Samuel De Champlain: Founder of New France and Quebec City

by Andrew Vietze

Samuel de Champlain was one of the most colorful explorers of the 16th century. A master mariner, he had other occupations, spy, soldier, diplomat, writer, and artist. His explorations in the New World, though, made him famous for the ages. This detailed, easy-to-read biography gives readers a look at a man who served as the Geographer to the French king, an expert on Native Americans, a skilled mapmaker, the founder of Quebec City, and the father of New France.

48 pages, Paperback

Published December 30, 2016

About the author

Andrew Vietze is the bestselling author of more than twenty books, including the critically acclaimed This Wild Land (2021), White Pine (2017), Boon Island (Globe Pequot, 2012), and Becoming Teddy Roosevelt (Down East, 2010). Publishers Weekly called Boon Island “a maritime whodunit rife with twists and turns and high drama;” The Portsmouth Herald dubbed it “superb. . . both a well-researched history and a page-turning mystery that begs to be a motion picture.” Co-written with historian Stephen Erickson, it was an Amazon #1 bestseller (US history), won a gold medal at the Independent Publisher Book Awards, was an IndieFab Book of the Year Finalist, and was featured on the hit Travel Channel program “Monumental Mysteries” in June of 2014. Becoming Teddy Roosevelt also won an IPPY, was a Book of the Year Finalist, and was the inspiration for Coastal Maine Botanical Garden's new program for middle schoolers, the Lunder New Naturalists, which is now part of the curriculum at 20 Maine schools. The book was formally honored by decree of the Maine State Legislature in 2010, hailed as “so symbolic of the spirit and unique character of Maine.”

Vietze got his start at the Maine Times in the early 90s, and, in addition to his books, he's written for a wide array of clients, including: NASA, New York Times' LifeWire, Weather.com's “Forecast Earth”, Crawdaddy, Time Out New York, Explore, Big Sky Journal, AMC Outdoors, Popmatters, and American Songwriter. A Registered Maine Guide, he splits his time between his off-grid home in the forest of Waldo County and a cabin in the woods of Baxter State Park, where he works as a seasonal ranger. Find out more at www.andrewvietze.com.