Samuel de Champlain

Samuel de Champlain was important in the development of New France. He established a military alliance with the Huron people. Champlain  founded a settlement for Europeans which was to become Canada. Champlain was a cartographer (map maker) who created detailed maps about the Atlantic coast, the water ways of the St. Lawrence and its tributaries, and a view of the interior continent. Samuel has crossed the Atlantic Ocean many times. But unlike Cartier, Champlain did not fail. He succeeded on his mission.

Religious Figures

Roman Catholic was the major religion in New France until the 1500's. Then there were religious reformers such as Martin Luther in Germany, John Calvin in Switzerland, and John Knox in Scotland. They protested against the Roman Catholic faith. Then there were the Jesuits. St. Ignatious Loyola founded the society in 1534. They had two goals, to spread the Roman Catholic religion among the First Nations peoples and to establish a school for boys. Then there were the Ursulines. A convent was a group of women who served God and the church. Marie Martin built the Ursuline mission making one of the strongest arms of the Catholic Church in Quebec. They also built a school for girls and taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and homemaking.