This book is the definitive reference on Champlain and the birth of French America. It discusses not only the beginnings of L'Acadie, its development, and the difficulties of colonization but also looks at France during Champlain's time and analyses how he has been remembered. Lavishly illustrated, Champlain brings together the thirty-two maps attributed to him, reproduced for the first time in colour, as well as illustrations of numerous rare artifacts, documents, and a selection of drawings by Champlain. A tenacious, multitalented individual, Samuel de Champlain was a cartographer, an explorer, and, ultimately, governor of the French colonies in the new world. His extensive writings, largely relating to his voyages, include the only known accounts of the Laurentian colony during the first quarter of the seventeenth century. Contributors include Bernard Allaire, Pauline Arseneault, Bernard Barbiche, Maurice Basque, Alain Beaulieu, Pierre Berthiaume, Gervais Carpin, Jean-Pierre Chrestien, Edward H. Dahl, Dominique Deslandres, John Dickinson, Nathalie Fiquet, François-Marc Gagnon, Gaétan Gervais, Laura Giraudo, Jean Glénisson, Jean-Yves Grenon, Patrice Groulx, Conrad E. Heidenreich, Cornelius Jaenen, Robert Larocque, Frank Lestringant, Raymonde Litalien, Nancy Marcotte, Denis Martin, Paul-Louis Martin, Christian Morissonneau, François Moureau, Étienne Taillemite, Éric Thierry, Marcel Trudel, and Laurier Turgeon.

Raymonde Litalien is a historian of New France and the author of Les Explorateurs de l'Amérique du Nord, 1492-1795. Jean-François Palomino is a map librarian at the Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec. Denis Vaugeois is an essayist, publisher

Raymonde Litalien's profile page

Denis Vaugeois is a historian and publisher and author of many books on North American and European history and how they converge and diverge. He has studied Jewish history for more than 50 years. He was Quebec’s minister of cultural affairs in the late 1970s. Käthe Roth is a Montreal editor and translator who has worked with Denis Vaugeois on history books for fifteen years.

Denis Vaugeois' profile page