New France

Exploration and Colonization of the Americas by France

 France Joins the Race
• France joined the race to find an ocean passage
to Asia in the mid-1500’s.
• The king, Francois I, wanted to find a route
before anyone else.
• The French decided to start their search by
exploring North America.
 Jacques Cartier
• The king of France sent Jaques
Cartier to find the passage. In
1534, Cartier set out with two
ships. After 20 days at sea, he
hit Newfoundland.
Cartier meets the Mi’kmaq
• One day, Cartier was exploring along the shore
and they came across a group of Mi’kmaq
paddling in their canoes.
 What do you think the
Mi’kmaq would have thought?

What do you think the

Europeans would have
thought?
 Cartier’s Diary
• “A large number of people…set up a great clamor and
made frequent signs to us to come on shore, holding
up to us some skins on sticks…”
• We likewise made signs to them that we wished them
no harm, and sent two men ashore to offer them some
knives and other iron goods and a red hat to give to
their chief…”
• “They bartered all they had, to such an extent that
they all went back naked …and they made signs to us
that they would return on the morrow with more
skins”
This would have been the first
TRADE EVER between the
Europeans and Mi’kmaq in
Canada
 Cartier’s First Trip
• Goes past Newfoundland and into the Gulf of the
Saint Lawrence
• July: Arrives at GASPE where he meets the
Haudenosaunee
• Leader is Donnacona
• Takes Donnacona’s two sons (Taignoagny and
Domagaya) back to France with him to prove
what he had found to the King
 Cartier’s Second Trip
• Returns 1 year later
• Brings Donnacona’s sons back to him and 110
men
• Donnacona’s sons guide Cartier up the river into
the Haudenosaunee village called STADACONA
• Cartier spends the winter there: they build a log
house outside of the village
• Many men die of scurvy
 Cartier’s Third Trip
• Kidnaps Donnacona and 9 villagers to brig back to
France
• Wants to tell of a ‘magical land’ full of gems and fruit
trees
• Donnacona and villagers die in Europe
• Returns in 1542 (6 years later) to set up a colony
• Haudenosaunee are angry that Donnacona is dead and
become hostile towards the French
• French stay for one more winter then go home with
fools gold, disappointed and in low numbers
Acadia
 For a while...not much
happened with the French in
the ‘New World’
 By the 1600s demand for
FURS in Europe was crazy…
• French King decides to set up a
colony in North America
• Goal is to have access to the fur
market
• Also wanted to be the most
powerful King in Europe
 Sneaky King Louis
• Secret goal is to be
the most powerful
king in Europe
• Decides to set up a
colony in North
America
• Will have access to
the unlimited supply
of fur
• *Problem: a colony
so far from home is
$$$
King Louis finds a tricky way to
fund his colony….

What would you do?

 Monopoly
• When one person owns and
controls an entire industry
• Example: Nike is the ONLY show maker in the
world
• Pros:
• Cons:
• 1604: King Louis gives Pierre du
Monts has a monopoly over the
colony in New France
• Only his workers can trade fur in
the New World
• In exchange, they set up a colony
in New France and find people to
live there
• 1605: Pierre du Monts sails to
Canada with a guide named
Samuel de Champlain
• Establish a colony on the Bay of
Fundy
• Colony was called PORT ROYAL
and the area was called ACADIA
(paradise)
• Port Royal becomes a colony
• Farmers come to farm the fields
• Lots of trade with the Mi’kmaq
people
• Full of fish
• Life is hard but no harder than
in France
• Samuel de Champlain
Cartographer
• ‘Father’ of New France
• Spends 28 years exploring
Canada
• Creates strong connections
with First Nations but gets
involved in their politics as
well
• Uses the Mi'kmaq as his
guides
• Refers to the First Nations as
‘savages’
• Colony at Port Royal is doing well,
but it is too far from the actual fur
and the First Nations to trade with
• Decide to sail back to STADACONA
where Cartier had a small camp
from before
• Call this spot QUEBEC (where the
river narrows) and turns it into a
fortress for the fur trade
• Quebec is a good spot for trade but
has harsh living conditions…20/28 of
the travelers die
• He allied the French with the
Wendat and the Algonquins as in
a trading and military alliance.

• In 1609 he and his men along with

their Huron, Innu, and Algonquin
allies fought a battle with the
Haudenosaunee.
Painting showing the arrival of Samuel de Champlain
on the future site of Quebec City, 1608
Self Portrait by Champlain showing a battle with the
Haudenosaunee
 Coureur de Bois
• ‘Runners of the Woods’
• Unofficial explorers…
• Promised adventure, freedom and money
• Live with the First Nations and even get
married
• Children are called ‘Metis’
• Become ‘cultural guides’ and interpreters
between the First Nations and the French
Expanding the
empire
 Expanding West
• Two of the most adventerous coureurs de bois were Pierre
Radisson and his brother-in-law Sieur des Groseilliers. Radisson
came to New France as a boy. When he was a teenager he went
to live with a Mohawk family for two years. He learned the
language and how to survive in the woods.

• In 1659, he joined Groseilliers on a trading trip. They travelled

deep inland to the far end of Lake Superior, further than any
European had gone before.

• In 1670, both men traveled to Hudson Bay because the First

Nations people had told them the land was rich with fur-bearing
animals. Later that same year, the Hudson’s Bay company was
founded as a result of the accomplishments of these two
explorers.
Painting of Radisson
and Groseilliers 1905

Arrival of Radisson in an Indian camp 1660

 Expanding South
• Rumors of a great river called the Mississippi

• in 1682 a French fur trader named Rene Robert

Cavelier de la Salle finally reached the mouth of the
Mississippi River at the Gulf of Mexico.

• Due to this exploration, the France claimed

ownership of all the Mississippi country. They
called it Louisiana, after the French king Louis XIV.
• New France and
the colonies at Port
Royal and Quebec
kept growing
• As they grow, they
get more
sophisticated
Daily Life in New
France
 A New Society
• Read pages 45 -50 in your textbook
• Complete the notes page
• How did the society of NEW FRANCE tackle
the following issues:
• Government
• Distribution of Resources
• Roles
• Relationships with Others
Government
• Governor: reports to
the King of France…in
charge of defense,
enemies and alliances
• Intendant: reports to
Governor…in charge
of day to day affairs
like roads, settlers,
and economy
• Bishop: head of the
church… in charge of
religious matters
 Seigneurial System
• King gives large pieces
of land to nobles called
SEIGNEURS
• Seigneurs have to find
renter to work the land
called HABITANTS
• Habitants look after
land and pay
taxes/crops as rent
• Seigneurs protect
Habitants and make
sure there is a church
and a mill
 Women
• Early colonists were mainly male
• Problem: need to grow the populations
• need BABIES therefore you need WOMEN
• For women opportunities in the New World were less exciting
• FILLE DU ROI
•1665 - 1673
•King sends 900 of the poorest women in the country to
marry the colonists
•Once married they would receive an ox, a cow, two pigs,
two chickens, salt beef, and a small amount of money
•For these women, incentives made it worth it + opportunity
for a better life
•Children will become the Canadiens
https://www.eurocanadian.ca/
2019/02/filles-du-roi-how-historical-
revisionists-feminists-slandered-
ancestors-Canada.html
 Families
• Family is the center of life in New France
• Nuns educate the children
• Boys and girls go to school
• Girls have better education in New France than in France
• Learned to read and write and do chores

The Church
• French are very Religious in this time period
• Priests, nuns and missionaries go to New World
• Help in colonies (run schools and hospitals, care for the poor)
and also try to convert people (Christian duty)
• TITHE: church collects a tax from people, paid to help
support the church