Champlain is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the

province of Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen p ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It is located in

Les Chenaux Regional County Municipality Les Chenaux (meaning ''the channels'' in French) is a regional county municipality in central Quebec, Canada, in the Mauricie region. The seat is in Saint-Luc-de-Vincennes. It is located adjacent on the east of Trois-Rivières on the Saint Lawr ...

and the administrative region the

Mauricie Mauricie () is a traditional and current administrative region of Quebec. La Mauricie National Park is contained within the region, making it a prime tourist location. The region has a land area of 35,860.05 km² (13,845.64 sq mi) and a popu ...

, on the north shore of

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

. Champlain is also part of the metropolitan area of

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

. Champlain is a member of the Association of the Most Beautiful Villages of Quebec.

Origin of the place name

In 1632,

Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain (; Fichier OrigineFor a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December 1635) was a Fre ...

, founder of

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spai ...

, gave his name to the

Champlain River The Champlain River is 66.7 km long flowing on the north shore of St. Lawrence river. This river flows between Saint-Maurice River and the Batiscan River watershed, in Les Chenaux Regional County Municipality, in administrative region of Mau ...

.Quebec Commission de toponymie, ''Banque de noms de lieux du Québec'', "Champlain".
/ref> The

Commission de toponymie du Québec The Commission de toponymie du Québec (English: ''Toponymy Commission of Québec'') is the Government of Québec's public body responsible for cataloging, preserving, making official and publicize Québec's place names and their origins according ...

has noted a "popular version" of the origin of the name, which suggests that Champlain gave the area its name because, "amazed by the beauty of the place, eexclaimed to himself, 'What a beautiful flat plain', from the Latin ''campus planus'', 'flat field'." However, the Commission concludes that it is certain that Champlain named the area after himself, as his contemporary record indicates that he named the river the "Rivière de Champlain". The deed of the seigniory of Champlain, dated April 8, 1664, does not name the seigniory. The deed only mentions that the granted land extended "from the

following the said river aint Lawrenceto the said

". It appears that it was the first seigneur,

Étienne Pézard de la Touche Étienne, a French analog of Stephen or Steven, is a masculine given name. An archaic variant of the name, prevalent up to the mid-17th century, is Estienne. Étienne, Etienne, Ettiene or Ettienne may refer to: People Scientists and inventors ...

, who gave the name of "Champlain" to the seigniory, then to the parish. By 1668, the documents relating to the residents of Champlain mention they live in "La Touche-Champlain", or simply "Champlain" from 1669 onwards. In 1684, the area was already well known as Champlain, demonstrated when Bishop Laval, finally giving the official titles of the parish twenty years after its foundation, referred to: "the place commonly called Champlain". As for the family name of the seigneurs, by 1680 the first seigneur referred to himself as La Touche-Champlain, and Pézard Champlain by 1693. His successor referred to himself as Pézard Latouche-Champlain by 1702. In 1829 the name was used for the

electoral district An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

for the area in the

Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada The Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada was the lower house of the bicameral structure of provincial government in Lower Canada until 1838. The legislative assembly was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791. The lower house consisted of ele ...

, and in 1841, the

for the

Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the legislature for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper C ...

. The name was given to the municipality in 1845, and then to the

federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

and provincial electoral districts in 1867.

History

Beginnings of French settlement

The Champlain municipality lies on the territory of the former seigniories of Marsolet and l'Arbre-à-la-Croix, both granted on April 5, 1644, and the seigniory of Champlain, granted on August 8, 1664. The first French occupants of Champlain settled in 1664 or 1665. There had been a first attempt to settle on land granted August 16, 1643, but the distance from other settlements and the Iroquois threat discouraged settlement. In 1664 or 1665, the first settlers established settlements in the land of the seigniory of Champlain. The following year, in 1666, concessions were granted in the seigniory of Hertel, and in 1667 in the seigniory of Marsolet. Some of the first families came from Trois-Rivières, such as the families of Antoine Desrosiers, François Chorel and Pierre Dandonneau.

Chronology

* April 5, 1644: Grants of the Marsolet and Arbre-à-la-Croix seigniories. * August 8, 1664: Grant of the seigniory of Champlain. This date is considered the founding of the town of Champlain, the eighth oldest town of New France. * 1664: Construction of Fort Champlain. * 1830-1850: Emergence of the present village in the centre of the area. * 1845: Creation of the parish municipality of Champlain effective July 1, pursuant to a new provincial statute, the first formal municipal government for the area. * 1847: Parish municipality of Champlain is merged with other local municipalities to form the County of Champlain, effective September 1, pursuant to a provincial statute re-organising municipal government. * 1855: Parish municipality of La Visitation-de-Champlain re-created from the County of Champlain, effective July 1, pursuant to a provincial statute re-organising municipal government. * 1860: Twenty buildings in the village. * 1879: Construction of the present church * 1882: Construction of the present monastery * 1886: The streets Sainte-Anne and Saint-Joseph are authenticated by the municipal council. * 1917: The village municipality of Champlain is created by a division of the parish municipality of La Visitation-de-Champlain. * 1933: 150 buildings in the village. * 1979 : Celebration of the tricentennial of Champlain. The 300th anniversary was based on an erroneous understanding of the date of the foundation of the village, assumed from the oldest surviving parish records of baptisms, marriages and burials. It was not known that the parish registers from 1665 to 1679 had been lost. * 1982: Champlain municipalities are included in the

Francheville Regional County Municipality Francheville was a former regional county municipality in the Mauricie region of Quebec, Canada. Prior to its dissolution, it had an area of .''Rapport sur la réorganisation municipale et les équipements supra locaux dans la MRC de Franchevil ...

. * 1982: The parish municipality of La Visitation-de-Champlain and the village municipality of Champlain are merged to create the municipality of Champlain. * 1984: 10: Pope John Paul II passes though Champlain on September 10, travelling by train from Quebec City to Trois-Rivières. * 1986: On April 7, the municipal council passes a resolution formalizing the term "Champlainois-Champlainoise" to designate inhabitants of Champlain. * 2002: The regional county municipality of Francheville is dissolved, and the municipality of Champlain is included in the new regional county municipality,

. * 2004: On October 13, the Astronomical Observatory of Champlain discovers an asteroid from the

Astronomical Observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...

Champlain. It is given the number 157329 and is provisionally named 2004 TM16. * 2006: On November 24, the Astronomical Observatory discovers a second asteroid, given the number 161815 and the temporary name of 2006 WK30. * 2014: Celebration of the 350th anniversary of Champlain. This time, the celebration is based on the grant of the seigniory of Champlain in 1664.

Demographics

Population trend:Statistics Canada:

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

census * Population in 2011: 1664 (2006 to 2011 population change: 6.3%) * Population in 2006: 1566 * Population in 2001: 1623 * Population in 1996: 1608 * Population in 1991: 1610 Private dwellings occupied by usual residents: 766 (total dwellings: 861) Mother tongue: * English as first language: 0.7% * French as first language: 97.9% * English and French as first language: 0.7% * Other as first language: 0.7% Notre-Dame-de-la-Visitation Champlain

Population

References

External links

*

{{authority control Incorporated places in Mauricie Municipalities in Quebec Les Chenaux Regional County Municipality 1982 establishments in Quebec