelieu on 1 March 1633, having served in the intervening years as commander in New France "in the absence of my Lord the Cardinal de Richelieu " from 1629 to 1635.
What is the name of the lake in the Atlantic Ocean?
Lake Champlain, Champlain Valley, the Champlain Trail Lakes. Champlain Sea: a past inlet of the Atlantic Ocean in North America, over the St. Lawrence, the Saguenay, and the Richelieu rivers, to over Lake Champlain, which inlet disappeared many thousands years before Champlain was born.
Where is the Champlain Bridge?
Champlain Bridge, which connects the island of Montreal to Brossard, Quebec across the St. Lawrence. Champlain Bridge, which connects the cities of Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec.
Where is the statue of Samuel de Champlain?
A garden called Jardin Samuel-de-Champlain in Paris, France. A memorial statue on Cumberland Avenue in Plattsburgh, New York on the shores of Lake Champlain in a park named for Champlain. A memorial statue in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada in Queen Square that commemorates his discovery of the Saint John River.
Jacques Cartier – Canada
Samuel de Champlain – Quebec and East Coast of Americas
- Following in the footsteps of Cartier, was Samuel de Champlain who born in the Charente Maritime in Nouvelle Aquitaine, France. In 1603, he began travelling to the Americas, landing all along the coast from the Carribean to Mexico, Vermont to Nantucket and Newfoundland. He would go on to establish Quebec City in the colony of Nouvelle France(New France). His settlem…
Philippe de Corguilleray – Brazil
- Around the same time that Jacques Cartier was heading to Canada, another famous French explorer and navigator, Philippe de Corguilleray was heading towards South America. He was born in Bourgogne in France (Burgundy) and was a nobleman and Calvinist and Huguenot, who would go on to become a colonialist. With a French fleet of ships containing settl...
Augustin de Beaulieu – East Indies
- Augustin de Beaulieu was a French general born in Rouen, who travelled everywhere from Cape Town in South Africa and Madagascar, to Aceh in Indonesia. In 1619, he would lead an armed expedition to the East Indies, fighting off to the Dutch who also had plans for a settlement around the island of Sumatra.
Jacques Marquette – Michigan
- Born on in Laon, France, Jacques Marquette was sent to Nouvelle France as a missionary, with the intent of converting the indigenous peoples of the Americas. He would explore a lot of the area around the Great Lakes in the 1670s with Louis Jolliet a French-Canadian explorer born in Quebec, eventually leading the settlement in what is today Michigan.
Robert Cavelier de La Salle – Louisiana
- A contemporary of Marquette, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle from Rouen, was an explorer and fur trader who also explored around the Great Lakes. He led a 1682 expedition in which he travelled along the Mississippi River from the mouth of the Illinois River to the Gulf of Mexico. He claimed the Mississippi River basin for France, giving it the name La Louisiane to ho…
Antoine Laumet de La Mothe Cadillac – Detroit
- Born in Saint-Nicolas-de-la-Grave, a small commune in Occitanie in the south of France, Antoine Laumet de La Mothe Cadillac would go on to become an explorer, trapper, and a trader of alcohol and furs. He rose to prominence in the New England and Great Lakes area, eventually founding Fort Pontchartrain du Détroitin 1701, which would go on to become the city of Detroit in Michigan.
Jean-François de La Pérouse – Pacific Ocean
- Jean François de Galaup, the Comte de Lapérouse, was from Albiin Occitanie in the South of France, and would set off on a scientific expedition around the world. Following in the explorations of James Cook, he would set off from Brest in 1785 and go on to land in Chile, Hawaii, Alaska, East Asia, Japan and Russia on both sides of the Pacific ocean.
Nicolas Baudin – Indian Ocean and Around Australia
- Born on the Ile de Ré, Nicolas Baudin would join the merchant navy as a teenager, and would eventually set off on many botanical expeditions to places like Mauritius, Canary islands and Trinidad. He would eventually be appointed to lead an exploration of exotic flora and fauna in 1798, with a team of astronomers, naturalists and scientific draughtsmen. Their destination wa…
Joseph Nicollet – Mississippi and Dakotas
- Joseph Nicollet, a French geographer, astronomer, and mathematician is best known for mapping the Upper Mississippi River basin during the 1830s. Nicollet led 3 expeditions in the region around Minnesota, South Dakota, and North Dakota. He would eventually emigrate to the United States, where he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1842. He died in his n…