In 1632, Samuel de Champlain, founder of New France, gave his name to the Champlain River.[4] The Commission de toponymie du Québec 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, [he] exclaimed to himself, 'What a beautiful flat plain', from the Latin campus planus, 'flat field'."[5] 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".[4]
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 Champlain River following the said river [Saint Lawrence] to the said Trois-Rivières". It appears that it was the first seigneur, Étienne Pézard de la Touche, who gave the name of "Champlain" to the seigniory, then to the parish.[4]
By 1668, the documents relating to the residents of Champlain mention they live in "La Touche-Champlain", or simply "Champlain" from 1669 onwards.[6] 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".[7]
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.[8]
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.[9] 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.[10] 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.[11] Some of the first families came from Trois-Rivières, such as the families of Antoine Desrosiers, François Chorel and Pierre Dandonneau.[12]
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.[citation needed]
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.[14]
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.[15]
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.[16]
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: The parish municipality of La Visitation-de-Champlain and the village municipality of Champlain are merged to create the municipality of Champlain.[17]
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, Les Chenaux Regional County Municipality.
2004: On October 13, the Astronomical Observatory of Champlain discovers an asteroid from the Astronomical Observatory 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.
^Quebec Commission de toponymie, Banque de noms de lieux du Québec, "Champlain": "Selon la version populaire, ce nom aurait été attribué à cette municipalité de la région de la Mauricie située non loin de Batiscan par Samuel de Champlain (1574–1635) qui, émerveillé par la beauté des lieux, se serait écrié : « Quel beau champ plein! », du latin campus planus, champ plat."}
^Eddy Hamelin, La paroisse de Champlain (Trois-Rivières: Édition du
Bien Public, 1933), p. 16.
^Based on the records of baptisms, marriages and burials identified by the Programme de recherche en démographie historique de l’Université de Montréal. The officiants in the Champlain parish wrote "Pesard" but officiants in Cour-Cheverny in France wrote the name of the seigneur's birthplace as Pézard; see Ghislaine Le Mauff, Daniel Guérin and Alan Larson, « Étienne Pézard de la Touche, de Champlain », Pionniers originaires du Loir-et-Cher établis au Canada, Cercle Généalogique de Loir-et-Cher, (retrieved 7 February 2004). Archived January 15, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
^Jean-Pierre Chartier, La Grande distribution de terres de 1665, Le fief et seigneurie Latouche-Champlain (Montreal: Histoire Québec, 2009).
^CBC: Canada - A People's History: "The Iroquois Threat".
^Marcel Trudel, Le terrier du Saint-Laurent en 1674 (Montreal: Meridian, 1998), pp. 381-402.
^Archange Godbout, Les pionniers de la région trifluvienne (Trois-Rivières: Édition du Bien public, 1934, p. 7.
^An Act to repeal certain Ordinances therein mentioned, and to make better provision for the establishment of Local and Municipal Authorities in Lower Canada, SProvCan 1845, c. 40.
^An Act to make better provision for the establishment of Municipal Authorities in Lower Canada, SProvCan 1845, c. 7, particularly s. 9.
^Lower Canada Municipal and Road Act of 1855, SProvCan 1855, c. 100.
^Gazette officielle du Québec, partie 1, 11 décembre 1982, 114e année, numéro 50, pages 9135-9136.
^Histoire de Champlain (History of Champlain), tome 1, Trois-Rivières, Edition of Bien Public, 1915, page 160. The seigniory of Champlain recorded 253 persons, Hertel 25, and Marsolet 16.
^H. Têtu et C.O. Gagnon. «Plan général de l'état présent des missions du Canada fait en l'année 1683» (General plan of the present state of Canada's missions in the year 1683), Mandements, lettres pastorales et circulaires des évêques de Québec ( Mandements, pastoral letters and circulars of the bishops of Quebec), vol. 1, Québec, Imprimerie générale A. Côté et cie, 1887, pages 122-124. The Hertel seigniory is not mentioned.
^Rapport de l'Archiviste de la province de Québec (Report of the Archivist of the Province of Quebec), 1946–1947, pages 5-53 et Rapport sur les archives du Canada (Report on Archives of Canada), 1918, app. B, pages 158-189
^Rapport de l'archiviste de la province de Québec (Report of the Archivist of the Province of Quebec), 1936–1937, pages 1-121
^Data from 1851-1971 are from Les populations municipales et paroissiales de la Mauricie, Dossier statistique : 1850-1971 (The municipal and parish populations Mauricie Statistical Dossier: 1850–1971), publication of the Research Group on the Mauricie, University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières, 1981, cahier no 3.
^For each year from 1921 to 1981, the number reported here is the addition of the population of the parish municipality and the municipality of the village.
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![Champlain River, from bridge P-1476,[13] Chemin du Roy (route 138)](File:Riviere_Champlain_044.jpg)
