French presence in North America was marked by economic

exchanges with Aboriginal peoples, but also by conflicts, as the

French attempted to control this vast territory. The French colonial
enterprise was also spurred by religious motivation as well as the
desire to establish an effective colony in the St. Lawrence Valley.
Indigenous peoples had been living on this territory for millennia.
That is, well before the Vikings ventured so far East (see Norse
voyages) at the end of the 10 Century. From the founding
th

of Qubec in 1608 to the ceding of Canada to Britain in 1763, France

placed its stamp upon the history of the continent, much of whose
lands including Acadia, the vast territory of Louisiana and the
Mississippi Valley lay under its control. The populations it
established, especially in the St. Lawrence Valley (see St. Lawrence
Lowland), are still full of vitality today.
Founding and Context
France became interested in the North America later than the other
Western Christian powers England, Spain and Portugal and after
the trips made by Christopher Columbus in 1492, John Cabot in 1497
and the Corte-Real brothers (see also Portuguese) in 1501 and 1502.
In 1524 Giovanni da Verrazzano followed the eastern shore of
America from Florida to Newfoundland. Jacques Cartier then made
three voyages of discovery for France. He took possession of the
territory in the name of the king of France by planting a cross on the
shores of the Gasp (see Gasp Peninsula) in 1534. The next year, he
sailed up the St. Lawrence River and visited Aboriginal settlements
at Stadacona (site of present-day Qubec) and Hochelaga (Montral).
He spent the winter at Stadacona, where 25 of his men died of scurvy,
and returned to France in 1536.
In 154142 he returned, establishing a short-lived colony, which he
called "Charlesbourg- Royal," at the mouth of the rivire du Cap-
Rouge (see Cap-Rouge) near Stadacona. Religion gave the impetus to
his voyages, but economic motives were even more obvious. The hope
of finding a Northwest Passage to the Indies and the fabled Kingdom
of the Saguenay was constantly stressed. Cartier brought back to
France some minerals from this final voyage that he thought were gold
and diamonds, but were only iron pyrite and quartz (seeDiamonds of
Canada). After these initial disappointments, France turned its
attention elsewhere and ignored the distant land until the end of the
century.

Stadacona
Jacques Cartier's Return to Stadacona, 1541 (courtesy Library and
Archives Canada/Acc. No. 1989-603-4).
 Jacques Cartier
(HENRI JULIEN [PUBLIC DOMAIN], VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)

Meanwhile, some French colonists showed sustained interest in the

region's fisheries. There are reports of Basque, Breton and Norman
fishermen on Newfoundlands Grand Banks as early as the first
decade of the 16th century. Each year more ships a dozen or so in
the decade 152030, about 100 by mid-century made fishing trips.
By 1550, fishermen were drying their catch on the shores, making
contact with Aboriginal peoples and taking furs back to France. In the
1580s, ship owners were leaving fishing for the fur trade, an activity
that drew the French farther into the continent.


 Champlain statue
Sculpted in 1898 by French sculptor Paul Chevre, a survival from
Titanic wreck, this bronze statue is one of most pictured by tourists in
Quebec City. 16 meters high and 4,25 meters large, It is a portrait of
Quebec founder member, Samuel de Champlain.
( LOUISE RIVARD/DREAMSTIME.COM)
 Samuel de Champlain
Engraving based on a drawing by Champlain of his 1609 voyage. It
depicts a battle between Iroquois and Algonquian tribes near Lake
Champlain Published in Champlain, S. de, "Les voyages du sieur de
Champlain..." A Paris: chez Jean Berjon..., 1613).

Champlain and the Founding of Quebec

Saint-Louis Fort
Stone stairway belonging to the second Saint-Louis fort, built by
Champlain in 1626 (courtesy Parks Canada).
In 1608 Samuel de Champlain, considered the founder of New France,
erected a habitation (building) at Qubec. He continued Cartier's
dream of finding an opening to the Indies, pursued the commercial
interests of businessmen in France, his sponsors, and followed the
king's wishes. The settlement responded to economic demands: go out
to the fur-rich areas, forge close contact with suppliers and try to
obtain the right of exploitation. The scale of the operation made it
necessary to form private companies.
Commercial Administration of the Colony and
Missionary Work
The colony's administration, 160863, was entrusted commercial
companies that were formed by merchants from various cities in
France. Succeeding companies promised to settle and develop the
French land in America in return for exclusive rights to its resources.
The Compagnie des Cent-Associs, created by the great minister of
Louis XIII, Cardinal de Richelieu, ran New France 162763, either
directly or through subsidiary companies. It did not achieve the
desired results. In 1663, the population numbered scarcely 3,000
people, 1,250 of them Canadian-born. Less than one per cent of the
granted land was being exploited. Of the 5 million livres' worth of
possible annual resources enumerated by Champlain in 1618 e.g.,
fish, mines, wood, hemp, cloth and fur only fur yielded an
appreciable return, and it was irregular and disappointing.
Nor was evangelization among Indigenous peoples flourishing.
During its first half-century, New France experienced an explosion of
missionary fervour (see Missions and Missionaries), as demonstrated
by the number and zeal of its apostles, inspired by the Catholic
Counter-Reformation (see Catholicism). In 1634, the Jesuits renewed
the mission of Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons in the western
wilds. Ville-Marie, which became Montral, was the work of mystics
and the devoted. But the missionaries managed to convert very few
Aboriginal persons.

Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons

Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons: construction of the Jesuit mission,
which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, began in 1639 (courtesy
Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons Historical Site).
Various political and military events hindered colonization efforts.
The alliances formed by Champlain made enemies of the Iroquois.
Qubec fell to the freebooting Kirke brothers in 1629. The Iroquois
nations grew belligerent as soon as the country was returned to France
in 1632. Between 1648 and 1652 they destroyed Huronia, a hub of
French commercial and missionary activity. Attacks on the very heart
of the colony demonstrated that its survival was in doubt (seeIroquois
Wars).
In 1663, Qubec was just a commercial branch operation: the fur trade
was opposed to agriculture (see History of Agriculture); the French
population was small; and the administration of the colony by
commercial exploiters was a disaster. The company relinquished
control of the colony to the king.
Royal Rule Facilitates Development
Under Louis XIV New France flourished. He made the colony a
province of France, giving it a similar hierarchical administrative
organization. He watched over its settlement, extended its territory and
allowed its enterprises to multiply. However, he had first to guarantee
the peace.

Louis XIV
The first twenty years of Louis XIV s reign were the most brilliant.
With his ministers Colbert and the Marquis de Louvois, he carried out
the administrative and financial reorganization of the kingdom, as well
as the development of trade and manufacturing, he reformed the army,
enjoyed military victories and encouraged an extraordinary
blossoming of culture.
 Royal Arms of France
The British removal of this French coat of arms from the the porte
Saint Louis at Qubec was symbolic of the change in authority after
the Conquest. This shield, hand carved in pine in the baroque style of
the period, is attributed to Noel Levasseur, the foremost sculptor of
New France (courtesy Library and Archives Canada).

Gold Coin
Gold coin called a louis from New France, 1724 (photo by James
Zagon/courtesy Currency Museum, Bank of Canada).
 Place Royale Reconstruction
Examples of urban dwellings in New France (18th century)
reconstructed on the Place Royale, with Notre-Dame de la Victoire to
the right (photo by Marc Robitaille, Centre de production multimdia,
Laval University).

Elevation of Typical House, New France

Drawing of typical cross-section showing relation with elevation
(drawing by Iffet Orbay).
Under the marquis de Tracy, the Carignan-Salires Regiment built
forts, ravaged Iroquois villages and demonstrated French military
power. The Iroquois made peace, and 400 soldiers stayed in the
colony as settlers. The king also had 850 young women sent out as
brides-to-be, and quick marriages and families were encouraged.
When the offspring of these Filles du Roi came of age 20 years later,
the demographic situation had changed. In 1663 there had been one
woman to every 6 men; now the sexes were roughly equal in number.
The colony thereafter replenished 90 per cent of its numbers through
childbirth.

Arrival of the Brides (Filles du roi)

A view of women coming to Quebec in 1667, in order to be married
to the French Canadian farmers. Talon and Laval are waiting for the
arrival of the women (Watercolor by Eleanor Fortescue Brickdale,
1871-1945. Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada, Acc. no 1996-
371-1).
LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA, ACC. NO 1996-371-1

Under the authority of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, comptroller general of

finances and then navy minister (see Ministre de la Marine), colonial
administration was entrusted to a Gouverneur (for military matters and
external relations) and an Intendant (for justice, civil administration
and finances i.e., all civil aspects of colonial administration).
The Sovereign Council (Superior Council after 1703) acted as a court
of appeal and registered the king's edicts.
Exploration and Further Economic Expansion
The imperialism of Louis XIV, the pacification of the Iroquois and the
need to rebuild the network of fur-trade treaties led to
renewed Explorations into the Great Lakes and Mississippi regions by
such exceptional people as Franois Dollier de Casson, Louis
Jolliet, Jacques Marquette and the Cavelier de La Salle. But the
Iroquois Wars started again in 1682 and the colony found new heroes,
such as Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville. Political, military and missionary
activity, combined with economic factors, created a need for furs to be
acquired from Aboriginal peoples.


 Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, soldier
Pierre Le Moyne Iberville, taken from the book "The Conquest of
Canada," London, 1850 (courtesy Library and Archives Canada/C-
26026).
 Louis Buade, comte de Frontenac
Frontenac receiving the envoy of Sir William Phipps demanding the
surrender of Quebec, 1690. Published as frontispiece illustration in
The fighting governor; a chronicle of Frontenac, by Charles W. Colby
(Glasgow, Brook & Company, Toronto, 1915).
(CHARLES WILLIAM JEFFERYS [PUBLIC DOMAIN], VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)
 Talon, Jean
Jean Talon, intendant of New France from 1665 to 1668 (portrait by
Frre Luc/Muse des augustines de l"Htel-Dieu de Qubec).

Intendant's Palace
Intendant's palace. Design for reconstruction in 1727. Gaspard
Chaussegros de Lry, engineer. National Archives of France, photo
Holzapfel.
Intendant Jean Talon, with Colbert's solid backing and other
favourable circumstances, started a vigorous development program. In
addition to watching over agriculture and the fur trade, Talon began
ventures such as shipbuilding, trade with the West Indies, commercial
crops like flax and hemp, fishing industries and a brewery. But by the
time he left in 1672, economic circumstances had changed and
virtually nothing remained of these premature initiatives.
It is difficult to identify the major elements of this nascent society. For
Acadia, familiar features are the quality of its agricultural
establishments, the importance of fishing and the alternating British
and French regimes. In the St. Lawrence Valley, farmers, though in
the majority, were still clearing the land. Craftsmen no longer had the
support of major enterprises. Fur traders were being squeezed by
increasingly difficult regulations and economic circumstances, yet
they provided the colony's only exports. Military officers, thanks to
the introduction of coin currency and the presence of opportunities to
flaunt themselves, enjoyed some prestige by entering into business
and being in the governor's entourage.

Seigneurial System, Satellite Image

This satellite photo shows clearly the land tenure system of the
seigneurial system, by which the maximum number of farmers were
given access to the river, the only highway in New France. Successive
generations were given land in the second and third rows (courtesy
Canada Centre for Remote Sensing).
The seigneur had little revenue and took his standing from his title and
the exercise of functions entirely unrelated to the land (see Seigneurial
System). Social mobility was still possible and caused categories and
groups to mingle, but there were two worlds: the city and the country.
End of Expansion and Beginning of Economic Crisis
New France reached its greatest territorial extent at the start of the
18th century. About 250 people lived in a dozen settlements in
Newfoundland, and there were about 1,500 in Acadia. Several
hundred lived around the mouth of the Mississippi and around the
Great Lakes. People from the St Lawrence Valley lived on the
shoreline of Labrador as fishermen. The Saguenay River Basin (the
King's Domain) had a few trading posts. Canada had about 20,000
inhabitants, most of them farmers scattered along a ribbon of
settlement between the two urban centres of Qubec and Montral. In
the West, a series of trading posts and forts dotted the communication
lines. Finally, in the 1740s, the La Vrendrye family carried the
exploration of the continent right to the foothills of the Rockies.

Map of La Vrendrye's Discoveries

 This map shows the forts established by La Vrendrye and his men:
Fort Maurepas, at the mouth of the Winnipeg River; Fort La Reine
(Portage la Prairie); Fort Bourbon to the NW of Lake Winnipeg; Fort
Paskaoya, on the Saskatchewan River and others (courtesy Service
historique de la Marine, Vincennes, France: Service hydrographique,
recued 67, 0 10).

Explorations of La Vrendrye

Despite this expansion, New France has been described as a "colossus

with feet of clay." The British American colonies were 20 times as
populous and felt themselves encircled and at risk. Through the Treaty
of Utrecht of 1713, which ended the War of the Spanish Succession,
France yielded Newfoundland, the Acadian peninsula, Hudson
Bay and supremacy in trade over the Iroquois to the English.
Furthermore the early 18th century brought a major economic crisis in
the colony. Its main export item, fur, was hit by a European sales
slump, declining quality and less attractive returns. The many young
people who had just come to settle the country had no choice but to
fall back on the land.
Peacetime Recovery
Recovery was slow, but the economy experienced an unprecedented
boom during the long period of peace, 171344. France built an
imposing fortress at Louisbourg to protect its fishing zones, land and
commercial trade with the colony. After 1720, agricultural surpluses
were exported to le Royale (Cape Breton Island) and the French West
Indies. Some 200 seigneurs lived in the territory of Canada. A high
birthrate led to a rapid population increase, which in turn led to the
creation of parishes. Despite the strictures of mercantilism, two major
industries were established: the Forges Saint-Maurice and royal
shipbuilding (see Shipbuilding and Ship repair).

Forges Saint-Maurice
Production of iron began about 12 kilometres from Trois-Rivires
River in 1733. A stream emptying into the St Maurice River provided
the power and locally-produced charcoal was used in the furnaces to
melt the ore (courtesy Library and Archives Canada/C-4356).
 Port of Louisbourg
View of Louisbourg from a warship, as it would have appeared in
1744 (artwork by Lewis Parker).
 In front of the Fortress of Louisbourg, National Historic Site in Nova Scotia, 1952.
Image: Government of Canada/National Film Board/Library and
Archives/1971-271 NPC.
GOVERNMENT OF CANADA/NATIONAL FILM BOARD/LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES/1971-271 NPC.
 Old-fashioned fortifications
A view of the entrance arch and Atlantic ocean of the Fortress of
Louisbourg, Nova Scotia.
43837766 GEORGE BURBA | DREAMSTIME.COM
 Old-fashioned fortifications
Old cannon barrel pointing through a fortified wall in Fortress of
Louisbourg, Nova Scotia
44700475 GEORGE BURBA | DREAMSTIME.COM
 Louisbourg Chapel
This is an 18th century chapel interior from the reconstruction of the
Louisbourg Fortress in Nova Scotia.
981996 DENIS PEPIN | DREAMSTIME.COM
 Louisbourg
Old fortifications in Fortress of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia. Photo
taken on: July 14th, 2010. 43975586 George Burba |
Dreamstime.com
43975586 GEORGE BURBA | DREAMSTIME.COM
 Woman gardening
This is a reenactment in the reconstruction of the 18th-century
fortress of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia.
1232229 IRINA PONOMARENKO | DREAMSTIME.COM

Louisbourg, Fortress of
Louisbourg was a strategic fortress in the French American Empire
(Corel Professional Photos).
 Louisbourg Kitchen Fireplace
The settled population of Louisbourg grew to roughly 2000 by 1740
and double that in the 1750s (Corel Professional Photos).

Louisbourg Wooden Buildings

The fortress of Louisbourg is one of Canada's most elaborate
historical reconstructions (Corel Professional Photos).
In 1735, a road linked Qubec City and Montral for the first time.
Yet the fur trade still accounted for 70 per cent of the colony's exports.
And peace was being used to prepare for war: 80 per cent of the
colony's budgets (which never equalled the sums spent on the king's
amusements) went to military expenses. Much more was spent on
constructing European-style fortifications than on strengthening
alliances with Aboriginal peoples.


 Hocquart, Gilles
Hocquart was intendant of New France from 1729-48, and he was
generally regarded as a good administrator (courtesy Muse
Historique de Vaudreuil).

Franois Bigot, financial commissary

Franois Bigot, the notorious intendant, in an illustration by George
D. Warbarton in "The Conquest of Canada" (courtesy Library and
Archives Canada/C-3718).
Colonial society, influenced by the French elite that led it, modelled
itself on the mother country, yet increasingly grew apart from it
because of the colony's small population and very different, land-
based, economic and geographic circumstances. Nobles, the middle
class, military officers, seigneurs, civil administrators and traders
formed a high society which was extremely sensitive to the favours of
the colonial authorities. Eighty percent of the population lived on and
by the land. Each generation produced new pioneers who cleared and
settled land, acclimatized themselves, managed some new territory
and came to know their neighbours. The acquisition of this territory in
America by French descendants was characterized by the importance
of the land, of inheritance, of economic independence and of analyzed
social relationships.