• Early 1600’s
• France
• Near Quebec
• Fur and fish trading
• Missionary
– Person who teachers their religion to others who have different beliefs

The white Bourbon Flag
(flag of the Royal House of
France) of New France
Flag of Quebec
IRIS FLOWER
Stylized
Flower becomes a symbol of
French Kings
Canadian Coat of Arms

• In 1524, France sent
Giovanni Verrazano to find the Northwest
Passage to Asia.
• He discovered that
North America was not an archipelago of islands, but a continent.

• In 1534, France sent
Jacques Cartier to find the Northwest Passage.
• He reached the Gaspé
Peninsula, which he claimed for France.
• He also kidnapped two
Iroquoians, Taignoagny and Domagaya, and brought them back to
France to learn French so that they could guide him when they returned.

• The next year, Cartier arrived in “Canada”, an Iroquoian word meaning village that
Cartier thought was the name of the area around the St.
Lawrence.
• He explored the St. Lawrence
River, visiting Stadacona and
Hochelaga.
• The rapids west of Hochelaga, which he named “La Chine”
(China), prevented him from travelling further.

• Cartier’s men spent the winter at Stadacona, where 25 men died of scurvy.
• Donnacona, the chief of Stadacona, showed Cartier how to make Vitamin C-rich tea from spruce bark and needles, saving many lives.
• To thank him, Cartier kidnapped Donnacona and took him to France, where Donnacona died.
• As a result, the Iroquois refused to trade with the French, and Cartier’s colony failed.
• The French would not try to settle in North America for another sixty years.

• In 1600, Pierre de
Chauvin and François
Gravé established a
French fur trading post at Tadoussac.
• In 1603, Pierre Du Gua de Monts founded a settlement at Port Royal
(present day Nova
Scotia).

• The settlement failed in 1607 when de
Monts lost his royal fur trading license.
• In 1608, de Monts’ assistant, Samuel de
Champlain, founded a colony in Quebec City.

• 1567 – 1635
• Skilled Geographer and
Cartographer
• Believed in colonization when the French were only interested in trade and making a profit
• Forged relationships with the
Mi’kmaq and Huron peoples

• Modern day Nova Scotia and surrounding area
• Situated in an attractive location for a permanent trading post
• Had a deep enough harbour for ships
• Very fertile farm land
• Defendable against attack

• In 1604, Champlain set up a settlement there
• Unusually harsh winter that year
• Settlers suffered from scurvy (lack of vitamin C)
• Nearly half of the settlement died that winter
• Colony was moved further inland
• French claims on Acadia did not stop

• Founded July 3, 1608 by Champlain
• One of oldest European settlements in N.A.
• At the spot where 2 waterways meet:
– The St. Lawrence
– The Saint-Charles River
• In this period, these rivers are the only

• Quebec is situated on a 90 m high cliff over the
St. Lawrence (Upper Town is 90m, Lower
Town meets the water)
• The St. Lawrence narrows in front of Quebec
– This is why the natives called the place “Kenebec,” which means “narrow passage.”
• This makes it easier to see enemy boats if you are posted at the top of the cliff

• Huron peoples became allies with the
French
• Huron traded farm produce to aboriginal hunters for furs
• Huron then traded furs to the French for
European goods
• Champlain allied with the Huron and helped them attack and defeat the Iroquois in 1609 at the battle of Ticonderoga Point south of
Quebec

• Champlain made alliances with the Algonquins and
Montagnais that lived near Quebec, as well as with the
Wendat, whom the French called “Hurons”, and who controlled most of the territory around the Great Lakes.
• Champlain sent “coureurs de bois” like Étienne Brulé to live with the Wendat, trade with them, marry their women and explore their territory.
• In addition to the coureurs de bois, the French also sent
Jesuit missionaries to live with the Hurons.
• The Hurons did not want the missionaries, but the French made this a condition of trading.

• Huron and Iroquois had wars over the fur trade
• Iroquois acquired guns from the Dutch
• Huron acquired guns from the French

• Fashion trend in Europe in the late 1500s – beaver skin hats
• Felt from beaver skin could be moulded into many different shapes
• Beaver hats were purchased well into the 1800s
• The beaver became a cultural symbol of Canadian heritage and was immortalized on the 5 cent piece

• Cardinal Richelieu of France wants to settle
New France with settlers and to convert the
Aboriginal people to Catholicism
• Company founded in 1627 consisting of 100 investors
• Company was given seigneurial ownership of
New France and exclusive trading rights for furs
• Company had to bring 200-300 settlers to New
France in 1628
• 4000 more Roman Catholics were to be

• Land in New France divided into narrow strips along St. Lawrence
River
• Land belonged to King of France
• Land maintained by landlord or
“Seigneur”
• Landlord’s tenants (Habitants) worked the land and paid taxes to the Seigneur
• Seigneurs never really owned the land
• They were responsible for building

• Exposure to European diseases such as measles and smallpox reduced the Hurons’ population from 40,000 to 12,000 between 1634-1640.
• The Hurons were further weakened by divisions between Christian and non-Christian Hurons, and addiction to alcohol introduced by French traders.
• In wars over fur trading territories, the Hurons were easily defeated by the Iroquois, who were armed with muskets acquired from their Dutch allies.
• Surviving Hurons abandoned their territory and relocated to Wendake, near Quebec City.

• In 1627, control of New France was given to the Company of a Hundred Associates.
• The company set up seigneuries along the St.
Lawrence River, feudal-style manors given to settlers.
• Peasant farmers who lived on the seigneuries were known as “habitants”.
• Montréal was founded in 1642 by the Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal, as a Catholic mission originally known as Ville-Marie.

• In 1660, the company lost its trading monopoly, and New
France became a royal colony.
• The first administrator was Jean Talon.
• He brought hundred of young women, known as “filles du roi” from
France to marry the mostly male settlers.

• The French continued to explore the North American interior: in the 1650s Pierre Radisson and Médart de
Groseilliers explored the Western Great Lakes.

• In the 1670s traders such as Louis Jolliet and
Jacques Marquette began exploring the territory along the Ohio, Illinois and Mississippi rivers.
• René Robert Cavalier de la Salle was the first
European to reach the mouth of the Mississippi
River in the Gulf of
Mexico in 1782.

• For most of the seventeenth century, New France was at war with the Five Nations Confederacy of the
Iroquois.
• The Five Nations were the most powerful First Nations in the St. Lawrence/Great Lakes region, and were allied with the Dutch and later the English.
• In the 1670s and 1680s the French negotiated treaties with the Five Nations’ enemies to the west, such as the
Miami and the Illinois.
• In 1701, over 1300 delegates representing 40 nations, including the Five Nations and the French, signed a peace treaty in Montreal.

• The French and English fought four wars in North
America.
• From 1689-1697, King William’s War was fought between the French, English and their First Nation allies in Canada, Acadia and New England.
• From 1704-1713 the French and their Spanish allies in Florida fought against the British in a war from Newfoundland to Florida.
• In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht gave the British control of Acadia.

• After the British conquered Acadia in
1713, the Acadians refused to sign an oath of loyalty to Britain, but they promised to remain neutral in the event of war.
• In 1755, following the outbreak of the Seven
Years War, the British decided to expel the
Acadians.

• 11,500 Acadians were deported (3/4 of the Acadian population of Nova Scotia), and one-third died at sea.
• The rest settled in the
Thirteen Colonies, France and England, and many eventually made their way to
Louisiana, where they became known as “Cajuns”.

• King George’s War: fought between Britain and France, 1744-1748.
• In 1755, the Seven Years War began as a result of conflict over the Ohio Valley.
• In 1758, the British under Gen. Wolfe captured the fortress of Louisbourg, which allowed British ships to enter the Gulf of St.
Lawrence.

• In 1760, the British and French armies met on the Plains of Abraham.
• Both Wolfe and the French General
Montcalm were killed in the battle.
• The British won, and Quebec surrendered.
• Montréal was captured the same year.
• The Treaty of Paris in 1763 declared New
France to be a British possession.

The Plains of Abraham by George Campion

• http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/AtHomeAstrono my/activity_07.html