Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix
| Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, S.J. | |
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| Born | 24 or 29 October 1682 Saint-Quentin, Picardy, Kingdom of France |
| Died | 1 February 1761 (aged 78) La Flèche, Maine Kingdom of France |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Catholic priest, professor, historian, author, explorer |
| Known for | Histoire et description générale de la Nouvelle-France |
Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, S.J. (Latin: Petrus Franciscus-Xaverius de Charlevoix; 1682–1761) was a French Jesuit priest, traveller, and historian, often considered the first historian of New France. He had little interest for "a life of suffering and deprivation for the conversion of Indian souls", but "an eager curiosity concerning life".
Charlevoix's name also appears as Pierre-François-Xavier de Charlevoix, Pierre De Charlevoix, and François-Xavier de Charlevoix.
Charlevoix was born at Saint-Quentin in the province of Picardy on 24 or 29 October 1682. A descendant from a line of lesser nobility, his father held the post of deputy attorney general, and ancestors had served in positions in “great trust and high responsibility” such as legal officers, aldermen, and mayors.
On 15 September 1698, at age 16, he entered the Jesuit novitiate in Paris. He studied philosophy at the College Louis-le-Grand from 1700 to 1704. Between 1705 and 1709 Charlevoix was sent for his period of training in the Society called the regency to the Jesuit College in Quebec in the French colony of Canada, where he taught grammar. Upon completion of this stage of his training, he returned to the College Louis-le-Grand in Paris to study theology, becoming a professor of belles lettres. One of his students was the young Voltaire, who later developed strong views on New France. (See A few acres of snow.) Charlevoix was ordained as a priest in 1713. In 1715, he published his first complete work, on the establishment and progress of the Catholic Church in Japan, adding extensive notes on the manners, customs, and costumes of the inhabitants of the Empire and its general political situation, and on the topography and natural history of the region.
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