M6 L3: Samuel de Champlain (pre-1610)

Samuel de Champlain served in the army of Henry IV in Brittany, during the early years of Henry’s reign.

As a teenager, because of his family connections as mariners and ship owners, he sailed with the Spanish to the West Indies, being exposed to their closely-guarded secrets of exploration to the New World.

This information he brought back to King Henry IV. He was then commissioned as the King’s Cartographer to travel to Acadia with Du Gua to explore the New World for France.