French Colonies in North America

5-Canada and Iroquia

English, French, and Dutch mariners crossed the Atlantic to take over Spanish shipping and conduct a smuggling trade.

With nothing, but corpses to show for the expensive effort, the French abandoned attempts to permanently colonize the St. Lawrence Valley until the next century.

The French discovered two very profitable items that made northern colonization possible: fish and furs.

The fur trade deeply implicated European and natives in mutual dependency.

As Indians became dependent upon European metals, cloth, and alcohol, the traders and their empires became hostage to Indian demand.

Canada and Iroquoia-5 The Fur Trade

By 1580 Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence employed at least four hundred vessels and about twelve thousand men.

To obtain firewood, fresh water, and room to sun-dry their fish , the fishermen and whalers established temporary sheltered coves.

Indians voluntarily performed the hard labor of hunting the animals and treating their furs, that way traders could immediately profit in America without the time, trouble, expense and violence of conquering Indians to reorganize their labor.

Canada and Iroquoia-5 Canada

At the turn of the sixteenth century , French fur traders focused their efforts around Tadoussac, on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and along he pennisula they called Acadia.

Harsh and scurvy winters killed most of the colonists and demoralized the survivors. In 1613 an English pirate destroyed Port Royal, asserting his nation’s counterclaim to the region.

St. Lawrence offered the deepest access westward into the continent of any river that flowed into the North Atlantic. Cartier had demonstrated that European ships could ascend a thousand miles to meet indians.

Canada and Iroquoia-5 The Five Nations

The women cultivated large and productive fields of maize, beans, and squash, producing an abundant surplus that freed their young men to pursue war. More than any other northeastern people, the Five Nation Iroquois could sustain long distance and large-scale raids against multiple enemies.

Success in war boosted male prestige and influence,, creating powerful incentives for young men to prove themselves against outsiders.

French America-16

The colder climate and difficult access complicated British invasions, while New France’s limited numbers reduced frictions with the Indians.

At the end of the seventeenth century, the French founded a new colony named Louisiana , in the lower Mississippi Valley.

As Spanish power faded in Florida after the destruction of their missions, the French in Louisiana became the chief rival for British Carolina.

French America-16 Emigrants

Because Indians did the work of the beaver hunt, the company needed only a few French employers, primarily soldiers to defend the post and clerks to handle the furs and the manufactured goods that purchased them.

Fearful of losing the colony, the French crown ordered the Company of New France to recruit more inhabitants. He company farmed the tasks to men of means, who could obtain immense colonial estates.

French America-16 Opportunity

Most of the French who did emigrate to Canada improved their status and standard of living, escaping from poverty as landless laborers.

At least 80 percent of colonies lived as habitants, leasing farms of about one hundred acres far larger than the peasant plots of the homeland.

Habitants took pride in their regular consumption of meat and white bread which few French peasants could afford.

French America-16 Authority

The democratic weakness and military peril of New France demanded a more frequent and total mobilization for defense.

Louis XIV, who reigned from 1661 to 1715 relied upon the largest and best army in Europe to reward the nobility with officer commissions and to intimidate his common subjects. Louis raised extraordinary tax revenues from an impoverished population to sustain his vast army and growing navy. Louis expected his officials to govern by command.