400th anniversary of the first French settlement in Acadia at St. Croix Island

Issued: Jun 26, 2004
Sc. # 2044
Qty: 4,000,000
Joint issue with France

400th anniversary of the founding of Port-Royal, Nova Scotia
 

Issued: Jul 16, 2005
Sc. # 2115
Qty: 3,000,000

400th anniversary of the mapping of the East Coast by Samuel de Champlain

Issued: May 28, 2006
Sc. # 2155
Qty: 4,000,000
Joint issue with United States

In 1607, the French returned to France, leaving the habitation of Port-Royal in the care of Membertou

Issued: Jul 26, 2007
Sc. # 2226
Qty: 3,000,000

400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City

 

Issued: May 16, 2008
Sc. # ?
Qty:
Joint issue with France

While explorers from other nations might have visited the land prior to the French, it was the French who stayed. It was Pierre Dugua de Mons, Samuel de Champlain and others who came motivated first by exploration, then by trade, and finally by the vision of a permanent settlement.

Their Canadian adventures, beginning in 1604, were marked by death from scurvy at St Croix Island, the building of Port-Royal (whose re-creation is today a national park), the mapping of New England during an unsuccessful search for Florida, relationships with Chief Membertou and the Mi'kmaq people, and finally the founding of Kebec in 1608, the precursor of the unique Canadian destination that UNESCO has selected as a World Heritage Site.

This evolution of the French's relationship with the New World is echoed by the five-year 400 Years of French Settlement stamp series. It is evident in the narrative content of the stamps, but also is symbolized in the technical complexity, which increases with each subsequent issue. Striving to depict historically authentic elements in a fresh and modern way, the series begins in 2004 with a simple palette and single-colour intaglio overprint, evolving in production values each year, to culminate in the 2008 Founding of Quebec commemorative, which boasts richly detailed traditional intaglio in three colours, the kind of stamp that makes history in its depiction of our past.

The above narrative is taken from a Canada Post advertisement found in the Feb-Mar 2008 edition of The Beaver, Canada's History Magazine (used with permission from both organizations).