The First French Settlements 1603-1663

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• 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• 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 non-resistance

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• 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• 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