Today we visited La Rochelle which was, in the time of Champlain, the jumping off point for the exploration of the new world. Here are some pictures we took today.
Friday, July 09, 2010
Heroes and things
Funny how one people's hero will be almost completely unknown to another. Yesterday we visited a small fortified village called Brouage. This small village was once an important salt port (where they exported salt) and had a population of 4000 which is now at 160. It was fortified during the religious wars between the Catholics and the Protestants in the 16th century but that's another story. In our case in the late 1500's was born a man called Samuel de Champlain who was baptized in the parish church of the village. In Québec he is the founding father of New France and his name is used to name streets, towns, counties, and even one of the largest lakes in the northeast. EVERYONE in Québec knows who he is and what he did. Without him, we probably wouldn't even exist. But in his home country, besides his native village, nobody has heard of him or if they have it is very vague. Different history and timeline I guess.
Today we visited La Rochelle which was, in the time of Champlain, the jumping off point for the exploration of the new world. Here are some pictures we took today.
- Posted from my iPhone
Today we visited La Rochelle which was, in the time of Champlain, the jumping off point for the exploration of the new world. Here are some pictures we took today.
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3 comments:
Your usual great pics and a neat history lesson, but your line:
Without him, we probably wouldn't even exist.
was funny. I'm sure you'd still exist. Maybe you meant your province.
I suppose Canadian history just isn't all that relevant to the little town? Beautiful place.
Geewits: what I meant is that as a people we wouldn't exist, so yes my province would not be there and probably North America as we know ot either. Canada would probably not even exist.
SAW: you are absolutely right. For hem he is just a minor historical figure when compared to France's long history.
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