Champlain Building His Habitation at Quebec

This watercolour and wax crayon work, created in 1910 by Canadian illustrator **Charles William Jefferys**, depicts **Samuel de Champlain** overseeing the construction of his wooden **habitation** at Quebec during the summer of 1608. Financed by **Pierre Dugua de Mons**, this settlement on a promontory of the Saint Lawrence River became the first permanent French establishment in North America, despite the devastating winter that would follow within its very first season. Created nearly three centuries after the events, this illustration belongs to a commemorative movement marking the founding of New France, then celebrated as the starting point of the French presence in Canada.