Samuel de Champlain’s 1605 visit to what would later become known as Biddeford and Saco was important because he documented the Wabanaki peoples who lived here at the time. He called them the “Almouchiquois” and he called the Saco river “Chouacoet”. His book, “Les voyages du sieur de Champlain” (1613) chronicled his travels down the Maine coast and richly described the people here and life along the Saco.
WANT TO READ CHAMPLAIN’S BOOK IN ENGLISH? YOU CAN CHECK IT OUT FROM THE LIBRARY!
“Voyages of Samuel de Champlain, 1604-1618″
WANT TO READ CHAMPLAIN’S BOOK IN THE ORIGINAL FRENCH and DOWNLOAD SPECIFIC PAGES, INCLUDING THE MAP OF SACO BAY AND THE SACO RIVER? READ IT ONLINE AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS!
“Les voyages dv sievr de Champlain Xaintongeois, capitaine ordinaire pour le Roy, en la marine”
WANT TO SEE A TRANSLATION OF THE FRENCH LANGUAGE MAP? Click on the http://www.MaineMemory.net link below and chose “View Full Transcription” at the end of the Description section.
Looking for current scholarship on the native peoples of Biddeford and Saco whom Champlain met? Read this for a start:
Baker, Emerson W. “Finding the Almouchiquois: Native American Families, Territories, and Land Sales in Southern Maine.” Ethnohistory 51, no. 1 (2004): 73-100. muse.jhu.edu/article/53487.
