MONTS, Pierre du Guast, Comte de, French colonist, born in Saintonge, France, about 1560; died in Paris in 1611. He belonged to an Italian Roman Catholic family, but, becoming a Protestant, attached himself to the fortunes of Henry IV., and was appointed by him to an important office in the royal household. He had made a voyage to St. Lawrence river, and in 1603 the king appointed him director of the Canadian company, to which he granted Acadia, a region that was defined as extending from the 40th to the 46th degree of north latitude. De Monts was made lieutenant-general, with viceregal powers, and, accompanied 1)y Sanmel Champlain and others, he sailed from Itavre, 7 March, 1604. He explored the Bay of Fundy, discovered Annapolis harbor, and ascended and named St. John river. He planted a colony on an islet at the mouth of the St. Croix river, and passed the winter there, but in the following August removed to Port Royal (now Annapolis), where he began a settlement. He soon afterward returned to France. On his arrival at court De Monts found his monopoly at an end, and, though he failed to receive indemnification for what he had expended, he despatched, in March, 1606, a vessel to relieve the colony in Canada. He also sent Champlain and Pontgrave, in 1607, on a new voyage to the St. Lawrence, and other vessels in 1608, by the aid of which Quebec was founded. After the death of Henry 1V., in 1610, De Monts was regarded with disfavor at court.