 |
| =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= EUROPEAN EXPLORATION =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The Florentine explorer, Giovanni da Verrazano, may not have actually set foot on Pemetic during his 1524 voyage along the North American coastline, but it is he who is credited with naming this area of Maine and the Canadian Maritimes as "L'Acadie" or Acadia. Some historians believe the name is actually an Abnaki word, while others claim it is a corruption of Arcadia, an equally scenic region of Ancient Greece. The first meeting between the people of Pemetic and Europeans is a matter of conjecture, but some 80 years later, French explorer Samuel de Champlain made the an important contribution to the historical record of Mt. Desert Island. He led an expedition which reputedly ran aground near Otter Point on September 5, 1604, writing in his journal, "The mountain summits are all bare and rocky ... I name it Isles des Monts Desert (Mt. Desert Island)." Champlain's visit to Acadia 16 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock destined this land to become known as New France before it became New England. The French explorer who crossed the Atlantic 29 times and later founded Quebec, also wrote of meeting the Abnaki, the first written record of such an encounter. Seven years later in 1613, French Jesuits established the first French mission in America on what is now Fernald Point, near the entrance to Somes Sound. They were welcomed by the local Abnaki, however no sooner than the French begun to build a fort, plant their corn and baptize the natives there arrived an English ship commanded by Capt. Samuel Argall. The mission was destroyed and the French forced out by British colonists determined to expand north from Massachusetts. Thus began a century of struggle between the French and British for control of Acadia. The English finally prevailed in 1759 when British forces defeated the French in Quebec. The English victory at Fernald Point doomed Jesuit ambitions on Mt. Desert Island, leaving the land in a state of contestation between the French, firmly entrenched to the north, and the British, whose settlements in Massachusetts and southward were becoming increasingly numerous. No one wished to settle in this territory, and for the next 150 years, Mt. Desert Island's importance was seen primarily as a landmark for seamen. There was, however, a brief period when it seemed the area would again become a center of French activity. In 1688, Antoine Laumet, an ambitious young man who immigrated to New France and bestowed upon himself the title Sieur de la Mothe Cadillac, asked for and was granted a hundred thousand acres of land on the Maine coast, including all of Mt. Desert Island. He hoped to establish a feudal estate in the New World, however, although he and his bride resided for a time, they soon abandoned their enterprise. Cadillac later gained lasting recognition as the founder of Detroit in what is today Michigan. The young man did leave one lasting legacy to the island, in that its tallest mountain still bears his name. Continued in news History3 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= |