Wikipedia:United States Education Program/Courses/American Culture 204 (Frank Kelderman)/Articles/Sandbox New Voyages to North America

New Voyages to North America
New Voyages to North-America was written by Louis-Armand de Lom d'Arce de Lahontan, Baron de Lahontan. The book, comprised of two volumes was published in 1703, originally in French (Nouveaux Voyages de Mr. le Baron de Lahontan dans l’Amérique Septentrionale), however an English edition was produced the same year. The book is considered to be the best 17th century work on New France for its detailed descriptions of the environment as well as native society. Lahontan’s work includes describing the two winters he spent hunting with a group of Algonquin Indians (Sayre). He even goes so far as to write in the voice of an Indian character shown in his dialogue between the fictional Adario and himself. Both volumes provide valuable knowledge and information on the lands of New France from the perspective of a soldier in the French army as well as an explorer who explored the landscape, native peoples and developing economic, social, and political ties between the native peoples and French explorers. The importance of the book is expressed best by Gordon Sayre when he said: “Lahontan takes a secular perspective throughout his writing which differentiates his works from those of the Jesuits that published during the same time he did” (Sayre).