France, together with Portugal, Holland, Sweden, and England, followed the lead of Spain. Each nation envied the growing wealth and power of Spain that were derived from its possessions in the New World. Each nation, therefore, saw its future position as dependent upon New World colonies.
The first French voyager of note was Jacques Cartier, who began his explorations of North America in 1534. But Samuel de Champlain was responsible for a series of French explorations into North America in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries that resulted in the founding of the first successful French colony at Quebec in 1608. The passage is taken from Champlain's writings, the sense of European competition, particularly with Spain, for the New World is well-developed.