Pierre Dugua de Mons

Monument in Quebec

Pierre Dugua de Mons (* 1558 in the Château de Mons in Royan ; † February 22, 1628 in the Château d'Ardennes near Fléac-sur-Seugne , Saintonge ) was a French nobleman, entrepreneur, discoverer and founder of the first permanent settlement in New France , in what is now Canada.

He was the son of Guy de Gua and Claire Gournard and married Judith Chesnel from the noble family of the Seigneurie von Meux ; the marriage remained childless. He called himself a Calvinist and fought on the side of Henry IV in the Huguenot Wars in France . The king later rewarded him for his extraordinary services with an annual allowance of 1,200 kroner and the governorship of the city of Pons in Saintogne.

New France

Towards the end of the 16th century France showed a growing interest in the coasts of what is now Canada , primarily for the sake of trade, especially the fur trade . In addition, there was the prospect of building settlements there that were initially intended to serve primarily as trading bases. Since the state treasury was empty, people who, on the basis of their experience - and also their financial strength - appeared suitable, were commissioned to build settlements in New France and to supply them for the first time. In return, the king granted them exclusive and lucrative trading rights with the Indians.

Dugua was most interested. In 1599, with the consent of his wife, he sold all of his possessions: his Château de Mons in Royan, his land in Puy du Fou and his estates in Vaux to his neighbor François de Villegrain, his lands around Saint-Sornin and other properties in Royan to Jean de Candelay , the governor of Royan. His proceeds were 88,248 livres . As early as 1600 he was sailing to Tadoussac as a member of the expedition of his friend Pierre Chauvin de Tonnetuit . In 1603 Dugua was commissioned to establish settlements in New France in the name of the king and he was given the trade monopoly for this, with hopes being directed primarily towards the fur trade . He was made lieutenant general of Acadia and other areas of New France and was supposed to bring 60 colonists there every year and convert the Indians to the Christian faith. Until then, all French attempts at settlement had failed.

Dugua hurried to win wealthy French merchants as members of a trading company whose starting capital on February 8, 1604 was around 90,000 livres . With this money he equipped two ships and recruited the 79 participants of the expedition, mainly craftsmen such as builders, joiners and bricklayers, as well as soldiers, vagabonds, several nobles and two priests. The most prominent participant was Samuel de Champlain , who was to serve the expedition as a geographer and cartographer .

St. Croix Island

On March 7, 1604, the first ship under captain Timothee left Le Havre , on March 10 the second under captain Morel with Dugua on board. They reached the coast of Nova Scotia at Cape la Have on May 8th . From there, Samuel de Champlain explored the unknown coast of Nova Scotia and then turned west towards the coast of New Brunswick . Here he reached the Bay of Fundy and discovered the mouth of the Saint John River on June 24th . In search of an easily defendable place for the colonists, they finally found an island in Passamaquoddy Bay , Île-Ste-Croix on June 26 , on which they established the first settlement. According to a plan by Champlain, a few dozen houses and a chapel were built, surrounded by palisades . Outside the palisades, the first wheat fields were laid in New France. Winter began on October 6th with the first snow, for the severity of which the colonists were not prepared. Soon the fresh vegetables and grains were used up and the residents were mainly dependent on cured meat for food. By the end of winter around half had died; scurvy was found to be the cause of death on the basis of bone fragments . In March 1605, Passamaquoddy Indians provided the half-starved survivors with fresh meat.

Port Royal

Dugua decided to leave the island and move to the Bay of Fundy, where Champlain founded the Port Royal settlement, now Annapolis Royal . The houses had previously been dismantled and brought to the new location by ship. Dugua himself had to return to France because his trading company was in financial difficulties.

Dugua arrived in France in September 1605 and soon realized that he could better serve the interests of his company from there. On May 13, 1606, he sent a new ship to Acadia to supply the young colony in Port Royal with food and new colonists. Francois Gravé, the person in charge of Port Royal, reported a good harvest, but had again lost 12 men to scurvy last winter.

In 1607, due to complaints from other merchants, King Henry revoked the trade monopoly granted to Dugua, whose financial situation became increasingly difficult. The main cause was the extent of the illegal fur trade, which had escaped him at least eight shiploads of fur in 1604 alone. In contrast to Dugua, these illegal traders did not have to bear any costs for the crossing or supplying the colonists.

Quebec

The king extended Dugua's monopoly for a year until 1608, following a promise to establish a trading post on the St. Lawrence River and to open up land for French colonies. Dugua raised new money and equipped another expedition, which consisted of three ships. The first was for Port Royal, the second for the Lower St. Lawrence River and the third, with Samuel de Champlain on board, was for the founding of Québec . Québec became a trading post and at the same time the starting point for exploring the areas further west. The next year, Dugua's monopoly was not renewed and the fur trade was now open to everyone.

The Château d'Ardennes, north-east elevation

Until the autumn of 1611, Dugua regularly sent ships to New France to supply the colonists and barter goods for the fur trade. The Quebec trading post developed well and new Indian tribes were recruited to trade. Exploration of the west also made progress. Nevertheless, the financial outlay on Dugua's ventures was high, and his partners wanted to give up Québec after renewed financial losses. Dugua found new partners and continued his activities in the fur trade and exploration of the country until 1617, but without seeing New France again.

Henry IV appointed him governor of Pons in 1610, an office he held until 1617. He died in 1628 at his castle, the Château d'Ardennes , near Fléac-sur-Seugne .

Place in history

Despite his great contributions to the exploration and colonization of Canada, Pierre Dugua de Monts rarely got his due place in the history books. It was he who made Champlain's research trips to the New World possible, and it was de Mont's credit that the first Europeans could live permanently in New France and be able to support themselves. In addition, he made the New World better known to the French population, as he published a collection of mammals and birds, Indian portraits, everyday objects and curiosities. These objects were examined by the respected humanist Nicolas de Peirese. His representations are among the first descriptions of animals and people in North America.

Web links

• Georges MacBeath: Pierre Dugua de Monts in the online lexicon of Canadian biographies (English)
• Sous l'if du château d'Ardennes, le souvenir de Dugua de Mons (French)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ He is occasionally, but incorrectly, referred to as "de Monts".
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Biography of Pierre Dugua de Mons
3. ↑ Bernard Allaire: Les fourrures nord-américaines à Paris, 1500-1632 . Septentrion, Sillery (Québec) 1999, ISBN 2-84050-161-9 , p. 16.
4. ^ Marcel Trudel: Initiation à la Nouvelle France. Histoire et institutions . Holt, Rinehart et Winston, Montréal 1968, p. 39.
5. ↑ Marcel Trudel: Histoire de la Nouvelle-France , Vol. 1: Les vaines tentatives, 1524-1603 . Fides, Montréal 1963, pp. 4-29.
6. ↑ Russell Bouchard: Le Saguenay des fourrures, 1534-1859 (series Histoire d'un monopole ). Bouchard, Chicoutimi-Nord 1989, ISBN 2-921101-02-5 , especially pp. 47 and 53-54.