A vast viceroyalty, New France consisted of five colonies at its peak in 1712, each with its own administration: Canada, the most developed colony, which was divided into the districts of Quebec (around what is now called Quebec City), Trois-Rivières, and Montreal; Hudson Bay; Acadia in the northeast; Terre-Neuve on the island of Newfoundland; and Louisiana.
It extended from Newfoundland to the Canadian Prairies and from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, including all the Great Lakes of North America. The continent-traversing Saint Lawrence and Mississippi rivers were means of carrying French influence through much of North America.
In the 16th century, the lands were used primarily to extract natural resources, such as furs, through trade with the various indigenous peoples. In the seventeenth century, successful settlements began in Acadia and in Quebec. In the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, France ceded to Great Britain its claims over mainland Acadia, Hudson Bay, and Newfoundland.
France established the colony of Île Royale on Cape Breton Island, where they built the Fortress of Louisbourg.
The population rose slowly but steadily. In 1754, New France's population consisted of 10,000 Acadians, 55,000 Canadiens, and about 4,000 settlers in upper and lower Louisiana; 69,000 in total. The British expelled the Acadians in the Great Upheaval from 1755 to 1764, and their descendants are dispersed in the Maritime provinces of Canada and in Maine and Louisiana, with small populations in Chéticamp, Nova Scotia, and the Magdalen Islands. Some also went to France.
After the Seven Years' War (which included the French and Indian War in America), France ceded the rest of New France to Great Britain and Spain in the Treaty of Paris of 1763, although fishing rights around Newfoundland were retained. To assist with those fishing rights, Great Britain returned the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which had been lost in 1713.
Britain acquired Canada, Acadia, and French Louisiana east of the Mississippi River, except for the Île d'Orléans, which was granted to Spain with the territory to the west. In 1800, Spain returned its portion of Louisiana to France under the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso, and Napoleon Bonaparte sold it to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, permanently ending French colonial efforts on the North American mainland.
New France eventually became absorbed within the United States and Canada, with the only vestige of French rule being the tiny islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, an overseas collectivity of France, although Quebec remains predominantly French-speaking. In the United States, the legacy of New France includes numerous place names as well as small pockets of French-speaking communities.
Settlements of New France
New France had five colonies or territories, each with its own administration:
- Acadia (1604–1763) — (areas, Port Royal, Île Saint-Jean, Île-Royale, New Brunswick and Maine)
- Canada (1608–1763) — (districts, Québec, Trois-Rivières and Montreal; areas, Pays d'en Haut and Domaine du roy)
- Hudson Bay — (Hudson Bay conflicts 17th and 18th centuries)
- Terre-Neuve (1662–1713)
- Louisiana (1682–1763, 1801–1803) — (district, Illinois Country; area, Ohio Country)
The 1715 Treaty of Utrecht resulted in the relinquishing of French claims to mainland Acadia, the Hudson Bay and Newfoundland, and the establishment of the colony of Île Royale, now called Cape Breton Island, where the French built the Fortress of Louisbourg.
Growth of the settlements
The European population grew slowly under French rule, thus remained relatively low as growth was largely achieved through natural births, rather than by immigration. Most of the French were farmers, and the rate of natural increase among the settlers themselves was very high. The women had about 30 per cent more children than their counterparts who remained in France.
Yves Landry says, "Canadians had an exceptional diet for their time." The 1666 census of New France was the first census conducted in North America. It was organized by Jean Talon, the first Intendant of New France, between 1665 and 1666. According to Talon's census there were 3,215 people in New France, comprising 538 separate families.
The census showed a great difference in the number of men at 2,034 versus 1,181 women. The French government sought to rectify this over the next few years by sending approximately 800 unmarried women, known as the Filles du Roi ("King's Daughters"), to the colony.
By the early 1700s, the New France settlers were well established along the Saint Lawrence River and Acadian Peninsula with a population around 15,000-16,000. The first population figures for Acadia are from 1671, which enumerated only 450 people.
After the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, New France began to prosper. Industries such as fishing and farming, which had failed under Talon, began to flourish. A "King's Highway" (Chemin du Roy) was built between Montreal and Quebec to encourage faster trade. The shipping industry also flourished as new ports were built and old ones were upgraded.
The number of colonists greatly increased. By 1720, Canada had become a self-sufficient colony with a population of 24,594. Mainly due to natural increase and modest immigration from Northwest France (Brittany, Normandy, Île-de-France, Poitou-Charentes and Pays de la Loire) the population of Canada increased to 55,000 according to the last French census of 1754. This was an increase from 42,701 in 1730. By 1765, the population approached 70,000.
By 1714, the Acadian population had expanded to over 2,500, and by the end of the 1750s it had reached about 13,000. This was mostly from natural increase rather than immigration that affected other French settlements.
The European population of Louisiana is estimated at 5,000 by the 1720s. However, by the mid-1730s the colony had suffered the loss of 2,000 French settlers, though it added African slaves. Enslaved men, women and children represented approximately 65 percent of the 6,000 non-indigenous population of Louisiana by the end of French rule.
History
Early exploration (1523–1650s)
Around 1523, the Florentine navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano convinced King Francis I to commission an expedition to find a western route to Cathay (China). Late that year, Verrazzano set sail in Dieppe, crossing the Atlantic on a small caravel with 50 men. After exploring the coast of the present-day Carolinas early the following year, he headed north along the coast, eventually anchoring in the Narrows of New York Bay.
The first European to visit the site of present-day New York, Verrazzano named it Nouvelle-Angoulême in honour of the king, the former count of Angoulême. Verrazzano's voyage convinced the king to seek to establish a colony in the newly discovered land. Verrazzano gave the names Francesca and Nova Gallia to that land between New Spain (Mexico) and English Newfoundland.
In 1534, Jacques Cartier planted a cross in the Gaspé Peninsula and claimed the land in the name of King Francis I.[failed verification] It was the first province of New France. The first settlement of 400 people, Fort Charlesbourg-Royal (present-day Quebec City), was attempted in 1541 but lasted only two years.
French fishing fleets continued to sail to the Atlantic coast and into the St. Lawrence River, making alliances with Canadian First Nations that became important once France began to occupy the land. French merchants soon realized the St. Lawrence region was full of valuable fur-bearing animals, especially the beaver, which were becoming rare in Europe.
Eventually, the French crown decided to colonize the territory to secure and expand its influence in America.[citation needed]
Acadia and Canada (New France) were inhabited by indigenous nomadic Algonquian peoples and sedentary Iroquoian peoples. These lands were full of unexploited and valuable natural resources, which attracted all of Europe. By the 1580s, French trading companies had been set up, and ships were contracted to bring back furs.
Much of what transpired between the indigenous population and their European visitors around that time is not known, for lack of historical records.
Other attempts at establishing permanent settlements were also failures. In 1598, a French trading post was established on Sable Island, off the coast of Acadia, but was unsuccessful. In 1600, a trading post was established at Tadoussac, but only five settlers survived the winter.
Foundation and development of Port Royal (1605)
In 1604, King Henri IV sponsored Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons to found a settlement in New France. It was initially located at Île-Saint-Croix in modern-day Maine, which was moved to Port-Royal, Acadia, in modern day Nova Scotia, in 1605. Early participants in Port Royal included Samuel de Champlain and Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt et de Saint-Just.
The first seigneury in New France, was granted to Poutrincourt in 1604, who actively promoted its development. By 1607, New France's first grist mill was established on the seigneury. Poutrincourt invited Louis Hébert to Port Royal where he pioneered many European agricultural practices in the New World, including viticulture, arboriculture and cereal farming, before relocating to Quebec in 1617.
The principal structure of early Port Royal, the habitation, was destroyed in 1613, after which settlers moved to other nearby locations. Port Royal was the first successful attempt by Europeans to establish a permanent settlement in New France. Although the French, notably Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour, remained active after 1613, official support for Port Royal resumed only in 1632.
Control of Port Royal and Acadia shifted between Britain and France until Britain permanently took it in 1712. The Acadians remained dominant until their deportation began in 1755. Allowed to return in 1764 if they swore allegiance, Acadians today form a significant French-speaking community in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
Foundation of Quebec City (1608)
In 1608, King Henry IV sponsored Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons and Samuel de Champlain as founders of the city of Quebec with 28 men. This was the second permanent French settlement in the colony of Canada. Colonization was slow and difficult. Many settlers died early because of harsh weather and diseases. In 1630, there were only 103 colonists living in the settlement, but by 1640, the population had reached 355.
Champlain allied himself with the Algonquin and Montagnais peoples in the area, who were at war with the Iroquois, as soon as possible. In 1609, Champlain and two French companions accompanied his Algonquin, Montagnais, and Huron allies south from the St. Lawrence Valley to Lake Champlain. He participated decisively in a battle against the Iroquois there, killing two Iroquois chiefs with the first shot of his arquebus.
This military engagement against the Iroquois solidified Champlain's status with New France's Huron and Algonquin allies, enabling him to maintain bonds essential to New France's interests in the fur trade.
Champlain also arranged to have young French men live with local indigenous people, to learn their language and customs and help the French adapt to life in North America. These coureurs des bois ("runners of the woods"), including Étienne Brûlé, extended French influence south and west to the Great Lakes and among the Huron tribes who lived there.
Ultimately, for the better part of a century, the Iroquois and French clashed in a series of attacks and reprisals.
During the first decades of the colony's existence, only a few hundred French people lived there, while the English colonies to the south were much more populous and wealthy. Cardinal Richelieu, adviser to Louis XIII, wished to make New France as significant as the English colonies. In 1627, Richelieu founded the Company of One Hundred Associates to invest in New France, promising land parcels to hundreds of new settlers and to turn Canada into an important mercantile and farming colony.
He named Champlain as the Governor of New France and forbade non-Catholics to live there. Consequently, any Protestant emigrants to New France were forced to convert to Catholicism, prompting many of them to relocate to the English colonies instead.
The Catholic Church, and missionaries such as the Recollets and the Jesuits, became firmly established in the territory. Richelieu also expanded the seigneurial system from its beginnings at Port-Royal. This was a semi-feudal system of farming based on ribbon farms that remained a characteristic feature of the St. Lawrence valley until the 19th century.
While Richelieu's efforts did little to increase the French presence in New France, they did pave the way for the success of later efforts.
Simultaneously, during the Anglo-French War (1627–1629) the English colonies to the south began raiding the St. Lawrence Valley, Champlain surrendered Quebec on 19 July 1629. The British held New France with Kirke as governor until 1632, when Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1632) was signed on March 29, 1632, which returned New France (Quebec, Acadia and Cape Breton Island) to French control.
Champlain returned to Canada that year and requested that Sieur de Laviolette found another trading post at Trois-Rivières, which Laviolette did in 1634. Champlain died in 1635.
On 23 September 1646, under the command of Pierre LeGardeur, Le Cardinal arrived to Quebec with Jules (Gilles) Trottier II and his family. Le Cardinal, commissioned by the Communauté des Habitants, had arrived from La Rochelle, France. Communauté des Habitants at the time of Trottier traded fur primarily. On 4 July 1646, by Pierre Teuleron, sieur de Repentigny, granted Trottier land in La Rochelle to build and develop New France, under the authorization Jacques Le Neuf de la Poterie.
Royal takeover and attempts to settle
In 1650, New France had seven hundred colonists and Montreal had only a few dozen settlers. Because the First Nations people did most of the work of beaver hunting, the company needed few French employees. The sparsely populated New France almost fell to hostile Iroquois forces completely as well. In 1660, settler Adam Dollard des Ormeaux led a Canadian and Huron militia against a much larger Iroquois force; none of the Canadians survived, although they did turn back the Iroquois invasion.
In 1627, Quebec had only eighty-five French colonists and was easily overwhelmed two years later when three English privateers plundered the settlement. In 1663, New France finally became more secure when Louis XIV made it a royal province, taking control away from the Company of One Hundred Associates. In the same year the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal ceded its possessions to the Seminaire de Saint-Sulpice.
The Crown paid for transatlantic passages and offered other incentives to those willing to move to New France as well, after which the population of New France grew to three thousand.
In 1665, Louis XIV sent a French garrison, the Carignan-Salières Regiment, to Quebec. The colonial government was reformed along the lines of the government of France, with the Governor General and Intendant subordinate to the French Minister of the Marine. In 1665, Jean Talon Minister of the Marine accepted an appointment from Jean-Baptiste Colbert as the first Intendant of New France.
These reforms limited the power of the Bishop of Quebec, who had held the greatest amount of power after the death of Champlain.
Talon tried reforming the seigneurial system by forcing the seigneurs to reside on their land and limiting the size of the seigneuries, intending to make more land available to new settlers. Talon's attempts failed since very few settlers arrived and the various industries he established failed to surpass the importance of the fur trade.
Settlers and their families
The first settler, brought to Quebec by Champlain, was the apothecary Louis Hébert and his family of Paris. They expressly came to settle and remain in New France so as to make the settlement viable. Waves of recruits came in response to the requests for men with specific skills, e.g., farmers, architects, and blacksmiths.
At the same time, the government encouraged intermarriages with the indigenous peoples and welcomed indentured servants, or engagés sent to New France. As couples married, cash incentives to have large families were put in place and proved effective.
To further strengthen the nascent France's colonial empire, Louis XIV sponsored single women, virtuous, physically fit, and aged between 15 and 30 years, known as the King's Daughters, or, in French, les filles du roi, to move to New France. The King paid for their passage and granted goods or money as their dowries upon their marriage to single settlers.
Approximately 800 women, primarily from the impoverished Parisian, Norman, and West-Central families, relocated during 1663–1673. By 1672, the population of New France had risen to 6,700 people, a marked increase from the population of 3,200 people in 1663.
This rapid demographic growth was predicated both on the high demand for children and on the ready supply of natural resources to support them. According to Landry, "Canadians had an exceptional diet for their time. This was due to the natural abundance of meat, fish, and pure water; the good food conservation conditions during the winter; and an adequate wheat supply in most years." Consequently, colonial women bore about 30% more children than comparable women in France.
Besides household duties, some women participated in the fur trade, the major source of money in New France. They worked at home alongside their husbands or fathers as merchants, clerks, and provisioners. Some were widows who took over their husbands' roles. Some even became independent and active entrepreneurs.
Settlements in Louisiana
The French extended their territorial claim to the south and to the west of the American colonies late in the 17th century, naming it for King Louis XIV, as La Louisiane. In 1682, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle explored the Ohio River Valley and the Mississippi River Valley, and he claimed the entire territory for France as far south as the Gulf of Mexico.
La Salle attempted to establish the first southern colony in the new territory in 1685, but inaccurate maps and navigational issues led him to instead establish his Fort Saint Louis in what is now Texas. The colony was devastated by disease, and the surviving settlers were killed in 1688, in an attack by the area's indigenous population.
Other parts of Louisiana were settled and developed with success, such as New Orleans and southern Illinois, leaving a strong French influence in these areas long after the Louisiana Purchase.
Many strategic forts were built there, under the orders of Governor Louis de Buade de Frontenac. Forts were also built in the older portions of New France that had not yet been settled. Many of these forts were garrisoned by the Troupes de la Marine, the only regular soldiers in New France between 1683 and 1755.
