Pierre de Monts

Pierre de Monts (c. 1560-c. 1630), French explorer and colonizer in North America. A Huguenot who had served under Henry IV of France, de Monts was granted a trade monopoly in New France (part of present-day Canada) in 1603. Following an expedition to the St Lawrence River with the French explorer Samuel de Champlain, de Monts explored the east coast of North America in 1604 and 1605. He and Champlain established a colony on an island at the mouth of the St Croix River, in the Bay of Fundy; they subsequently relocated the colony to Port Royal (present-day Annapolis Royal) in Nova Scotia.