New France (colonies)
New France refers to the collection of colonies established by France in eastern North America from 1534 until 1763. At its peak, New France encompassed a vast area stretching from Newfoundland in Canada down to Louisiana and westward nearly to the Rocky Mountains. The French began their colonial efforts in the 1530s, with notable explorers such as Jacques Cartier and Samuel de Champlain charting significant areas and establishing settlements like Quebec and Montreal. New France's economy was primarily dependent on the fur trade, fishing, and forestry, but it faced challenges due to conflicts with Indigenous peoples and other European colonial powers, particularly the British.
Politically, New France was governed directly by the French Crown, which limited local autonomy and contributed to economic hardships. The colony's decline began in earnest during the French and Indian War (1754-1763), culminating in a decisive defeat by British forces. The Treaty of Paris in 1763 marked the end of New France as France ceded its territories in North America to Britain and Spain. Although France briefly reacquired the Louisiana Territory in 1800, it was sold to the United States in 1803, ultimately concluding France's colonial pursuits in North America. The cultural impacts of New France remain evident today, particularly in the heritage of French Canadians and the Cajun populations in Louisiana.
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New France (colonies)
New France was the collective name for the colonies France maintained in eastern North America from 1534 to 1763. At its greatest size, New France extended from Newfoundland in northeastern Canada, south through the American Midwest to Louisiana, and west nearly to the Rocky Mountains.
France began settling its own regions of North America in the 1530s, decades after the continent had been explored by various other European powers. French settlers spread across eastern Canada and the American Midwest. They charted a wealth of geographic sites such as the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes and founded cities such as Quebec and Montreal in Canada and New Orleans on the Gulf of Mexico. Conflict with Native Americans and other European colonizers drove France out of North America by the mid-eighteenth century. New France's influence on the cultures of Canada and portions of the United States can still be observed in the twenty-first century.
Background
The Age of Discovery that began in the mid-fifteenth century sent explorers from a range of European nations around the world to chart new sea routes and lay claim to various distant territories. Italian explorer Christopher Columbus's discovery of the Americas in 1492 brought thousands of explorers from Spain, Portugal, and England across the Atlantic Ocean to explore and settle the New World for their respective monarchs.
France took no actions to join this massive colonizing effort until the early sixteenth century. In 1524, the French Crown employed Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano to chart the basic outline of eastern North America by sailing north along its coast from Florida to the island of Newfoundland in present-day northeastern Canada.
A decade later, with this preliminary research done, France sent explorer Jacques Cartier to chart the northeast region of Canada in the hopes of discovering gold rumored to be hidden there. Cartier sailed throughout what would become the Gulf of St. Lawrence and eventually erected a cross on the Gaspé Peninsula, claiming the land for France. This act marked the birth of New France in North America.
In 1535, Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence River, stopping to interact with the indigenous peoples at the sites of present-day Quebec and Montreal. Cartier returned to France in 1536 without having found the New World's legendary riches. These uneventful early expeditions mostly dampened French interest in North America until the early seventeenth century.
However, 1534 is still regarded as the first year of New France's existence because groups of French settlers remained in Newfoundland and other nearby Canadian regions to join in the lucrative fishing industry. Later in the century, these settlers moved farther inland to participate in the even more profitable fur trade. They were later joined in eastern Canada by French colonists who had been expelled from Florida by Spain, which had claimed the region for itself.
New France began to take shape as a true colonial government with the expeditions of the French explorer Samuel de Champlain. Around 1602, King Henry IV of France assigned Champlain to explore the New World, chart its seaways, and expand France's fur trade there. Champlain intensely explored eastern Canada over the next few years. In 1608, he officially established the settlement of Quebec. From here, he set out to make contact with local indigenous peoples to try to grow the French fur trade. French industries and colonizing companies soon arrived in New France to establish colonial governments. Champlain is known as the father of New France.
Overview
The French Crown permitted private companies to colonize New France and receive as rewards all the profits they could make from the land's vast natural resources. Beginning in the 1620s, for example, the Compagnie des Cent-Associés, or the Company of One Hundred Associates, was the chief administrator of all of New France. By the late seventeenth century, New France had expanded to present-day central Canada and south to Louisiana on the Gulf of Mexico. This placed the colonies of New France directly west of Great Britain's North American colonies along the Atlantic coast.
Politically, France's American colonies differed greatly from Britain's. Whereas British colonial citizens largely governed themselves through democratically elected legislatures, citizens of New France were entirely subject to the will of the French king and his government bureaucracy. The king issued orders to magistrates based in the colonies. The magistrates then executed the king's demands unilaterally, with no allowances for disagreement in courts of any kind.
Indeed, King Louis XIV was so intent on keeping the colonies of New France subservient to his rule in the late seventeenth century and early eighteenth century that he stunted the development of policies that would have led to New France's economic independence. As a result, New France's economy—based on fur, fishing, wood, and cloth—was chronically feeble, and many people simply starved. Nonetheless, New France reached its largest size by the mid-eighteenth century, expanding as far west as the Rocky Mountains.
Wars with neighboring forces in North America weakened New France further throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Throughout the seventeenth century, French colonists fought continually with the five Iroquois nations of Canada over the right to territory and resources. These Beaver Wars had ended by the early eighteenth century, but conflicts between colonists and Native Americans continued in the American Southeast into the mid-eighteenth century. These wars strained New France's economy heavily.
Meanwhile, the North American theater of the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) pitted France and Great Britain against each other for control of the continent. The 1713 Treaty of Utrecht required a defeated France to relinquish to Britain the northeast Canadian areas of Newfoundland, Hudson Bay, and the Acadian peninsula.
New France's deathblow came in the form of the French and Indian War (1754–1763), the North American theater of the Seven Years' War fought principally by Britain, France, and each of their Native American allies. The French and Indian War began as a territorial conflict between British and French colonists in the Ohio Valley in the mid-1750s. Britain thoroughly defeated France in combat over the next seven years, and the 1763 Treaty of Paris forced France to cede all its North American territories to Britain and Spain.
New France officially ceased to exist in 1763. In 1800, however, France reacquired the large Louisiana Territory from Spain. Three years later, in need of funds, Napoleon Bonaparte of France sold the territory to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase. This ended France's colonial ambitions in North America. New France's legacy lived on through the cultures of French Canadians and the Cajun people of Louisiana.
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