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During
the 1500s, European fishermen, whalers,
traders, adventurers, and explorers visited
the eastern seaboard of North America
in search of economic gain. By the early
1600s, the lucrative fur trade attracted
permanent French settlement. Samuel de
Champlain founded what is now Québec
City in 1608, after which French settlement
spread gradually throughout the St. Lawrence
River valley. While fishermen and whalers
had generally co-operated with First
Peoples in exchanging goods, permanent
European settlement and involvement in
the fur trade with Hurons and Algonkians
soon led the French to join these nations
in their war with the Iroquois Confederacy.
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