Exploration and Evangelization of the Great Canadian North: Vikings, Coureurs des Bois, and Missionaries

Abstract

... After a preliminary discussion of the possibility of a pre-Columbian evangelization of the Canadian Arctic, the aim of this paper is to describe the main thrusts, first to the northeast and later to the northwest, particularly those which originated in New France. It will also show the predominant part played by the coureurs des bois and their successors, the "voyageurs", or French-Canadian boatmen or bushmen, in the exploration of northwest Canada and in influencing the conversion of the indigenous people to Christianity.