The rise and decline of New France

Thèmes abordés

Rise, decline, New-France, North American continent, European travellers, colonies, Quebec

Résumé du document

In the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, claims to vast areas on the North-American continent were established by a few intrepid European travellers. The colonies that developed from some of those claims were an extension of the European countries and served to introduce their long established customs, institutions and laws into the New World. "New France" was the name of the vast French Empire in North America. When Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec in 1608, he had explored the coast almost to the very place where later on New York was to rise.

Extraits

[...] Nursing and teaching nuns were sent out as early as 1639. Seminaries for secular clergy were quickly opened in Montreal and Quebec. Their crowning achievement appeared to be the Christian utopian settlement of Ville-Marie (1642), although the center later developed into materialistic and military Montreal[10].The role of the church was so comprehensive and pervading to the seventeenth century and eighteenth centuries that some historians have concluded that it was the dominant force in the French colony.[11] Conclusion Up to the end of the seventeenth century, Quebec and Acadia had slowly developped, protected by the distances which separated the Saint Lawrence valley from the British colonies. [...]

[...] The first settlers were often men. Men therefore outnumbered women; as a result, girls were married by the age of twelve or thirteen[2]. In order to promote settlement in New France, the French King sent to Canada assisted immigrants, some 2,000 “engagés“ (they worked as canoe paddlers, porters, and general labourers) and 774 poor girls, the "filles du Roi" (or king's daughters), since the king paid passage for all and dowry money for many. As the flow of migration toward New France was very low, land development and occupation of new lands relied mostly on an always increasing birth rate. [...]

[...] The problem for them lay in the fact that a chain of English-speaking colonies stretched from Newfoundland in the North to a number of small West Indian islands in the South. Their chief strength was the colonies of the Atlantic seaboard (thirteen in number) which, in their desire to expand inland were soon to challenge the claims of New France to the Ohio and Mississippi valleys [14]. Bibliography: Coles Notes. Canadian History Notes. Douglas Francis, R . Readings in Canadian History Eccles, W. The Government of New France Fregault, G. [...]

[...] The role of the church was to develop the civic and social conscience as well as the spiritual life of the colonists. The church in New-France was at the outset a missionary church. The first religious services were held by the chaplains attached to various expeditions and their authority derived either from the bishop of the port of departure or the superiors of their particular religious order Contrary to another widely accepted idea, Protestants were not prevented from establishing themselves in the colonies when France first embarked on overseas ventures. [...]

[...] The French Empire in North America, France” was founded and developed itself from that mistake. Its territory extended from Acadia (centering on present day Nova Scotia ) westward past Quebec (then called Canada) and the great lakes, and stretching southward along the Mississippi Valley all the way to New Orleans[1]. The peopling of New France In New France, one of the main factors which influenced the settlers was geography. Not only had the settlers to adapt to the weather but they also had to adapt to their new environment. [...]