“He who goes easy goes far” - Proverb of Saintonge.
28. Saintonge, the birthplace of Canada
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What do you think of when asked “What is the origin of Canada”?
Do you think of the encounter by Jacques Cartier with the St. Lawrence Iroquois in 1535 at the “narrowing of the great river”, otherwise known as Quebec?
Perhaps you might think of the Italian explorer John Cabot hoisting the English royal banner at a place later called Bonavista, Newfoundland during his voyage in 1497?
I’d like to suggest a place you may not have thought of to be the origin of Canada. It is an area of France and in a town called Brouage, which is a port city in the County of Saintonge, France.
Bear with me as I attempt to show this is the case. This is best summed up in the introduction to the English translation of Champlain’s voyage to the West Indies:
Discoverers are general benefactors: after a time, all nations profit by their labours. In Champlain’s case, we are the principal gainers; but for his indomitable courage, enterprise, and determination, Quebec might never have existed, the colonization of Canada have been indefinitely retarded, and instead of a valuable country, advanced in civilization, and sufficing to itself, England might have conquered only a small colony struggling for existence, or scattered and insignificant settlements, feebly subsisting on a precarious and badly organized trade with native tribes.
It is to Champlain’s upbringing in Saintonge we must first search for the origins of Canada.