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...their diaspora. if fishing took the french to the st. lawrence valley, it was the fur trade that dept them there. on november 8, 1603, de monts, who had formed a company in partnership with a number of french coastal merchants, obtained a commission from (king) henri iv authorizing him as viceroy to possess and settle that part of north america located between the fortieth and forty-sixth degrees of latitude, extending roughly from the present-day city of philadelphia, pa to north of montreal, canada and described in the commission as la cadie, canada, and other parts of new france. cartier had given the name acadia to the northern coastal area of north america, encompassing nova scotia and cape breton island, prince edward island, new brunswick and part of (the state of) maine. although often confused with the greek province, arcadia considered to represent the virtues of archaic simplicity, acadia had o classical connotations. the name was based on a micmac indian word meaning depending on which historian you read, "pollock" a fish common in those waters, or simply "place". it also appears in such north american place names as passamaquoddy. whether it was considered part of canada was not clear from the wording of the commission; this was the first document to use the name acadia. under the commission de monts was also to convert the natives to christianity not defined as to whether catholic or protestant, but his mixed settlers were to have religious freedom. as partners in the venture, de monts had enlisted various merchants, both protestants and catholics, interested in the fur trade and including participants in earlier, unsuccessful colonization attempts and some involved in such a venture for the first time. the company was to receive a ten-year monopoly of the fur trade and by levying a ten percent tax on the traders it was to recoup its colonization expenses. the expedition (to st. croix) of about ...