The Misunderstood Mission of Jean Nicolet

The following excerpt comes from The Misunderstood Mission of Jean Nicolet: Uncovering the Story of the 1634 Journey, published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press in fall 2018. This excerpt examines the evolving geographic knowledge and diplomatic work of Nicolet’s superior Samuel de Champlain, which proved crucial for discerning the goals of Nicolet’s later mission and correcting the fallacy that Champlain directed Nicolet to seek a passage to China as late as 1634.

Champlain spent the winter of 1615–1616 recuperating in Huronia and learned more about the regional geography, particularly from the Nipissings, who promised Champlain they would take him northward toward Hudson Bay. However, an Algonquin chief dissuaded them, citing the need to have the Nipissings present at a council to moderate a dispute between the Algonquins and Hurons. Upon learning his Indian allies had cancelled yet another expedition, Champlain plaintively noted, “If any one was sorry it was I; for I had quite expected to see that year what in many other preceding years I had sought for with great solicitude.” He continued, “I had such positive information…from these people trading with others whose habitation is in those northern parts and who form a considerable division of those tribes in a country of abundant hunting and where there are many large animals.” Most likely, he referred to the Cree Indians who lived in the subarctic regions to the north.