Lake discovered by Samuel de Champlain in upper New York is called Lake

Samuel de Champlain was born at Brouage around 1570. There is no known portrait of the Father of New France and little is known about his family. His father and uncle were sea captains and he informed the French court that the art of navigation had attracted him from his "tender youth." We do not know where he learned the many skills (navigation; cartography; drawing; geography) that prepared him for his North American experience. In all likelihood Champlain learned about sailing at Brouage, a port on the French Atlantic coast, a key stopover for ships of all nations who needed to take on cargoes of salt before sailing for the fishing grounds off Newfoundland and the coast of New England. Concerning his military skills, we know that he served as a soldier in the French province of Brittany where Catholic forces allied with Spain opposed Henry IV as the rightful king of France. From 1595 to 1598, he served in the army of Henry IV with the title of sergeant quartermaster. His uncle was also involved in this final chapter of the war of religions and, at the conclusion of hostilities, we find them reunited at the port of Blavet where the two sailed for Spain in 1598. From Spain Champlain joined a fleet bound for the Spanish West Indies, a voyage that took him two years and a half. While he never published an account of this voyage, several manuscript versions exist of the Brief discours des choses plus remarquables que Samuel Champlain de Brouage a reconnues aux Indes Occidentals [Narrative of a Voyage to the West Indies and Mexico in the years 1599-1602]. The work includes many illustrations of the flora and fauna of the sites visited, and several maps of islands and cities such as Porto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe, Panama, Cartagena, and Havana.