From Early Stories to Today · Drawing 04
Building the Habitation
1608
In 1608, Samuel de Champlain had the Habitation built at Québec. Indigenous peoples had visited this place long before he arrived.
Look together
How many large pieces of wood can you see?
An idea to try
Arrange some large blocks on a table to build an imaginary frame. Ask which pieces support the others and what else you would need to know to picture the finished building.
For the adult reading along
A little more to discover
In 1608, Samuel de Champlain began building a wooden habitation at Québec, in the area now called Place-Royale. The heritage record describes a building used for purposes including accommodation and storage. It also recalls Indigenous use of the place long before this construction. The year 1608 marks French settlement, not the beginning of human presence.
The scene shows just one action at a building site. It invites discussion of the people who put materials together, without claiming to recreate the entire building. Explain that a place can hold several layers of history. Traces in the ground and written records help us learn about them; an illustration cannot tell the whole story.
Sources and context
These links lead to other websites. Explore them with an adult. Source titles appear in their original language; some linked pages are in French.
Source review: 2026-09-12. Illustrations simplify places and scenes; they are not historical documents.