Pierre Du Gua de Monts, (Du Gua de Monts; c. 1558 – 1628) was a French merchant, explorer and colonizer. A
ProtestantThe Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
, he was born in
RoyanRoyan is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department, along the Atlantic Ocean, in southwestern France.A seaside resort, Royan is in the heart of an urban area estimated at 38,638 inhabitants, which makes it the fourth-largest conurbation in the department, after La Rochelle, Rochefort and Saintes...
,
FranceThe 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...
and had a great influence over the first two decades of the 17th century. He travelled to northeastern
North AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
for the first time in 1599 with
Pierre de Chauvin de TonnetuitPierre de Chauvin de Tonnetuit was a French naval and military captain and a lieutenant of New France.Chauvin, along with François Gravé Du Pont, obtained a fur trading monopoly for New France in 1599 from Henri IV. Although this was seriously amended in 1600, the two built a fort at Tadoussac...
.
In 1603,
Henry IVHenry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....
, the King of France, granted Du Gua exclusive right to colonize lands in North America between 40°–60° North
latitudeIn geography, the latitude of a location on the Earth is the angular distance of that location south or north of the Equator. The latitude is an angle, and is usually measured in degrees . The equator has a latitude of 0°, the North pole has a latitude of 90° north , and the South pole has a...
. The King also gave Du Gua a monopoly in the
fur tradeThe fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
for these territories and named him Lieutenant General for
AcadiaAcadia was the name given to lands in a portion of the French colonial empire of New France, in northeastern North America that included parts of eastern Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and modern-day Maine. At the end of the 16th century, France claimed territory stretching as far south as...
and
New FranceNew France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
. In return, Du Gua promised to bring 60 new colonists each year to what would be called
l'Acadie.
In 1604, Du Gua organized an expedition and left France with 74 settlers including Royal cartographer
Samuel de ChamplainSamuel 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....
, the
Baron de PoutrincourtJean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt et de Saint-Just was a member of the French nobility best remembered as a commander of the French colonial empire, one of those responsible for establishing the most successful among early attempts to establish a permanent settlement in the North American...
, a
priestA priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
Nicolas AubryNicolas Aubry was a French priest who accompanied Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts to Acadia in 1604. There were two other clergy on this expedition, a priest who was to minister to the parish of Port Royal and a Protestant minister. This expedition had as its cartographer Samuel de Champlain...
,
Louis HébertLouis Hébert is widely considered to be the first Canadian apothecary as well as the first European to farm in Canada. He was born around 1575 at 129 de la rue Saint-Honoré in Paris to Nicolas Hébert and Jacqueline Pajot...
,
Mathieu de CostaMathieu de Costa is the first recorded black person in Canada. He was a member of the exploring party of Pierre Dugua, the Sieur de Monts and Samuel de Champlain in the early 17th century....
: a legendary multilingualist and the first registered black man to set foot in North America, and a Protestant member of the
clergyClergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
.
Entering
Baie Française (the
Bay of FundyThe Bay of Fundy is a bay on the Atlantic coast of North America, on the northeast end of the Gulf of Maine between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine...
) in June 1604, he and his settlers founded a colony on
St. Croix IslandSaint Croix Island , long known to locals as Dochet Island, is a small uninhabited island in Maine near the mouth of the Saint Croix River that forms part of the International Boundary separating Maine from New Brunswick....
. Numerous settlers succumbed to the harsh winter climate and malnutrition disease as they exhausted the limited natural resources on the island. The colony moved to better land on the south shore of Baie Française at
Port-RoyalThe Habitation at Port-Royal was the first successful French settlement of New France in North America, and is presently known as Port-Royal National Historic Site, a National Historic Site located on the northern side of the Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia, Canada...
in 1605.
In 1606,
Hendrick LonckAdm. Hendrick Corneliszoon Lonck , a Dutch naval hero, was the first Dutch sea captain to reach the New World.-Early years:...
, the
Dutch West India CompanyDutch West India Company was a chartered company of Dutch merchants. Among its founding fathers was Willem Usselincx...
sea captain boarded two of Du Gua's boats, and pillaged them for furs and munitions. The Port-Royal settlement survived and prospered somewhat until 1607 when other merchants protested the monopoly, which the King had to revoke. As a consequence, Du Gua and the settlers had to abandon the colony and return to France.
Du Gua then turned his attention to the colony of
Nouvelle-FranceNew France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
in the St. Lawrence River valley, after ceding Port-Royal to Poutrincourt. He never came back to the New World but he sent Champlain to open a colony at
QuebecQuebec 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, thus playing a major role in the foundation of the first permanent French colony in North America.
Henry IV appointed him as Governor of the Protestant city of
Pons, Charente-MaritimePons is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department in southwestern France.-Population:-References:*...
from 1610 to 1617, when he retired. He died in 1628, in the nearby castle of Ardenne in
Fleac-Sur-SeugneFléac-sur-Seugne is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department in southwestern France.-Population:-References:*...
.