Monts, Sieur de

Monts, Pierre du Guast, Sieur de (1560?–1630?), a French explorer and colonizer of Canada. Monts was a Huguenot (Protestant) nobleman. He made several voyages to America and is believed to have visited the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1600. In 1603 Monts was given a trading monopoly in Acadia, an ill-defined coastal region north of 40 N. latitude. The charter also obliged him to settle colonists in the region.

In 1604 Monts, along with Samuel de Champlain and Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt, led colonists to Acadia, settling on an island at the mouth of the St. Croix River. In 1605 the settlers were moved to a more favorable site on the mainland, which they named Port-Royal (now Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia). Monts returned to France. In 1607 his charter was revoked and the colony was evacuated. Monts received a new monopoly in 1608 and sent Champlain on a voyage that led to the founding of Quebec. His trade monopoly was revoked in 1612, but Monts financed explorations until 1617.