#60 Samuel de Champlain on the St. Lawrence
The History of the Americans
Jack Henneman
4.9 • 632 Ratings
🗓️ 19 February 2022
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode we learn the political and geopolitical foundations of New France and the importance of the beloved King Henri IV to French expansion in North America. We follow Champlain in his youth, including his first adventure in the New World on a Spanish ship, and the circumstances under which he inherited a lot of money. We also meet the remarkable characters who recruited Champlain, or vice versa, to sail on an expedition to the St. Lawrence in 1603, where Champlain first heard tell of the big lakes in upstate New York, one of which bears his name, the Great Lakes, and the Hudson and Detroit rivers. Oh, and we learn the origin of the expression “a chicken in every pot.”
Twitter: @TheHistoryOfTh2
Facebook: The History of the Americans Podcast
Selected references for this episode
David Hackett Fischer, Champlain’s Dream
Eric Yanis, The Other States of America History Podcast
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the History of the Americans podcast episode 60. |
| 0:10.8 | I am your host, Jack Heneman, and I'm recording this episode on February 19, 22, in Austin, Texas. |
| 0:25.3 | This episode will go better if you have recently listened to last week's introduction to Samuel de Champlain and some other stuff. If you are new to the podcast, |
| 0:33.0 | we are telling the history of the lands now encompassed by the United States from the beginning without presentism. |
| 0:40.8 | The best way to support what we are doing here is to tell your friends, |
| 0:44.9 | either the old-fashioned way or on your social propaganda website of choice, |
| 0:50.1 | or to write a nice review on Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. |
| 0:56.8 | But especially just tell your friends. |
| 0:59.4 | That means the most by a long shot, especially if your friends have thousands of followers |
| 1:05.7 | on Twitter or a massive blog. |
| 1:09.0 | Glenn Reynolds, proprietor of Instapundit.com, |
| 1:12.9 | has generously sent thousands of his readers to this podcast a couple of times, |
| 1:18.1 | including on February 11th, for which I am grateful and humbled. |
| 1:23.8 | Samuel de Champlain is more often thought of as a Canadian founding father than an American one, |
| 1:29.9 | and that makes sense. |
| 1:32.3 | Most of his work was along with St. Lawrence River, and most of that lies entirely within Canada. |
| 1:39.6 | Champlain and his legacy fall within the arbitrary mandate of this podcast, however, for two reasons. |
| 1:47.0 | The first is that in 1604, Champlain attempted his first colony in today's United States, |
| 1:54.1 | just 1,700 feet inside Maine's border with New Brunswick. |
| 1:59.9 | And that year, he would explore the coast of New England, |
| 2:02.8 | at least as far south as Cape Cod. Then, Champlain and a handful of French soldiers and allies |
| 2:10.5 | from the Algonquin tribes along the St. Lawrence and the surrounding territory, twice invaded |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jack Henneman, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Jack Henneman and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.