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🎧 Episode 3.2 – The Boy in the Smoke

🔥 Champlain, Brouage, and the Fire Before the Flame

Before he was a mapmaker, a mediator, or a founder of nations, Samuel de Champlain was a boy — born in smoke, salt, and fire.

In Episode 3.2 of Canadian Grit: North of Ordinary, we return to 16th-century France, where the fortified Atlantic port of Brouage churned with war, ambition, and the scent of cannon smoke. Here, in a village gripped by the Wars of Religion and shaped by the crashing tides of empire, a young Champlain grew up watching his world burn... and quietly dreaming of another way.

This episode pulls back the veil on the early life of a boy who would one day change the course of history. Raised in the chaos of civil war, surrounded by butchers, fromagiers, and soldiers marching to opposing gods, Champlain was forged in a crucible of violence and uncertainty.

But rather than becoming hardened, he grew curious.

Observant.

Strategic.

And ultimately, hopeful.

Part immersive history, part poetic meditation on place and becoming, Episode 3.2 explores how the boy became the man, and how the man would someday offer a radically different vision for what a “New World” could be.

Champlain wasn’t an accident. He was an outcome.
And his origin story matters now more than ever.

🎧 Listener Prompt:
What did the world you were born into teach you — and what have you chosen to carry forward anyway?

🔍 Keywords:
Samuel de Champlain, Brouage, Religious Wars, French History, Turtle Island, Colonialism, Continuity and Change, Popular History Podcast, Identity, Place, Explorer Mindset, Canadian Grit, Resilience, Adam Shoalts, Hybrid Reality Theory (Jackson, 2025)

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If this story moved you — or reminded you of your own grit — I’d love to hear from you.

Know someone with an untold story? Reach out. Let’s give it voice.

Thank you for being here. It means more than you know.

— Jamie

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Remember, my friends: We're in this thing together. It means more than you know. We're just getting started!

If you know of anyone-- or if YOU have an amazing story of grit, or even something to share with the world, why not reach out and let me know?

I'd love to give voice to your stories.

All the very best.

Your good pal,

-Jamie