Explorer Samuel de Champlain

Samuel de Champlain

Samuel de Champlain , "The Father of New France", was a French navigator, cartographer, draughtsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He founded New France and Quebec City on July 3, 1608....

 arrived on the ship Don de Dieu, or "Gift of God" to found Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

 in 1608.

Founding of Quebec in 1608

Don de Dieu is one of three ships that set sail from France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 under Captain Henry Couillard in the spring of 1608 to Tadoussac, from where the men, bringing the materials, reached on small boats what is now the Vieux-Québec (Canada), on July 3, 1608, date of the founding of Quebec City

Quebec City

Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...

.

1633 voyage to Quebec

In 1633, Cardinal Richelieu appointed Champlain as his lieutenant, giving him the opportunity to return to Quebec. (Champlain had been removed from his position as Governor of Quebec the prior year when France ceded Quebec to England, and had dedicated himself to working on a new edition of his voyages.) In March 1633, Champlain set sail for Quebec with about 200 colonists in three ships, Don de Dieu, St. Pierre, and St. Jean. He was received in Quebec with "loud acclamations."

Replica ship at 300th anniversary

A pageant was held for the 300th anniversary, the Quebec Tercentenary in 1908.

July 23. At 3 p.m. — Arrival of Champlain on his ship, Don de Dieu. At 4 o'clock. — Presentation of the Civic Address of welcome to H.R.H. The Prince of Wales

George V of the United Kingdom

George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....

 with other official ceremonies commemorative of Champlain and of the founding of Quebec. Review of the Historical procession in front of the Champlain Monument. Illumination of the combined fleets and of the surrounding country in the evening and great display of fireworks on the Heights of Levis opposite Quebec.

External links

• Arrival of the Don de Dieu, photograph and article from the Quebec Tercentenary Commemorative History
• Description of the Don de Dieu, with drawing of the model at the Quebec Tercentenary