Return of the Jesuits In the 22nd instalment of ‘Nations of Canada,’ Greg Koabel describes how Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu used their nascent Quebec colony as a means to promote French global power and spread Christianity. Greg Koabel 5 Sep 2024 · 20 min read
Dutchmen on the Hudson In the 21st instalment of ‘Nations of Canada,’ Greg Koabel describes how the arrival of Dutch fur traders sparked an upheaval in regional Indigenous geopolitics. Greg Koabel 20 Jul 2024 · 19 min read
The Birth of Quebec In the twentieth instalment of ‘Nations of Canada,’ Greg Koabel describes how Samuel de Champlain and Récollet missionaries established a fledgling French colony in what we now call Quebec City. Greg Koabel 4 Jul 2024 · 17 min read
The Wendat World In the nineteenth instalment of ‘Nations of Canada,’ Greg Koabel describes how Indigenous societies greeted the French influx of the early seventeenth century. Greg Koabel 29 Apr 2024 · 23 min read
A Different Way of Fighting In the eighteenth instalment of ‘Nations of Canada,’ Greg Koabel describes the confusion that resulted when French and Indigenous fighters jointly assaulted an Iroquois village in 1615. Greg Koabel 14 Mar 2024 · 29 min read
Make Way for the Jesuits In the seventeenth instalment of ‘Nations of Canada,’ Greg Koabel describes how The Society of Jesus became a powerful player in the colonization of North America. Greg Koabel 30 Jan 2024 · 25 min read
The Laurentian Coalition Takes Root In the 16th instalment of ‘Nations of Canada,’ historian Greg Koabel describes how Samuel de Champlain overcame a decade of frustration by finally establishing a successful French fur-trading monopoly. Greg Koabel 12 Jan 2024 · 25 min read
Sailing Into Canada’s Great ‘Northern Sea’ In the fifteenth instalment of his series on the history of Canada, Greg Koabel describes Henry Hudson’s tragic 1610-11 voyage to the saltwater bay that now bears his name. Greg Koabel 11 Dec 2023 · 31 min read
United Against the Iroquois In the fourteenth instalment of his series on the history of Canada, Greg Koabel describes Champlain’s military alliance with France’s new Innu, Algonquin, and Wendat trading partners. Greg Koabel 13 Nov 2023 · 24 min read
Champlain Goes to War In the thirteenth instalment of our series on the history of Canada, Greg Koabel describes the crucial battlefield alliance that French explorers forged with Indigenous allies in 1609. Greg Koabel 19 Oct 2023 · 26 min read
Champlain Gives It Another Go In the twelfth instalment of an ongoing Quillette series on the history of Canada, Greg Koabel describes France’s halting efforts to create a permanent Canadian settlement in the early 1600s. Greg Koabel 27 Sep 2023 · 30 min read
A Cartographer for the Ages In the eleventh instalment of his series on the history of Canada, Greg Koabel describes how Samuel de Champlain fundamentally redirected France’s transatlantic colonial project Greg Koabel 9 Sep 2023 · 22 min read
‘New France’ Stumbles Out of the Gate In the tenth instalment of an ongoing Quillette series on the history of Canada, historian Greg Koabel describes the early—and tragically unsuccessful—French efforts to create a permanent colony Greg Koabel 26 Aug 2023 · 20 min read
The Quest for Pelts In the ninth instalment of an ongoing Quillette series on the history of Canada, Greg Koabel describes how the late 16th-century fur trade developed amid a disrupted Indigenous geopolitical landscape Greg Koabel 13 Aug 2023 · 24 min read
Frobisher’s Failed Arctic Gambit In the eighth instalment of an ongoing Quillette series on the history of Canada, Greg Koabel describes the legacy of Martin Frobisher, a brave explorer who antagonized the Inuit while harvesting worthless minerals Greg Koabel 21 Jul 2023 · 38 min read