Huron Tribe

Watch video to 3:55

Exchanging with the white man

 

I remember grandfather telling me the story of the white man who had significantly stepped on our soil many years ago and took interest upon our beavers. Jacques Cartier was his name and was quite a generous man who befriended my Huron ancestors, two of which he took to his voyages. Gaining interest in the fur of the beaver, Cartier soon established a fur trade and went back to his home, far east over the Atlantic Ocean, to spread his findings. Present day, the white men living on our soil made friendly relations with us, just like my ancestors' encounter. Their leader, Samuel de Champlain, offered us kettles, knives, and other gifts. In return, we gave them our prized beaver fur. Soon, these trading activities expanded along the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes.

- Ugkahpa of Huron tribe

Trading with Indians

While in this newfound land, we came into contact along the mouth of the St. Lawrence River at the French fisheries with Huron Indians wearing nice robes of a fine fur that was made of beaver. There weren't any in France so we inquired how and where we could get our hands on it and those Indians refused to satiate our quest for those fine furs, so we established a trading offer. If we gave them iron, they would give us their fine robes of luxuriant fur. This trade extended from Quebec, St. Maurice, Montreal, and then to Ottawa. This became known as the fur trade and was very beneficiary to both parties. In 1608, I came back into Quebec and established it as a fur trading city that became very prosperous and was the center of all fur trading posts. The Indians got their fair share out of this as well...after all, we did have a continuous supply of kettles, knives, and other gifts to keep them happy. Friendly relations with the Indians was very important to us.

-Samuel de Champlain

Re-discovery of Quebec - "Father of New France"

Watch vid to 2:25

Exploration of 1603

"We set out the next day, continuing our course in the river as far as the entrance to the lake. There are many pretty islands here, low, and containing very fine woods and meadows, with abundance of fowl and such animals of the chase as stags, fallow-deer, fawns, roe-bucks, bears, and others, which go from the main land to these islands.We captured a large number of these animals. There are also many beavers, not only in this river, but also in numerous other little ones that flow into it. These regions, although they are pleasant, are not inhabited by any savages, on account of their wars; but they withdraw as far as possible from rivers into the interior, in order not to be suddenly surprised. The next day we entered the lake, which is of great extent, say eighty or a hundred leagues long, where I saw four fine islands, ten, twelve, and fifteen leagues long, which were formerly inhabited by the savages, like the River of the Iroquois; but they have been abandoned since the wars of the savages with one another prevail." 

-Samuel de Champlain 

Arrival

Map of voyage

King Francis I sent me and my crew to to lead an expedition to discover the Northwest Passage to China. We departed from St.-Malo with two ships in April 1534 and sighted the Newfoundland in 20 days. We then  proceeded southward along the western coast of Newfoundland and rounded the entire Gulf of St. Lawrence, which I named on this occasion.  My goal for this voyage was to colonize this newfound land but our mission was unaccomplished. However, we discovered that the land was most prosperous with fur bearing animals and retreated to France with our fur.

-Jacques Cartier