This beautiful bronze monument by British sculptor Vernon March is in Orillia, on the shores of Lake Simcoe in Ontario, Canada. It was erected in 1925 for the 300th anniversary of French explorer Samuel de Champlain’s visit to the area. Champlain was looking for a shorter passage to the West Indies. He explored and mapped the St. Lawrence waterway and parts of the Great Lakes, built the first settlement in New France, Quebec, and established fur trading with native peoples. He befriended the Hurons, pushed for their christianization and even participated in their war against the Iroquois tribes. He became  governor of New France until his death in 1635.

I don’t know how many aboriginal people are depicted on monuments across North America, I’m guessing not many. I read that the positioning of these natives below Champlain and at the feet of the fur trader and the missionary is raising questions amongst the aboriginal community, however I found the inscription  on the commemorative plaque far more offensive towards native people. I will refrain from posting a photo of it.

Champlain himself cannot be viewed from up close, being so high up, but the natives can, and I did enjoy that tremendously. I don’t know what models the sculptor used, but he did a wonderful job.  The broad, muscular back of one of the natives is beautifully modelled, and so are the feet. Not even the pitiful graffiti can ruin the awe.

Being so taken by the figures and detail, I neglected taking a picture of the whole monument. Here is a picture from Canuck with a camera:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/canuckwithacamera/1074367734/

And I found this picture at the Orillia Public Library site,  taken outside the artist’s studio in England. It gives the viewer a good idea about the scale of the figures. Really impressive.

http://images.ourontario.ca/orillia/details.asp?ID=20404

Date : 7 octobre 2009

Heure : 17h à 19h

Lieu : Centre régional d’archives de Lanaudière
270, boul. L’Ange -Gardien,
L’Assomption, J5W 1R7

RSVP

Téléphone:  450 589-0233

Centre régional d’archives de Lanaudière – ACCUEIL via kwout

L’histoire du protestantisme au Québec est relativement peu connue, excepté peut-être l’épisode Charles Chiniquy, où un fougueux curé catholique décide de se convertir au protestantisme… Plus de détails ici.

On croit aussi que Samuel de Champlain, le fondateur de Québec, est né protestant (sujet à controverse lien 1 et lien 2).

La Société d’histoire du protestantisme franco-québécois (SHPFQ), créée en 2003, a pour but de ”préserver de l’oubli, faire connaître, mettre en valeur l’histoire et le patrimoine de la communauté franco-protestante et évangélique du Québec et des régions avoisinantes; de promouvoir le respect et l’amour de cet héritage dans la population en établissant un réseau de groupes et d’individus intéressés à cette histoire et à ce patrimoine. Elle veut aussi faire avancer la connaissance historique sur les protestants francophones du Québec et soutenir la recherche dans ce domaine. ”

Le site internet de la SHPFQ annonce les activités à venir de l’organisme. Il présente diverses sources et outils de recherche ainsi qu’un guide pour écrire l’histoire d’une Église, d’une association ou d’une communauté protestante. On y retrouve aussi une liste des personnes (pasteurs, évangélistes, etc) qui ont joué un rôle dans l’histoire du franco-protestantisme au Québec ainsi que des références. Certaines biographies rédigées par la SHPFQ sont déjà en ligne.

Il y a aussi des sections sur la généalogie, les photos et les articles, mais elles sont peu étoffées pour le moment.

Adresse: http://www.shpfq.org/

Billets reliés:

• Le patrimoine des minorités religieuses au Québec, richesse et vulnérabilité
• Deux expositions virtuelles sur le Séminaire de Québec
• Ces gens qui ont marqué notre histoire: Marie Fitzbach
• Inventaire des lieux de culte du Québec
• Les églises du Québec: reconvertir le patrimoine religieux?
• Les églises disparues du Québec
• Cimetières: patrimoine pour les vivants

I fear ambush, although better judgment tells me Juet has gotten under my skin, into my head.  Day after day, and night after night he urges me to set more men on watch, expecting the people of the country to come over the bulwarks.

I see nothing by night, and by day my eyes detect shoals at every turn.  Juet, in the attracting pull of the new continent, has been so thoroughly transformed that I suspect he’s no longer the same man.  Days before, we caught a most extraordinary fish. As Juet struggled to bring the fish in, he spoke of dominating this new people. He’s a new soul, his old soul having been banished back to England by the spirits of these waters.

Cathay, the ship’s cat, knows it.  As captain, I’m resisting it, denying  any distraction.

Bend on more sail, tomorrow I’ll tell the men.  Full speed ahead;  drive us northward and then on to Cathay, ye zephyrs of August.

(Painting: retouched image of Frederic Edwin Church’s Grand Manan Island, Bay of Fundy, 1852)

L’exposition virtuelle 400 ans de sciences au Québec a été créée d’après le livre Histoire des sciences au Québec, publié en 2008.

Dès la page d’accueil, on peut regarder une vidéo où le professeur en histoire et sociologie des sciences de l’UQAM, Yves Gingras, nous parle de la constitution d’une société à travers le rôle de la science . A quelques reprises, durant l’exposition, on verra des vidéos où le professeur Gingras nous entretient de divers aspects de l’histoire des sciences au Québec.

L’exposition est divisée en 15 périodes. On voit que dès l’arrivée de Champlain, les sciences ont été présente en Nouvelle-France. On a cartographié et amassé des échantillons de plantes, de roches et de minéraux pour documenter le potentiel économique de la colonie. Même les hommes de Dieu ont contribué à l’essor des sciences. Ainsi, on enseignait l’hydrographie et la physique d’Aristote au Collège des Jésuites.

Les universités vont prendre le relais dès le milieu du 19e siècle, jusqu’à nos jours. Les sociétés savantes, les médias et des vulgarisateurs comme le frère Marie-Victorin contribuent à diffuser les connaissances scientifiques au 19e et 20e siècle.

On voit que les Canadiens-Français ont vraiment commencé à s’imposer dans le domaine des sciences par l’enseignement et la recherche au cours du 20e siècle.

En somme, 400 ans de sciences au Québec est une belle exposition, bien vulgarisée. Elle nous fait prendre conscience que les Québécois contribuent depuis longtemps à l’avancement de la science.

Adresse: http://hdsquebec.org/400-ans-de-science-au-quebec.htm

Billets reliés:

• Ces gens qui ont marqué notre histoire: Johan Beetz
• Ces gens qui ont marqué notre histoire: l’abbé Francois Pilote
• La grippe espagnole de 1918-1919 à Montréal
• 150 ans d’enseignement agricole à La Pocatière

]]> http://mavisvintage.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/the-quadricentennial-and-going-through-the-motions/ Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:32:33 +0000 Mavis http://mavisvintage.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/the-quadricentennial-and-going-through-the-motions/

So, Burlington has had its festival commemorating the Champlain Quadricentennial —- meaning that 400 years ago in July 1609, Samuel de Champlain traveled down Petonbowk (the waters that lie between), making him the first European to set eyes on it.  Then he named it after himself.

Now, it is my understanding, from the big biography of Champlain that came out this year, that he was a pretty good guy, for an early European colonizer.  He spoke native languages, and was interested in collaborations and partnerships.

And, despite how very suspect the motives and urges of the Europeans who greedily came here were, to be fair, nobody had any idea how destructive the diseases they were carrying were going to be.

That was 300-500 years ago, and we can’t go back.

Big anniversaries of ambivalent and destructive events are really tough to figure out.  How do you commemorate something like this?  With seriousness?  With regret?  With celebration?

The celebratory commemoration is really a Victorian specialty — 100 to 150 years ago, every little town in Vermont was having a massive pageant to celebrate something or other.  In 1909 in Burlington, there was a massive pageant with Kahnawake Mohawks hired to paddle down the lake, reenacting Champlain’s historic visit (I learned this from a talk given by Kevin Dann last year, correct me if I’m wrong).  This was much easier to do in 1909, because all white people in Vermont knew for sure that all the Indians were long gone from the state.

Thankfully, 2009 is a tougher time for people to do something like that.  So Burlington assembled sort of a mish-mash of artists and musicians, some of whom were from Quebec and some from France.  There were some Abenaki and Iroquois artists in there too, as well as an Abenaki encampment.  And a parade.

I really support paying artists and musicians.  Paying artists is an excellent way to stimulate the economy.  Paying artists is also important for it’s own sake.

But if I had been in charge of the Quadricentennial, I would have mustered whatever ceremoniousness might have still be available to me from those repeating 09s and used it to make some serious commitments on behalf of the state of Vermont to Abenakis and other Native Americans here.

It would include official proclamations about history and responsibility.  It would include addressing poverty in the present.  It would include letting people label their crafts.  It would include not expecting people to show up and perform their culture for tourists for 10 days.  It would include admitting that we screwed things up in the intervale.  It would involve listening and asking questions and not hoping for a single spokesman for the “native perspective.”  It would involve a real pledge to be an ally on the state level and a supporter on the national level.  It might even involve giving up some land.

I would take all the money devoted to drinking beer and listening to music on the waterfront (you don’t have to put a million dollars toward people doing that! people are already doing that on their own dime!) and put it towards research and conservation.  I would commit to a bold environmental goal for the Lake Champlain region.  I would get a bunch of scholars to rigorously do the busywork and collaborate with native scholars and communities, researching and recording stories until we actually know a lot more about Vermont’s real history.  Because we don’t actually know that much.

That would be, I think, a commemoration that connects the past to the future.  Maybe they will let me do it in 2059.

Le site web Images anciennes du Canada: illustrations tirées de livres rares est une initiative de Bibliothèque et archives Canada. Il contient 550 images (surtout des gravures) provenant de récits de missionnaires ou de voyages publiés avant 1800. Les images sont classées par thème et par ouvrage. Parmi les illustrations numérisées, on retrouve celles de Histoire et description generale de la Nouvelle France [...] par Pierre-François-Xavier Charlevoix et Les voyages du sieur de Champlain Xaintongeois, capitaine ordinaire pour le Roy, en la marine de Samuel de Champlain.

Comme vous pourrez le constater, certaines images ont des airs de famille. On parle ici de retirages et de variantes. Voir la section A propos du site pour plus d’explications.

Il est intéressant de voir comment les explorateurs et les missionnaires percevaient leur environnement. Certaines illustrations font sourire car elles sont un peu – beaucoup- éloignées de la réalité.

Ce site plaira à ceux qui s’intéressent aux livres anciens et à l’histoire des débuts de la colonisation européenne en Amérique du Nord.

Adresse: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/imagesanciennes/

Billets reliés:

• CyberMuse – Musée des Beaux-arts du Canada
• Cybermuséologie
• Les archives photographiques du Musée du Bas-Saint-Laurent
• Le musée McCord et le web
• Musée virtuel du Canada

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Samuel de Champlain was a French navigator who explored and mapped much of northeastern North America during the 17th century. His work was crucial in opening the territory now known as Canada to fur trading and French settlement. One of the navigational aids he used was the mariner’s astrolabe, which measured the height of the sun or stars and made it possible to calculate latitude. This statue honoring Champlain sits on a prominent point overlooking the Ottawa River, which Champlain explored in 1613. If any of you consider using a mariner’s astrolabe to guide you on your next trans-Atlantic journey, I do not recommend holding it as shown in this work of art. Apparently, the sculptor depicted Champlain holding his valued navigational aid upside down!

This image is processed in Lightroom and Photomatix from a single RAW exposure. The original image (seen below) was duplicated in Lightroom at -2 and +2 and these two new exposures were used along with the original exposure to blend and tone-map in Photomatix. Additional adjustments were then made in Lightroom.

Crash!  Tear!   Rend!  Rip!  Thwack! all sounds of terror added to wind and thunder in the darkness before dawn!  Horrors for any mariner until reason intervenes and fights back.  So it was when the foremast splintered and crashed into the sea last night, leaving the foredeck a confused jungle of rigging.  Any crew tangled in this web would have found himself dragged to his peril as waves pulled the debris away from the ship, mostly away.  Crew took up knives and axes and quickly severed the fibers, keeping the colluding wind and water from capsizing our ship. . . .

No one was injured although Cathay, the ship’s cat, was saved only by pouncing back onto the deck as her favorite spar was about to plunge into the wild seas.  Lucky Cathay.  Her previous near-communication-with-the-sea came at Nord Kap, where she leapt from the foremast to the forehouse, not realizing it was sheer ice, and nearly slid into the chilling seas.

As the crew labors to fashion a temporary foremast, I realize that for the first time in weeks  the crew have put aside their feuds, their divisions; they ceased cursing each other in their different languages.  With united purpose, we can juryrig a foremast that’ll get us to the forests described by Champlain and Smith, where we’ll fashion a new mast, new spars.  By my calculations and give or take a few hundred leagues, we are at latitude 48 north and now closer to North America than to Nord Kap where we turned.    With this new unity of mission, we will soon reach the rocky pine coast, make repairs, and begin the next leg of our journey to Cathay.

Radio-Canada, dans le cadre du 375e anniversaire de la fondation de la ville de Trois-Rivières, a produit des capsules vidéo sur l’histoire de cette ville. 52 capsules seront télédiffusées sur les ondes de Radio-Canada Mauricie. Ces capsules sont déjà en ligne sur le site de Radio-Canada.

Vous allez découvrir ou redécouvrir les événements et les personnages qui ont marqué l’histoire de Trois-Rivières comme Samuel De Champlain, Pierre-Esprit Radisson, les Ursulines et Maurice Duplessis. Chaque capsule est d’une durée de 30 secondes et contient des images d’archives.

Petit bémol: la qualité du son varie d’une capsule à l’autre.

Pour voir les capsules: http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/mauricie/dossiers/detail2.asp?pk_dossiers_regionaux=204&pk_dossiers_regionaux_page=304

Pour en savoir plus

Page de la SRC concernant sa programmation spéciale et l’actualité du 375 anniversaire de Trois-Rivières: http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/mauricie/dossiers/detail2.asp?PK_Dossiers_regionaux=204

Site officiel des fêtes du 375e anniversaire de la ville de Trois-Rivières: http://www.375tr.com/

]]> http://worldofmusichome.wordpress.com/2009/06/08/bdjf-day-2-rock-paper-scissors/ Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:17:17 +0000 Cheryl http://worldofmusichome.wordpress.com/2009/06/08/bdjf-day-2-rock-paper-scissors/

a Firehouse floor socket, only one in the whole place that was empty!

Yesterday evening’s performance at Burlington’s Firehouse Gallery was just the kind of thing I usually try to seek out at the Discover Jazz festival: the unusual performances that define the edges of the art, as much as the headliners aim squarely for the populist center. A complete festival needs (and attracts) both kinds of experiences.

A few days ago I found out banjo legend Paul Metzger was coming to town. While not technically an event sponsored by the Discover Jazz Festival, his appearance in Burlington was timed perfectly to offer that alternative musical performance perspective. He’s touring with with Elaine Evans (amplified violin and pocket trumpet), Amen Dunes (guitar/vocals), the Paper Hats (self-described “experimentalists”) and Eric Carbonara, who plays fine flamenco-style acoustic guitar and an unusual guitar/sitar hybrid called a “Chaturangui”.  They each played an individual set, and the order of performances was decided in the back of the room just before the music started. It was a very involved process: a heated bout of rock/paper/scissors. (Those crazy experimental musicians!)

Paul doesn’t have the high profile of other banjo greats – folks like Bela Fleck and Earl Scruggs – though it’s a safe bet they sure know who he is. He doesn’t seem to be too bothered with all of that. I talked with him a little before the show and I got the feeling that the mainstream isn’t where an artist like him can operate, and still have the latitude they need to to develop their vision. Paul’s career has been defined by breaking every banjo rule and rediscovering the instrument from the ground up, including how it’s played, and expectations of how it “should” sound.

Paul tuning his modified banjo

While Paul is reinventing an established instrument, guitarist Eric Carbonara is exploring new realms with a recently invented one. He helped design the instrument with his teacher, Indian slide guitar master Debashish Bhattacharya. The “Chaturangui” fuses an acoustic guitar and a sitar onto a single body and sounds like an entire metallic orchestra of guitars and sitars all playing simultaneously. The sound is big, and impressive. On the way home last night I listened to one of Eric’s CDs I had picked up at the show. It contains two tracks: each is over 10 min. long, unfolding and developing patiently, building in complexity, much like ragas in their form and feel. Loved it.

Eric and the Chaturanguia

The concert reminded me of something I read recently in Kyle Gann’s excellent collection of essays on contemporary music, Music Downtown: “Music is a language to the extent that it has syntax, rules that govern its continuation, a level of predictability with which events happen. But that’s the formulaic, ‘yang’ side of music. Rules don’t govern everything, and some passages take even the composer by surprise. In the hullaballoo about language, music’s less describable side – image – has suffered neglect, in both composition and discourse.”

Last night’s show was all about that side: music’s capacity to evoke images, expressed vividly through the unique language of experimentalism.

Earlier in the day, for some non-jazz festival music, I had stopped by the Fleming Museum to hear organist David Neiweem’s recital on UVM’s 4-stop portative organ in the Museum’s interior Marble Courtyard. It’s a 2001 model, by Dutch builder Henk Klop. The performance was part of the Museum’s new exhibit “A Beckoning Country“, a celebration of art from the Champlain Valley to coincide with the region’s Quadricentennial celebrations this year.

David’s program featured music from the time of Samuel de Champlain, the French explorer who arrived in the area from Québec City and mapped the Lake region in 1609. Who was writing music around that time? Girolamo Frescobaldi and John Blow were. So were Samuel Scheidt, Michele Corrette, and, J.S. Bach. What an interesting idea for a program.

David Neiweem at the Fleming

Scheidt’s partita on Martin Luther’s Easter chorale Christ lag in Todesbanden was especially lovely, as the light voice of the portative spoke in airy contrast to the weightiness of the chorale.

What a great day of diverse music!

SLATE.FR - À paraître

Quand l’essayiste et romancier John Ralston Saul (prononcez « soul ») explore la psyché canadienne.

L’estomac dans les talons, je descends la rue University, guidé par les effluves odorants du Saint-Laurent. C’est le début de la saison des maringouins, un soir à mocassins… Quelle mouche a donc piqué les Iroquois, qui ont posé ici leur village d’Hochelaga ?

Au deuxième sous-sol de l’hôtel Delta, salle Cartier AB (un Éden climatisé), le 11e Festival littéraire international de Montréal, articulé cette année autour du thème « la force des mots », accueille John Ralston Saul. Le commun des Canadiens le connaît surtout en sa qualité de conjoint d’Adrienne Clarkson, ancienne gouverneur général (notre chef d’État, représentant la Reine Elizabeth II au Canada). Pourtant, dans « Mon pays métis », dixième essai publié aux éditions du Boréal, Sa Sommité le Vice-Consort (qualifié de « prophète » par le magazine Time, figurant dans la liste des cent principaux leaders et visionnaires de la revue Utne Reader) prend la plume… pour clouer au pilori les élites « coloniales » de son pays. Propositions « décapantes » : et si les Canadiens étaient le peuple « le moins européen » de la planète ? Si nous formions, en dépit des apparences et contre tout ce que l’on nous enseigne, une société métisse d’inspiration amérindienne ?

L’idée du livre remonte en 1976, lorsque Saul effectue un voyage en Arctique en compagnie du président-directeur général de Pétro-Canada.  Ils y rencontrent plusieurs chefs autochtones, qui leur racontent « un autre monde ». Bercé par une rationalité toute européenne, débarquant qui plus est de France, où il s’est intéressé à la réorganisation des institutions sous la présidence de Charles de Gaulle, Saul a un choc : « j’étais un jeune homme qui pensait avoir les réponses à tout et, en l’espace d’une heure, j’ai compris que je n’avais rien compris » (L’Acadie Nouvelle du 21 avril)…

PROPOSITION 1 : Sur les quatre siècles de notre histoire, « on peut dire que les 250 premières années ont été dominées complètement ou partiellement par les autochtones. Or, c’est durant cette période que naît une “manière de faire” qui nous est propre. Les Européens se sont adaptés, ajustés au territoire avec l’aide des sociétés autochtones et par le biais des mariages mixtes ». « Nos garçons se marieront à vos filles et nous ne formerons plus qu’un peuple », lance ainsi Samuel de Champlain lors de son arrivée au Québec, bientôt imité par les Britanniques qui, un siècle plus tard, offrent des primes aux soldats mariant des autochtones afin de faciliter les alliances contre les Français. Plus tard, la Compagnie de la Baie d’Hudson adopte une stratégie semblable pour s’implanter dans le Grand Nord. « Le Canada a donc toujours été un pays métis. »

PROPOSITION 2 : « Nous ne sommes pas une civilisation d’inspiration française ou britannique, nous ne l’avons jamais été », affirme Saul. Le pilier de la psyché canadienne, la partie immergée de l’iceberg (pour reprendre Freud), est bien plus « auto » que « franco » ou « anglo ». « Tout ce qui marche fondamentalement au Canada vient des autochtones, et tout ce qui ne marche pas est ce que nous avons copié-collé d’Europe ».  La « complexité » du vivre ensemble canadien, où de multiples loyautés coexistent sans hiérarchie imposée (tout le contraire du « monolithisme » européen), notre égalitarisme, notre tradition de la négociation (non-violence), l’équilibre que nous recherchons entre la protection de l’individu et la protection du groupe, notre fonctionnement « en cercles » (notamment dans le domaine de l’immigration, où l’« adoption » progressive est préférée à l’« assimilation »), notre tradition bien davantage orale qu’écrite, notre assurance maladie, notre aide juridique – bref, cet ensemble qui nous définit comme pays, résulte de l’incorporation des valeurs et des modes de fonctionnement des Premières Nations.

PROPOSITION 3 : Si les élites politiques et économiques du Canada sont de plus en plus « incompétentes et inefficaces », c’est parce qu’elles sont prisonnières de visions, de concepts et de mythologies importées d’Europe, qui « ne collent pas » avec ce qu’est véritablement le Canada. En somme, nos élites sont « incapables de croire dans le Canada » et « ne veulent pas le diriger ». Il en résulte un « blocage » et un « malaise » dans la population (objet de ma précédente chronique), dont on ne pourra sortir qu’en adoptant « un langage reflétant notre histoire véritable ». À cette condition, et grâce à la promotion sociale des autochtones (créer une université dans le Grand Nord, nommer des ministres autochtones au gouvernement, consulter systématiquement les communautés, etc.), « nous pourrions redécouvrir la force de traduire nos conceptions en actes, la force d’agir conformément à notre nature profonde. »

Aux quelque 360 000 Français qui nous rendent visite chaque année, voilà un petit livre que je recommande. À mi-chemin (façon de parler) entre le Routard et le Michelin, il vous permettra de mieux comprendre où vous mettez les pieds, et peut-être même d’éviter de vous faire « scalper » !? Quoique…

[Certains droits sont réservés]

Déjà vu . . . déjà vu. That’s the term coming to mind. Only last year we followed the Norwegian shore. I know its tricky winds and my crew have seen the denizens of its waters . . . from spouting whales, feeding puffins, and at least one frolicking mermaid. I can’t be sure I’ve seen her, but my dreams of her are quite vivid. I sense she knows me and guides our ship. Maybe her destiny and mine are somehow intertwined. Maybe what Cathay offers me, it also offers her. My obsession is hers too, ours shared.

As we climb the latitudes I spend much time on the quarter deck with the spyglass and cross-staff. Taking readings and looking for Nord Kap is what the crew thinks, and of course that’s what Mr Juet and I are doing, but in my case . . . .in my case, I’m imagining that our mermaid also guides. I watch all signs of nature, including the supernatural ones At at such point that she suggests in her inimitable non-verbal communication that we turn for the isthmus of Smith and Champlain, then that we certain shall do, VOC be damned.

]]> http://archivesaffiche.wordpress.com/2009/04/26/l%e2%80%99unesco-a-lance-son-projet-de-bibliotheque-numerique-le-voyage-de-champlain-de-1603-et-qu%e2%80%99une-vue-de-quebec-datant-de-1755-sy-trouvent-entre-autres/ Mon, 27 Apr 2009 01:24:37 +0000 karinmichel http://archivesaffiche.wordpress.com/2009/04/26/l%e2%80%99unesco-a-lance-son-projet-de-bibliotheque-numerique-le-voyage-de-champlain-de-1603-et-qu%e2%80%99une-vue-de-quebec-datant-de-1755-sy-trouvent-entre-autres/

Marc Gauthier : Mon espace sur le web consacré à l’art et à son histoire, nous signale que

«L’UNESCO a lancé hier son projet de bibliothèque numérique. S’il est modeste par son ampleur (1170 objets), il convient de souligner la volonté de rendre accessible gratuitement ces documents présents dans les grands centres d’archives internationaux.

Au fil des clics, on soulignera qu’on y retrouve en entier le Voyage de Champlain de 1603 (23 Mo, format PDF) ainsi qu’une vue de Québec datant de 1755. Le Voyage est conservé à la Bibliothèque John Carter Brown (Brown University, Providence RI) tandis que la carte provient de la Bibliothèque du Congrès américain. »

Vue de Quebec, capitale du … – Bibliothèque numérique mondiale

((Editor’s Note: Although Henry channeled this logbook installment some days back, we’ve lost the artwork–water color–several times, owing to the splash of the North Sea washing the tint off the medium.  Be assured that Bowsprite and I are consulting  the best 17th-century telecom specialists still around to assist with technical onshore aquarelle dehydration aka TOAD.))

Half Moon, my equus maritimus, has been riding the North Sea well, galloping happily away from the wharf in Amsterdam.  Our course has taken us close enough for brief landfalls at Peterhead in Scotland and Lerwick in the Shetlands.  From there we make for the Lofotens, which the high mountains will reveal some distance out at sea.  We follow that over the top of Nordkap and east to Cathay.  Except for Cathay, these landfalls are nothing new;  we were here only 12 moonths ago.

Spirits are high on board;  the crew seem as elated as I am to leave our beloveds and our places to seek out and discover.  Each landfall conjures up ideas of adventures deferred.  How might Peterhead girls sing?  What grog can be bought in the Shetlands?  What savory fish permeates Lofoten kitchens?  I’d love to know, but not now.  Nordkap beckons and Cathay awaits with its own girls, grog, and grub.  Spirit us there, equus maritimus aka half moon, a name I despise as it associates closely with halfs like half-hearted, half-baked, and a farmer’s term I recently learned from the bawdy Dutch … half-assed.

And if the privacy of the journal allows–I pray you speak to on one of this–a word about contingencies:  a map came into my possession one moonless night on the Amsterdam wharfs, a map copied from John Smith.  Virginia, he suggests, is but a thin isthmus beyond which lies the great Ocean that laps on the shores of Cathay.  If no Northeast Passage opens, then Smith’s map will present an alternative.

By LEIGH HORNBECK,T imesUnion.com, link to original full article

Schuylerville will play host to the Great Champlain Hudson River Paddle this summer as a band of kayakers makes its first overnight stop en route to Manhattan.

The paddle trip, sponsored by the Hudson River Valley Greenway, has special significance this year, the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s trip upriver to Castleton, but it almost didn’t happen.

During the state budget process, funds for the Greenway were in limbo. Originally, a month-long paddle trip was planned from Rouse’s Point just south of the Canadian border on Lake Champlain to Manhattan. Instead, the great paddle will begin at Rogers Island in Washington County.

In years past, the paddle has started in Albany and about 30 kayakers have made the entire trip with day paddlers joining in along the way. Dan McLaughlin of Highland Landing, Ulster County, will be making his seventh great paddle. “This is one body of water where you will see eagles, osprey, cormorants, and then further down the communities that grew up along and because of the river, to places where railroad tracks border both sides of the river, and you have everything from ocean-going vessels to rowboats alongside you,” McLaughlin said.

It is a cleaner trip these days than McLaughlin’s first journey in 2003. The sight of litter and old refrigerators dumped in the water used to be common, he said. A crew travels along with the paddlers on land, carrying food and supplies.

McLaughlin, who will turn 60 the day before the paddle begins Aug. 3, said each year he considers sitting out the trip, but each year he’s compelled to pack his 18-foot sea kayak for the 193-mile journey. He sees something new each time out, he said.

The paddlers will make overnight stops, beginning at Fort Hardy Park in Schuylerville. The other stop in Saratoga County is Peebles Island in Waterford, and other overnights include New Baltimore, Wappingers and Yonkers. The final stop is at Pier 96 in New York City Aug 17.

The village of Schuylerville will host the kayakers and sponsor a festival with the help of a grant from the Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial Commission. This year marks the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain’s exploration of the lake that now bears his name and the 200th anniversary of Robert Fulton’s journey up the Hudson River, the first successful trip aboard a steamboat.

McLaughlin, a retired MTA sergeant, said he was always intrigued by the river’s history and relishes seeing first-hand what he read about in books. “It’s a beautiful river,” he said. “And it’s right there for all of us.”

Getting involved
Experienced paddlers may join the Great Champlain-Hudson Paddle, Aug. 3 to 17, for $875.
Shorter getaway trips are also planned for $210 per person, $400 for two and $600 for three.
Registration closes June 15.
There will also be opportunities along the way for novices to try their hand at paddling.
For more information, contact Scott Keller at scott.keller@hudsongreenway.state.ny.us or 518-473-3835.

musicians atop the battlement wall

Ready for that visit to Europe? Forget about booking a flight. Your passport and a tank of gas will good as get you there.

Had a couple of days off and hit the road today for Québec City. Around four and a half hours northeast of Burlington, the history and charm of the province’s capital city have beckoned ever since I moved to Vermont. A couple of extra reasons finally drove the decision to go today. First, the historical draw: with Quadricentennial celebrations happening this year in Burlington this was the opportunity to get the rich backstory by visiting the city founded by Samuel de Champlain, in his pre-Lake year of 1608.

And, with a performer like Dobet Gnahoré in town for a show tonight – road trip!

Arrived in the city around 4 and the first stop was the Old Port neighborhood to pick up tickets for tonight’s show at the grand Palais Montcalm. I was surprised to find how contemporary the theatre looked, since the online history mentioned it had been built in the 1930s. Turns out the recent renovation did a lot more than touch up the building’s stone facade…taking a look around inside later on revealed a tastefully modernized auditorium in the glossy dark wood finish that would have been at the top of its deco style when it was built. Beautiful.

Dobet's playbill

Second stop: hotel check-in, and then a long, quiet sunset-lit dinner at the Cafe Conti just down the street – er, rue. Recommended by the hotel desk, the low-light, casually elegant stone wall interior created a nice, non-competitive backdrop for the bright colors and saturated flavors in the meal. Focus on the food, just as it should be. Without a reservation on a Saturday night, a bar seat was the only one available. I never mind sitting at the bar but it felt odd to be eating on straw placemats through the salad course when the rest of the place was draped in white linens. That was soon remedied when an attentive bar attendant swept through and replaced all of the straw mats beneath everyone’s plates with white cloth napkins, spread out and smoothed, with the glasses, utensils and plates carefully replaced. “It’s just nicer,” she said. Alors, quite true.

And then, back to the Palais for Dobet!

I’d seen her in concert once before, when she came to Higher Ground shortly after the release of her latest recording, Na Afriki. When I realized tonight’s show was a seated one, I was a little disappointed because Dobet’s enthusiasm for dancing is infectious and I couldn’t imagine not moving around when she was performing. And while the show did end up being a bit more subdued than I remembered the last time, the fact is there simply aren’t many places that can match the intimacy of the rooms at Higher Ground for really allowing a personal interaction with the artists. So that’s a tough point for criticism.

In every other way the show was great: meaningful, politically pointed, musically thrilling…and can she dance! Check her out from this club date in Amsterdam.

Time to call it a night, tomorrow holds an exploration of the Citadel and other historic places around the city. And a lot of other unexpected adventures, I hope!

À demain.

I love the warm breezes on my cheek telling me it’s spring. Soon, soon we will be under way and cold winds will plow us through white-capped seas and ice mountains all the way to Cathay. Let Smith stay in his Virginia and Champlain in his wide dead-end river . . . Half Moon will light the way to the East.

Soon, but an old dispute has broken out about which calendar to use . . . our English calendar seems unacceptable to some of the Dutch. The Roman Pope Gregory 13 decided some years back to revise time-keeping itself! As for me, I’m an explorer whose destiny draws me to Cathay, not a man of religion. Let’s just sail . . . on Gregory’s calendar or ours—they call it Julian’s—be gone with stilo novo or stilo Julio.

Soon we cast off. Watching Half Moon rock and strain in these breezes, I imagine the vessel eager like me, impatient to run her beak deep into blue water and then raise it upwards, washing its decks to the scupper holes with white foamy salt water, frothy as Dutch beer, as we speed our way to Cathay. I’ve dreamt of arriving in Cathay, with its palm trees, silks, spice, and gold. Soon I, like my ship, will be released. With the awesome power of the wind, Half Moon will race seaward with a spirited stallion. That lion on the bow . . . when we arrive in the East I’ll barter that feline for a horse’s head, equus maritimus.

By Michael Risinit, The Journal News, LoHud.com, link to original article

Organizers from Manhattan to Troy aren’t letting the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage up and down his eponymous river pass without recognition – even if money is short.

Planning for the quadricentennial marking Hudson’s exploration, as well as that of Frenchman Samuel de Champlain’s discovery of the lake bearing his name, began in 2002. With the anniversaries just months away and the state in the midst of an economic mess, dollars are tight but enthusiasm is high.

“With less money, we do less, but it’s more meaningful. That’s how we feel,” said Tara Sullivan, executive director of the Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial Commission. “2009 is here. We’re not going to cheat New Yorkers in honoring their great American history.”

The celebration also recognizes the 200th anniversary of Robert Fulton’s journey up the Hudson River on the first successful steamboat. Sullivan said the state budgeted $4 million for the commission in fiscal year 2008-09. That money, she said, was awarded to communities for local events. “We’re only just beginning to be able to deliver that. It is beginning to flow,” she said.

The 1909 Hudson tricentennial focused on light and flight, a nod to Thomas Edison and his electric lights and the Wright brothers, less than six years after their first flight, flying over New York Harbor. This time, Sullivan said, the focus is “economic and environmental sustainability.”

Sullivan said the state commission’s Web site recently racked up it’s 1,000th event posting for the 2009 celebration. One of the highlights is “River Day,” which starts June 6 and runs for several days. Some 400 boats, both pleasure craft and historic vessels, are to sail from New York City to Albany in an effort to connect the celebrating communities. Boats from Ossining Boat and Canoe Club are expected to join the convoy early June 7, sailing between the Scarborough light river marker and Croton Point.

“It’s winter. Our boats are on land, shrink-wrapped and all. But people are gearing up for this,” said Pat Unger of the Ossining club, who is event coordinator for all boat clubs from Yonkers to Poughkeepsie.

“If everybody starts spreading the word, everybody will start to know,” Sinistore said of the dozens of Westchester events celebrating Hudson’s voyage.

Putnam tourism director Valerie Hickman said she has “a few things in the limelight, particularly in the Cold Spring area,” referring to the village and nearby hamlet of Garrison on the Hudson’s shores. This includes events for River Day, fireworks around the Fourth of July and other festivities.

Cold Spring Mayor Anthony Phillips said he hopes to organize a village community day to celebrate the quadricentennial. Last week, the mayor and other officials received a quadricentennial flag from the commission.

Sullivan, the commission’s executive director, had one suggestion for state residents, given the sobering economic times and the celebrations planned for their backyards. “Don’t go anywhere else. Stay in New York this year,” Sullivan said.

In this great land is one of the best rivers in the world. The beauty of the countryside cannot be overpraised, for the fertility of the soil, the extent of the forests, and the opportunities for hunting and fishing in abundance. All these things hold out their arms to you.

Samuel de Champlain

quoted in Dreams of a Land

Directed by Robert Doucet

I have once again chosen to embed a short video for your enjoyment. This National Film Board documentary about Samuel de Champlain is both informative and creative. The story is told quickly, with an emphasis on Champlain’s dreams, ambitions, and struggles. The animation, which resembles crayon sketches, stirs the imagination and refuses to fill in all of the blanks. Perhaps the most intriguing part of the story is Champlain’s willingness first to travel back and forth to France for supplies each year to support his search for the Pacific Ocean, and second his desire to stay in Canada even after many of his men had died, and the “Great Sea” turned out to just be another freshwater lake. Here was a man who fell in love with this land, as the quote above demonstrates. As someone who has always loved history, particularly from the period of exploration, I find stories like Champlain’s to be both exciting and nightmarish. I can’t fathom watching my colleagues die from scurvy in the dead of a seemingly endless winter because our food has run out or frozen. I can’t imagine the punishing portages over difficult terrain, and the immense disappointment at failing to find a passage to India. But I can fall in love with the spirit of adventure, perserverance, courage, and self sacrafice that drew men like Champlain to cross the Atlantic in the first place, and to set up settlements in unforgiving climates, when life in France might have been more comfortable. No doubt the native peoples played an important part in ensuring the survival of colonists, and I certainly wish they had been treated better. As winter refuses to leave on a cold February day, I think it’s important to remember all those Native, French, British, or Dutch who endured the winters for centuries both out of necessity, and a love for this land.

Mois de l’histoire des Noirs 3

François Richard

Dossier Mois de l’histoire des Noirs

Afin de souligner le Mois de l’histoire des Noirs, Reflet de Société vous offre une série de quatre articles portant sur des personnages d’origine africaine marquants, souvent méconnus, de l’histoire nord-américaine. Troisième personnage, Mathieu Da Costa, interprète africain, ou d’origine africaine, pour les navigateurs français et hollandais auprès des autochtones canadiens au début du 17è siècle.

3. Mathieu Da Costa

Avant de raconter l’histoire de Mathieu Da Costa, il est important de préciser qu’il existe très peu d’informations à son sujet. Son nom n’apparaît en effet que dans quelques documents juridiques français et hollandais datant du dix-septième siècle et sa biographie est essentiellement inconnue. L’histoire de Mathieu Da Costa est donc intéressante surtout en ce qu’elle permet de prendre conscience d’une présence noire méconnue en Amérique du Nord aux tous débuts de la colonisation européenne, soit avant l’avènement de la traite des Noirs à grande échelle qui marquera l’histoire américaine au cours des deux siècles suivant. Mathieu Da Costa était un homme libre, venu travailler en Amérique en échange d’un salaire qui, pour l’époque, était élevé.  

Une existence juridique

Le nom de Mathieu Da Costa apparaît dans le compte-rendu d’un procès qui a eu lieu à Amsterdam au cours du mois de février 1607. Le litige porte sur un crime commis à Tadoussac quelques mois auparavant. Le bateau de l’explorateur français Pierre Dugua De Mons, qui a travaillé avec Samuel Champlain à l’époque, est alors attaqué par une flotte hollandaise. Selon le peu d’information disponible, l’interprète Mathieu Da Costa aurait à cette occasion été pris par les Hollandais, qui souhaitaient l’avoir à leur service. Il fait parti de ce que De Mons réclame au tribunal hollandais en réparation de l’attaque dont lui et ses hommes ont été victimes. Ces documents permettent d’établir que Mathieu Da Costa n’était pas d’origine européenne, puisqu’il y est affublé du qualificatif “nègre”. Son statut d’interprète entre les Européens et les Autochtones d’Amérique y est également précisé.

L’interprète emprisonné

Le nom de l’interprète apparaît ensuite sur un contrat d’embauche pour des voyages en Amérique qu’il a conclu avec De Mons à Amsterdam en 1608. Mathieu Da Costa est mentionné deux dernières fois sur des documents européens, au cours des années 1608 et 1609, notamment lorsqu’il purge une peine de prison dans la ville normande du Havre pour “insolence”.

S”il n’existe pas de preuve qu’il ait effectivement foulé le sol américain, le fait qu’il ait été à l’emploi de De Mons lors de l’attaque de Tadoussac permet de penser qu’il a accompagné l’explorateur dans ses voyages en Acadie et dans la vallée du Saint-Laurent.

Les explorateurs d’Afrique

La question qui surgit à l’esprit lorsque l’existence de Mathieu Da Costa est évoquée est : mais comment un Africain pouvait-il servir d’interprète entre les Européens et les Amérindiens? La côte Atlantique de l’Afrique est à cette époque visitée depuis près de deux siècles par les navigateurs et marchands portugais. Ces derniers ont établis des comptoirs de commerce permanents en Afrique et un dialecte de commerce, à mi-chemin entre le portugais et les langues africaines, s’y est développé. Comme les autres métiers à l’époque, celui d’interprète se serait transmis de père en fils, dans ce cas-ci de père en fils métis, issus des unions entre portugais et africaines. Ces métis étaient les mieux placés pour faire le pont entre deux cultures ayant peu à voir l’une avec l’autre et sont devenus au fil du temps autant des commerçants professionnels que des interprètes. Le nom Da Costa a d’ailleurs une consonance latine et permet de penser que Mathieu pourrait avoir eu des ancêtres portugais.

Il faut savoir de plus que les équipages des navires d’exploration européens étaient composés de gens d’origines diverses. Les “professionnels” de l’exploration étaient rarement attachés à leur pays d’origine et vendaient plutôt leurs services au plus offrant, à l’instar de l’Italien Christophe Colomb, qui a découvert les Antilles au nom de la couronne d’Espagne.

L’embauche d’interprètes africains procurait plusieurs avantages aux explorateurs européens, dont leur expertise de négociants interculturels professionnels, les similitudes entre les patois de commerce d’Afrique et d’Amérique et le fait que, puisqu’ils n’étaient pas Blancs, ils pouvaient constituer un équilibre dans les relations qui, déjà à l’époque, se dégradaient rapidement entre Européens et Amérindiens.

Mathieu Da Costa et le Canada

Si les historiens se montrent extrêmement prudents quant à l’existence et au rôle historique de Mathieu Da Costa, le gouvernement canadien n’hésite pas, pour sa part, à en faire un symbole de sa politique multiculturelle. Ainsi, un concours scolaire intitulé le Défi Mathieu Da Costa, visant à souligner le Mois de l’histoire des Noirs, se déroule depuis 1996 dans les écoles du pays. En 2009, la Chambre des communes a institué la Journée Mathieu Da Costa, à être célébrée à travers le pays la première journée de février. La mémoire de l’interprète africain est aussi soulignée au musée de l’Habitation du lieu historique national du Canada de Port-Royal à Annapolis, en Nouvelle-Écosse.

Ce billet est largement inspiré du texte Mathieu Da Costa et les débuts du Canada: possibilités et probabilités de A.J.B. Johnston, que vous pouvez consulter gratuitement en ligne.

Mary Ann Camberton

Le dernier personnage présenté dans le cadre de cette série sera Mary Ann Camberton, réfugiée américaine au Canada qui a vécu au dix-neuvième-siècle. Elle fut journaliste, fondatrice d’un journal en Ontario, recruteur pour l’armée du Nord durant la Guerre de Sécession, enseignante et militante de la cause noire.

Pour commenter ce billet sur le Mois de l’histoire des Noirs, veuillez consulter ce lien.

PUBLICITÉ

Conte illustré ralliant l’imagination débordante de Patrick Viger, un jeune de 15 ans, l’expérience littéraire de Raymond Viger et les illustrations professionnelles de Victor Panin. Patrick Viger a commencé à écrire en duo avec son père dès l’âge de 8 ans. Cette écriture a commencé par un jeu; une façon d’établir une relation entre un père et son fils. Ce conte illustré a été écrit pour le plaisir et l’amusement. 4,95$

Disponible Par téléphone: (514) 256-9000, en région: 1-877-256-9009
Par Internet: www.refletdesociete.com
Par la poste: Reflet de Société 4233 Ste-Catherine Est Montréal, Qc. H1V 1X4

This year marks the quadricentennial [400th!] celebration of Samuel de Champlain’s “founding” and naming of the Lake that bears his name.  2009 will see many festivities and exhibits about Lake Champlain at area art galleries, theaters, museums, and libraries ~ indeed they started on New Year’s Eve at the First Night in Burlington Vermont! ~ for more information on some of these scheduled events, please visit the

Lake Champlain 400 site

Lake Champlain figures prominently in the history of Vermont and the history of the early republic of young America during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.  It makes fascinating reading and there are many books on the subject.  I outline a few of them here, a small selection of what is available for purchase at my bookshop Bygone Books [please visit my website where you will find more information about each book]:

Some history:

*Beach, Allen Penfield.  Lake Champlain as Centuries Pass.  Lane Press, 1959.  $12.

*Bird, Harrison.  Navies in the Mountains:  Battles on the Waters of Lake Champlain and Lake George, 1609-1814.  Oxford U Press, 1962.  $40.;  Signed, $50.

*Cone, Gertrude.  A Selective bibliography of publications on the Champlain Valley.  The New York-Vermont Interstate Commission on the Lake Champlain Basin, 1959.  $25.

*Copeland, Fred.  Lake Champlain:  a guide and story handbook.  Tuttle, 1958.  $20.

*Crockett, Walter Hill.  A History of Lake Champlain: a record of more than three centuries, 1609-1936.   Burlington, VT, circa 1937.  $25.

*Hill, Ralph Nading.  Lake Champlain:  Key to Liberty.  Countryman Press, 1977.  $30.

*Hill, Ralph Nading.  The Voyages of Brian Seaworthy: an historical adventure on Lake Champlain. Vermont Life Magazine, 1971.  Signed, $20.  [a young adult story]

*Murray, W.H.H.  Lake Champlain and its Shores.  Boston:  De Wolfe, Fiske, 1890.  $35.

*Ross, Ogden.  The Steamboats of Lake Champlain, 1809-1930.  Vermont Heritage Press, 1997.  $55.

*Versteeg, Jennie G., editor.  Lake Champlain: reflections on our past.   University of Vermont, 1987.  $20.

[Image from the Brassier map on the website of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum]

A few works on previous centennial celebrations:

*350th Anniversary Celebration Report, 1609-1959.  New York-Vermont Interstate Commission on the Lake Champlain Basin, 1960.  $20.

*Bailey, Horace W.  Historical Booklet of the Discovery of Lake Champlain.  Lake Champlain Tercentenary Commission of Vermont, 1909.  [prepared for schools]  $9.50

*Hill, Henry Wayland.  The Champlain Tercentenary [ 1909 ]: first report of the New York Lake Champlain Tercentenary Commission.  2nd edition.  Albany, 1913.  $25.

*Report of the New York-Vermont Interstate Commission on the Lake Champlain Basin.  State of Vermont, 1962.  $40.

*The Tercentenary Celebration of the Discovery of Lake Champlain and Vermont: a report to the general Assembly of the State of Vermont.  Lake Champlain Tercentenary Commission of Vermont, 1910.  $65. 

Lake Champlain - Burlington VT

A few links to other sites about Lake Champlain:

• Lake Champlain Land Trust
• Lake Champlain Maritime Museum
• Champlain College Quadricentennial Site
• America’s Historic Lakes, the Lake Champlain and Lake George Historical Site
• The Champlain Society; see also the Society’s digital collection of publications which “contains 83 of the Champlain Society’s most important volumes (over 41,000 printed pages) dealing with exploration and discovery over three centuries. It includes first-hand accounts of Samuel de Champlain’s voyages in New France as well as the diary from Sir John Franklin’s first land expedition to the Arctic, 1819-22″
• The New York State 400 Years Celebration
• The Lake Champlain Committee
• The Lake Champlain Byway
• The Lake Champlain Basin Program
• A Timeline for Lake Champlain [Google]
• All about Champ [at the LCLT site ~ the history of our very own lake monster!]
• The Lake Champlain Birding Trail
• A New York Times article on canoeing the Lake along Champlain’s path, by Christopher Shaw; see also the slide show of his travels
• The National Weather Service Burlington Lake Champlain Report [always changing!]
• Lake Champlain Chocolates [HA!]

Come visit!

Can you place the location of this sign?

Samuel De Champlain Plaque, originally uploaded by captjoe06.

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