New France

I

Introduction

New France, the French empire in North America from 1608 to 1763. New France commanded two continental river systems, the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi. By their control of these two great rivers and their ability to form alliances with indigenous nations, the French made themselves the dominant power on the continent for 150 years. New France comprised the regions of Canada, Acadia, Louisiana, and part of Newfoundland and Labrador.. Most of the settler population lived in Canada, and most of their descendants still live there, in the province of Québec.

II

History

A

Beginnings

At the end of the 16th century the fishing and whaling grounds of the Grand Banks and the Gulf of St. Lawrence swarmed with fishers and whalers from western Europe. They found they could add to their income by trading cheap metal goods for the furs the indigenous people offered them. Thus the fur trade became a goal in its own right.

A

1

Early Charters

To extend its control over the region, the French monarchy granted mining and fur trading monopolies to individuals. One such grantee was Pierre du Gua, Sieur de Monts, who in 1603 received a monopoly for trade in Acadia. In 1604 he and his associate Samuel de Champlain built a base there, which they moved the next year to Port Royal (now Annapolis Royal) on the Bay of Fundy. This was the first year-round European settlement in what is now Canada. Three years later the monopoly was revoked, but Champlain came back in 1608 and established a trading post at the narrows of the St. Lawrence. He called this post Québec. For most of the next 27 years Champlain remained in command there, trying to develop the colony.

The French government, however, was more interested in short-term profits than in building colonies. It did not become serious about developing its North American colonies until 1627 when King Louis XIII’s chief minister, Cardinal Richelieu, set up the Company of One Hundred Associates and gave it the monopoly. Each of the company’s associates had to invest 3000 livres (in today’s money, about $100,000) and bring in 200 to 300 settlers a year for 15 years. The main purpose of this company was to convert the indigenous peoples to Christianity; its monopoly of the fur trade was to provide the finances for that task. At that time, all the settlers in Acadia and Canada together were estimated to number 107. To the south, by contrast, the English and Dutch already numbered at least 2600.

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A

2

Relations With Indigenous Nations

Champlain formed military alliances with the neighboring Algonquin, Montagnais, and Huron nations. The French wanted to obtain furs for the European trade and to convert these pagan nations to Christianity. The Algonquin and Montagnais were nomadic hunters and gatherers; they could supply the furs. The Huron were sedentary farmers, growing corn, beans, and squash in present-day southern Ontario. They could provide the converts. These nations welcomed the French, who provided their wonderful metal goods and cloth in exchange for a few furs. Relations between the French and these indigenous people were good, mainly because the French, unlike the English, did not covet the lands of the inhabitants. They never tried to displace the indigenous peoples, but instead settled on vacant land.

Good relations with these allies, however, meant bad relations with their enemies. These nations had a common enemy to the south, the powerful Iroquois confederacy. In 1609 Champlain, with two of his men, joined a war party of their allies in invading the territory of one Iroquois group, the Mohawk. The ensuing clash with a Mohawk hunting party began a century of intermittent but costly warfare between the French and the Iroquois.

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