The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. 1: Acadia 1610-1613

What it is

This is volume one of a collection of Jesuit missionary reports from New France, edited by Reuben Gold Thwaites and published in Cleveland by The Burrows Brothers Company in 1896. The volume gives the original French, Latin and Italian texts with English translations and notes, and covers Acadia from 1610 to 1613.

Why it matters

The Jesuit reports were written by missionaries who lived among the colonists and Indigenous peoples of New France during Champlain's time. They describe the colony from the viewpoint of the Jesuits, who were part of the same expansion that Champlain led.

Look closer

• Who wrote these reports, and for whom were they meant to be read?
• What might the missionaries have wanted their readers in Europe to believe about the colony?
• Which people and events do the reports describe in detail, and which seem to be left out?