OPPOSING VIEWS ON THE COLONIZATION OF NEW FRANCE?
The two opposing views centered around whether New France should develop as a colony
based on settlement or as a colony based on the exploitation of the fur trade. It was decided
that the New France society would be similar to that of society back in France. For New
France to work as a colony, farmers, priests, soldiers, administrators, women, and artisans
were needed. The colonizers wanted a diversified economy and not just an economy based
solely on the exploitation of the fur trade. This concept of colonization had the support of the
King, religious orders and colonizers.
Characteristics of a colony based on the fur trade:
Its purpose was to exploit the fur trade for
the benefit of merchants and fur trading
monopoly companies such as the Company
of 100 Associates. Basically, they wanted
New France to be a fur-trading outpost.
To have such a colony it would need mainly
men, meaning merchants, coureurs de bois,
independent traders and company agents.
Settlers were not welcome as they were
expensive to bring over and they could act
as competitors in the fur trade.
The fur traders only wanted to develop and exploit the fur trade since it did not require a
large initial investment and it was very profitable.
This type of colony had the support of the fur trading companies, fur traders and merchants.
Throughout most of New France's history, despite
some attempts at settlement, the colony of New
France was based on the exploitation of the fur
trade. A major factor behind this was the belief in
the economic theory of mercantilism.
Topic 2: Mercantilism
Mercantilism was an economic policy, popular in the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe,
which stated that a country's wealth and power was best served through the accumulation of
gold and silver and raw materials. As European nations did not have a natural abundance of
such precious metals, the best way to acquire them was through trade. This meant striving
for a favourable trade balance, that is, a surplus of exports over imports. Foreign states
would then have to pay for imports in gold or silver.
European merchants exchanged goods with Africans for slaves, shipped the slaves to
the Americas, sold them and brought goods from the Americas back to Europe. It was
called the triangular trade because of the triangular shape that the three legs of the
journey made. Merchants who traded in this way could get very rich indeed as
American goods fetched a high price in Europe.
The first leg was the journey from
Europe to Africa where goods
were exchanged for slaves.
The second, or middle, leg of the
journey was the transportation of
slaves to the Americas. It was
nicknamed the 'middle passage.'
The third and final leg of the
journey, was the transport of
goods (sugar, rum, tobacco, and
molasses) from the Americas back
to Europe to be manufactured.
The Slave trade became a powerful force in globalization because it
linked the economic markets for labor (slaves) capital, goods and
service, thus making this process international.
Consequences of mercantilism on New France: New France became a trading colony whose
main economic role was to supply furs to the mother country and to purchase
manufactured products from the mother country. Furs accounted for more than 70% of the
colony's exports and the fur trade is directly responsible for the large expansion of territory.
Topic 3: Territorial and Military Consequences
Territorial Consequences: The most important
territorial consequence for New France was the
growth of its territory. Over a period of one
hundred fifty years New France's territory spread
from a tiny colony on the St. Lawrence River to
one that extended from the Atlantic to the
Prairies, and from the lands surrounding Hudson
Bay to the Gulf of Mexico.
Military Consequences: The fur trade brought
about a series of alliances with the Native
populations. The French allied themselves with
the Hurons and Algonquians while the Dutch,
and later the English, allied themselves with the
Iroquois. This led to numerous battles and
skirmishes between the Europeans and their
Native allies over the control of the fur trade. In
1649, the Huron soldiers suffered great defeats
and losses at the hands of the Iroquois, forcing the
French to use the coureurs de bois as their
middlemen in the fur trade.
The expansion of New France's territory also
brought about the encirclement of the English
colonies. The English felt threatened; the
expansion westward and their access to fur
resources was now limited. This as well leads
to numerous battles and wars and to the
eventual conquest of New France by the
English in 1760