In the sixteenth century, Spain claimed the fabled New World, and a rash of explorers sailed there seeking riches and, most famously, a fountain of youth. Although France made inroads into Florida, ultimately the French, like the Spanish, failed to establish dominion over North America. Francis Parkman tells why. The first part of Pioneers of France in the New World deals with the attempts of the Spanish and the French Huguenots to occupy Florida; the second, with the expeditions of Jacques Cartier and Samuel de Champlain and French colonial endeavors in Canada and Acadia. Pioneers is a stirring story, capturing the era of the earliest explorations in North America.'Parkman saw history as literature and he told a good story. He wrote in the epic style of the nineteenth century, presenting a grand sweep of history that modern writers rarely attempt or achieve' - Colin G. Calloway, from the introduction. Francis Parkman (1823-1893), the son of a prominent Boston family, devoted much of his career to writing about the struggles of France and England for domination in America. Colin G. Calloway, a professor of history and Native American studies at Dartmouth College, is the author of the forthcoming New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America.