The First French
Settlements 16031663
Samuel de Champlain
(1567-1635)
• First arrived in Canada
in 1604
• Cartographer, explorer
and geographer
• Henri IV of France
sponsored expeditions
for glory of France and
to increase her wealth
Voyages of Champlain
Acadia
• Spring of 1604 Pierre du
Gua de Monts set out for
Acadia with Champlain as
cartographer and
geographer
• De Mont was to be
granted exclusive rights to
trade with the Aboriginals
and in exchange was to
colonize Acadia and
convert the aboriginal
population
Ile Ste. Croix
• Champlain and de Monts negotiated peace and friendship
agreements with Mi’kmaq and Maliseet chiefs
• Settled on Ile Ste. Croix
• Centrally located, deep harbour, defendable from attacks
Winter 1604
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Severe winter with snow from October until April
Crossing the thick ice on the river was treacherous
Scurvy was rampant among settlers
Half the expedition died
Ile Ste. Croix
Port Royal
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1605 the expedition moves to sheltered spot on Bay of Fundy
Better homes and storehouses
Located close to forest
Planted wheat and vegetable gardens
Many crossings back to forth to France
Dependent for economy and military
Port Royal
Port Royal
• Port Royal is abandoned by the French when de Monts’
monopoly is revoked
• Champlain heads up the St. Lawrence river
• Mi'kmaq chief Membertou left in charge until French send a
seigneur in 1609
• 1611 Jesuits sent to convert aboriginals
Recreation at Port Royal
• The Order of Good Cheer
founded by Champlain to
help get through the
winter
• Competition to see who
could hunt the best game
• Marc Lescarbot wrote the
first play performed in
New France “The Theatre
of Neptune in New
France”
Aboriginal Alliances in Acadia
• Membertou was Chief of
people’s in the area of
Port Royal and Grand
chief all seven Mi’kmaq
districts of Nova Scotia
• The Mi’kmaq welcomed
and helped Champlain
• The French saw this
hospitality as nonresistance
Quebec
• Louis XIII was convinced by Champlain to establish a
permanent colony
• Christianize aboriginals
• Trade with aboriginals
• St. Lawrence= Northwest passage?
Quebec
• Good location for
trade
• Fertile soil
• 98-metre high cliff
• Uninhabited as
Stadacona village that
Cartier had visited was
gone
Quebec
• Champlain made alliances with the Montagnais and Algonkian
peoples who used the region for trade
• Chief Anadabijou allowed Champlain to settle on Montagnais
land, but did not give him title
Quebec
• During the summer of
1608 the habitation of
Quebec was built from
wood of nearby
forests
• Basque and Spanish
competitors were a
threat to Champlain
• Winter was cold and
scurvy returned
Quebec
• The English Kirke Brothers destroyed Quebec in 1629 and took
Champlain to England as a prisoner
• Upon his return in 1632 the settlement had to be completely
rebuilt, but it remained the centre of New France until 1760
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0e2Jr00kSU
Aboriginal Alliances at Quebec
• Fur trade with Algonkian, Montagnais and Huron peoples
• They had been trading with European ships that arrived each
summer
• The Huron were “middlemen” in a trade network already
Huron vs. Iroquois
• Champlain cemented his
alliances by participating
in the defeat of the
Iroquois in 1609 at the
Battle of Ticonderoga
Point
• Huron and Iroquois
confederacies wanted
control of the fur trade
Huron vs. Iroquois
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The French killed the three Iroquois chiefs
Iroquois fled because they had no guns
Huron were happy with French alliance
Iroquois eventually get guns from the Dutch
Iroquois will remain an enemy to both
Truchements/Coureurs de
Bois
• Truchements: Frenchmen who were sent to live with the
Huron to learn their language, tactics for survival and their
culture
• The Truchements helped expand the reach of the fur trade
and improved the alliances and they acted as translators
Truchement
Etienne Brule
• Original settler from
1608, one of only 8 who
survived
• 18 years old when sent to
live with Huron
Ville-Marie (Montreal)
• 1642 Ville-Marie
established against
wishes of governor
and clergy in Quebec
• Goal to live among the
Aboriginals to convert
and assimilate them
Jeanne Mance: Angel of the
Colony
• Jeanne Mance was one of
the first lay women to settle
in New France
• Established a hospital in her
home in Ville-Marie
• Battled Bishop of Laval to
build Hotel-Dieu in Montreal
and have her run it instead
of nuns from Quebec
The Fur Trade
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Beaver hats were all the rage in Europe beginning in the 1500s
Aboriginal men in Northern Canada trapped them
Aboriginal women prepared the skins
The fashion lasted into the 1800s
The Beaver; The animal that launched a thousand ships ;)
Beaver Hats
Aboriginal Trading Specialists
• Huron and Mi'kmaq were already acting as
middlemen in the aboriginal fur trade
• Were well-accustomed to trading with the
almost 1000 ships from Europe that had arrived
annually by the early 1700s
• The early fur trade saw the aboriginals bring the
furs to the Europeans
• At the height, the Huron accounted for 50% of
the French Fur trade
The Company of One Hundred
Associates
• (see pp 104-105 for organization)
• Investors were interested in the wealth of the fur trade, but not
settlement
• France was interested in settlements and religious conversion
• 1627 the company of One hundred Associates made up of one
hundred investors is given a royal charter under Cardinal Richelieu
each paid 3000 livres ($9000 today)
• They were given large tracts of land and the right to administer the
colony in return they had to attract 200 settlers a year and maintain
the clergy and pay the soldiers
• No Protestant settlers were allowed
• The model was based on the East India trading company
Company of One Hundred
Associates
The Missionaries
• Only Catholics were
allowed to settle in
Acadia due to the
religious mess at
home
• The Ursuline nuns and
Jesuit priests and
brothers made the
largest impact on New
France
The Jesuits
• In 1633 after France regained Quebec from the
British (30 years war) France sent in the Jesuits
to convert the Aboriginals
• The Jesuits decided they had to live amongst the
Huron in order to convert them
• The aboriginals accepted them only to keep their
advantageous trade agreement with the French
Father Jean De Brebeuf
• 1634 Father Jean de
Brebeuf arrives in
Huronia.
• The Huron were
chosen because of
their numbers and
because they were
agricultural
The Huron
The Huron did not convert:
• everyone has their own spiritual path
• Jesuits preached against theft, dishonesty and
drunkenness, but the French had all of those
amongst them
• Did not see why Huron women should not have
power or why the children should not enjoy
freedom
Ste. Marie among the Huron
• 1634-1639 smallpox killed
many and the Jesuits were
blamed
• As more Huron converted
it created friction amongst
the Huron
• 1644-48 the Iroquois saw
the weakness in the
Huron and attacked
• 1649 the Settlement was
destroyed and the Huron
fled
The Ursulines
• 1639 led by Marie de L’incarnation the Ursulines came to
Quebec to educate French and Aboriginal girls
• The Ursuline convent in Quebec is the oldest institution
of learning for women in North America
• Children from the Sillery reserve were supposed to live
there to be kept under a Catholic influence, but they
often ran away back to their parents
• Marie de L’incarnation struggled for 32 years in New
France, but was very successful in finding wealthy
patrons and surviving
The Ursulines