In 1608, Samuel de Champlain established Quebec as part of New France. He sent coureur des bois such as Étienne Brûlé into the woods to establish relations with the Indians. Around 1615 or 1616, Champlain traveled to Georgian Bay via the French River and met Ottawa and Huron Indians near Manitoulin Island. The French established the North American fur trade with Indian tribes. In the decades that followed, French explorers and missionaries continued to explore the "Upper Country" of New France that included the Upper Great Lakes. In 1634, Jean Nicolet passed through the straits of Mackinac on the way to Wisconsin. While France colonized the interior lands along the St. Lawrence River, the Dutch and English began colonizing the East Coast of North America, setting up fur trade and arming the Iroquois along the east and southeast of the Great Lakes. Competition for trade and pelts resulted in the brutal Beaver Wars, as the Iroquois pushed west into the Great Lakes territory, displacing the tribes who had settled there before.