Biard, Pierre

Biard, Pierre

(pyĕr byär), c.1567–1622, French Jesuit missionary in North America. He left a professorship of theology in Lyons to head the first Jesuit mission to Canada, coming to Port Royal (later Annapolis Royal) in Acadia in 1611. He was one of the founders (1613) of the French settlement at Bar Harbor on Mount Desert IslandMount Desert Island
, c.100 sq mi (260 sq km), largest island off the coast of Maine; separated from the mainland by Frenchman Bay, Mt. Desert Narrows, and Western Bay. The island's rugged topography is a result of glacial action.
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, in what is now Maine. He and all the colonists were soon taken prisoners by Samuel ArgallArgall, Sir Samuel
, d. 1626?, English ship captain, prominent in the early settlement of Virginia. He commanded a ship sent to Jamestown in 1609 and had charge of one of the ships Baron De la Warr brought to the failing colony in 1610.
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. After a long captivity and a stormy return voyage Biard finally reached France, where he was accused of being in league with his English captors. His Relation de la Nouvelle France (1616), which has been of much value to later historians, embodied his reply to these charges.