I was born in the small coastal town of Brouage, but as the registers in the church have been destroyed by fire I am not clear on the exact date, likely 1570. As I noted in my marriage contract with Helene Boulle, I am the son of Antoine de Complain, a captain in the navy and of Dame Magueritte Le Roy. My uncle was a great influence on me at the beginning of my career and helped me develop as a painter and draftsman, an art necessary for the career I wished to pursue as a geographer. Navigation was another art I practiced from early youth. Prior to my first journey to New France in 1603 I had completed a voyage lasting over two years to the West Indies where I further developed skills as a navigator and geographer. If it is not too immodest of me to say that I have done reasonably well in many other fields of endeavour, most notably as explorer, cartographer, author, artist, trader, administrator, colonizer, and author. Return to Other Ways of Seeing... |
