Both the regions of the river Charente and the river Richelieu have a long History in common. It started in Brouage in Charente Maritime. Champlain, one of the most famous characters in this common History, was born and grew up in this citadel that was an important place for navigation in the XVIth century.

Both the regions of the river Charente and the river Richelieu have a long History in common. It started in Brouage in Charente Maritime. Champlain, one of the most famous characters in this common History, was born and grew up in this citadel that was an important place for navigation in the XVIth century.
Champlain was first to discover, in 1609, the river of the Iroquois, renamed as the river Richelieu in 1642. He even left his own name to one of the biggest lakes that are on the way of the river.
Champlain was a very good cartographer and he was also first to combine on a single map the geographical information resulting from the british explorations in Artica, from the french ones inside land, and the information from the natives as well.
During the XVIIth and the XVIIIth centuries La Rochelle and Rochefort played a very important role concerning the connections between France and Quebec. Not only these links were economical, as a lot of goods were passing through these ports. They were also human connections. Indeed, La Rochelle and Rochefort used to be important departure places for emigration to the New France.
Despite the treaty of Paris in 1763, when France lost her canadian colony against the British, the emigration and the trade carried on during the XIXth and the XXth centuries.
Nowadays, a common will allows to perpetuate and strengthen the exchanges between the two territories. The twinning Charente-Richelieu participates in this dynamics, and history goes on...