Champlain is a municipality in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is located in Les Chenaux Regional County Municipality and the administrative region the Mauricie, on the north shore of St. Lawrence River. Champlain is also part of the metropolitan area of Trois-Rivières. Champlain is a member of the Association of the Most Beautiful Villages of Quebec. Origin of the place name In 1632, Samuel de Champlain, founder of New France, gave his name to the Champlain River. The Commission de toponymie du Québec has noted a "popular version" of the origin of the name, which suggests that Champlain gave the area its name because, "amazed by the beauty of the place, [he] exclaimed to himself, 'What a beautiful flat plain', from the Latin campus planus, 'flat field'." However, the Commission concludes that it is certain that Champlain named the area after himself, as his contemporary record indicates that he named the river the "Rivière de Champlain". The deed of the seigniory of Champlain, dated April 8, 1664, does not name the seigniory. The deed only mentions that the granted land extended "from the Champlain River following the said river [Saint Lawrence] to the said Trois-Rivières". It appears that it was the first seigneur, Étienne Pézard de la Touche, who gave the name of "Champlain" to the seigniory, then to the parish. By 1668, the documents relating to the residents of Champlain mention they live in "La Touche-Champlain", or simply "Champlain" from 1669 onwards. In 1684, the area was already well known as Champlain, demonstrated when Bishop Laval, finally giving the official titles of the parish twenty years after its foundation, referred to: "the place commonly called Champlain". As for the family name of the seigneurs, by 1680 the first seigneur referred to himself as La Touche-Champlain, and Pézard Champlain by 1693. His successor referred to himself as Pézard Latouche-Champlain by 1702. In 1829 the name was used for the electoral district for the area in the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, and in 1841, the electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada. The name was given to the municipality in 1845, and then to the federal and provincial electoral districts in 1867. History Beginnings of French settlement The Champlain municipality lies on the territory of the former seigniories of Marsolet and l'Arbre-à-la-Croix, both granted on April 5, 1644, and the seigniory of Champlain, granted on