Lescarbot, Marc

Marc Lescarbot (c. 1570–1641) was a French traveler, author, poet and lawyer. He is best known for his Histoire de la Nouvelle-France (1609), one of the first great books in the history of Canada. His poem Théâtre de Neptune was performed at Port Royal as what the French claim was the first European theatrical production in North America outside of New Spain. He was classically educated, and studied both canonical and civil law. He participated in diplomacy between Spain and France in 1598, and served as a lawyer in Parliament in 1599. During this time he worked as well as a translator, of poetry and medical works, and his time in Paris put him in contact with scholars and printers. He was invited to accompany a de Monts' expedition to Acadia in New France, and he left for America in 1606. He first arrived in Port Royal in July, and stayed the year - making excursions the following spring to the Saint John River and Île Sainte-Croix. He would make some efforts at studying Algonquian numbers, language and songs. It was a short visit: he returned to France in 1607. He had been inspired by his cisit to write a history of the French settlements in America, the first edition of which would be published in Paris in 1609. While most of the work was a compilation of other travelogues, his history of de Monts' venture in Acadia was original work, based both on his own firsthand observations and those of individuals he interviewed. He would continue to edit and improve his accounts in further editions of the work, appearing in 1612 and 1618. His descriptions of First Nations peoples, their customs, remarks, and chants are among the first such detailed depictions of Native Americans.