The French in the New World

When James VI of Scotland took over England, Henry IV of France hired an ex-soldier named Samuel Champlain. During this time, everyone was trying to find a new route to India, through a strait in America. Samuel sailed to Canada and he saw a river which he thought would be the Northwest Passage. But then the river closed up so he discovered the land he was in. He thought that this would be a good place for a French colony so he went back to France to tell of this land. The king was very interested in this land he was talking about. So, a group of colonists went with Champlain to a place called St. Croix. This place wasn’t really good, since the water was to salty to drink and soil was not good to grow plants. Then, when winter came, many of the colonists died of scurvy because of salty water, and no fresh food. By the time winter was gone, only half of the settlers that went there were still alive. When they got more colonists, they moved to a place called Port Royal. This time, they were well-prepared for winter, for they had lots of food, and they made warm houses. But just when they were prospering, the King of France decided that he spent too much money already on the colony. So, he ordered them to come home back to France. However, Champlain would not give up his idea of having a French colony in Canada. He begged the King to go there one last time, and after months of asking, the king let him have one last attempt of making a colony in Canada. This new colony he made was named Quebec, and he worked very hard for people to go in the settlement but people came slowly. He encouraged the Indians and French to marry each other so that the population would grow in his new colony. After he died, however, only 100 people came, and those people were criminals or beggars who had no where to go. But many people still went there! Now, Quebec has about 9 million people and Samuel is called the Father of New France.