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Champlain’s Dream: The European Founding of North America is a biography written by American historian, David Hackett Fischer and published in 2008. It is a biography of French "soldier, spy, master mariner, explorer, cartographer, artist and "Father of New France"", Samuel de Champlain.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Champlain's dream )〕 In this book, Fischer examines more closely Champlain's personal impact on the establishment of a French colony in the New World - securing royal support despite opposition from formidable foes like Marie de Medici and Cardinal Richelieu, negotiating with "Indian nations" and imbuing the new colony with the values of humanism.〔http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/books/review/Boot-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0〕 He is also remembered for having survived 27 crossings of the North Atlantic in 37 years - without ever losing a ship.〔 Despite never being the "senior official" of New France, Champlain functioned as an absolute ruler and as Fischer shows, his vision for New France (a vision that was very much a product of Champlain's upbringing and experiences) helps explain both its triumphs and failures.〔 Fischer has substantial experience using the life and perspective of a great leader to tell a broader historical narrative; he employed a similar structure in ''Washington's Crossing'' for which he received a Pulitzer Prize in 2005.〔 == Main thesis == Champlain's dreams as an explorer and cartographer are documented in his own writings - one of them was to find a North American passage to China.〔Fischer 2008, p 7〕 Ostensibly, his overarching dream was to establish a successful French colony in the New World. This required Champlain to: * secure political support in the French court〔Fischer 2008, p 345〕 Between 1535 and 1601, six French settlements in the New World ended in failure.〔Fischer 2008, p 113〕 Champlain carefully studied the experiences of earlier explorers like Jacques Cartier and Pierre de Chauvin. But then, he needed to convince men like the duc de Sully, the King's Chief Minister who thought American colonies were against French national interest as they distracted from business at home.〔Fischer 2008, p 119〕 Other noblemen of the time would have preferred domestic reforms to expansion abroad and Champlain stayed alert to their machinations. * and make difficult administrative decisions once in the New World Even after royal support could be secured, "rival merchants, competing seaports and the representatives of foreign powers" conspired against the colonies of 'New France'〔 and it fell to Champlain to lead his men to deal with all kinds of problems.The explorers had to claim land, protect it from the "Indian nations" and convince French subjects to emigrate to the New World - a prospect they were much less enthusiastic about than Britishers fleeing religious persecution.〔Fischer 2008, p 445〕 Even after all of this was done and the colonies began to run smoothly, he had to regulate unlicensed trade on the rivers and build trading posts to make sure the colony stayed profitable.〔Fischer 2008, p 455〕 But as Fischer puts forward in this book, Champlain's dream went further that that. He envisioned that this colony would be "a place where people of different cultures could live together in amity and concord" and hoped that North America could be this place.〔 He dreamed of collective action, humanistic ideals like peace and tolerance and a Francophone legacy in the new world. Fischer makes frequent reference to Champlain's "grand design" or his sweeping vision. What Fischer seeks to do in this book, after articulating this aspiration, is ask a series of questions about why this man believed in it and what steps he took to make it a reality. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Champlain's Dream」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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