Louis de Buade de Frontenac

Louis De Buade De Frontenac

Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau (May 22, 1622 – November 28, 1698) was a French soldier, courtier, and Governor General of New France from 1672 to 1682 and from 1689 to his death in 1698. He established a number of forts on the Great Lakes and engaged in a series of battles against the English and the Iroquois.

In his first term, he supported the expansion of the fur trade, establishing Fort Frontenac (in what is now Kingston, Ontario) and came into conflict with the other members of the Sovereign Council over its expansion and over the corvées required to build the new forts. In particular, despite the opposition of bishop François de Laval, he supported selling brandy to the First Nations, which Laval considered a mortal sin. The conflict with the Sovereign Council led to his recall in 1682.

His second term was characterised by the defence of Quebec from a British invasion during King William's War, a successful guerrilla campaign against the Iroquois and English settlements which resulted in the elimination of the Iroquois threat against New France, and a large expansion of the fur trade using Canadian coureurs des bois. He died before his second recall to France.