Background The French first came to the New World as travelers seeking a route to the Pacific Ocean and wealth. Major French exploration of North America began under the rule of
Francis I, King of France. In 1524, Francis sent Italian-born
Giovanni da Verrazzano to explore the region between
Florida and
Newfoundland for a route to the Pacific Ocean. He would find parts of
New York Harbor. The French would take narrow land ports of the Boroughs
Queens and
Brooklyn from the upper and lower parts of the harbor until 1609 when the
British and the
Dutch came to take control of it from the French Verrazzano. He would later give the names
Francesca and
Nova Gall to that land between
New Spain and English Newfoundland, thus promoting French interests.
Colonization by Théophile Hamel, arr. 1844 In 1534, Francis I of France sent
Jacques Cartier on the first of three voyages to explore the coast of Newfoundland and the
St. Lawrence River. He founded New France by planting a cross on the shore of the
Gaspé Peninsula. The French subsequently tried to establish several colonies throughout North America that failed, due to weather, disease, or conflict with other European powers. Cartier attempted to create the first permanent European settlement in North America at
Cap-Rouge (Quebec City) in 1541 with 400 settlers but the settlement was abandoned the next year after bad weather and attacks from
Native Americans in the area. A small group of French troops were left on
Parris Island, South Carolina in 1562 to build
Charlesfort, but left after a year when they were not resupplied by France.
Fort Caroline established in present-day
Jacksonville, Florida, in 1564, lasted only a year before being destroyed by the Spanish from
St. Augustine. An attempt to settle convicts on
Sable Island off Nova Scotia in 1598 failed after a short time. In 1599, a sixteen-person trading post was established in
Tadoussac (in present-day
Quebec), of which only five men survived the first winter. In 1604
Pierre Du Gua de Monts and
Samuel de Champlain founded a short-lived French colony, the first in
Acadia, on
Saint Croix Island, presently part of the state of
Maine, which was much plagued by illness, perhaps scurvy. The following year the settlement was moved to
Port Royal, located in present-day
Nova Scotia.
Samuel de Champlain founded
Quebec (1608) and explored the
Great Lakes. In 1634,
Jean Nicolet founded
La Baye des Puants (present-day
Green Bay), which is one of the oldest permanent European settlements in America. In 1634,
Sieur de Laviolette founded Trois-Rivières. In 1642,
Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, founded
Fort Ville-Marie which is now known as
Montreal.
Louis Jolliet and
Jacques Marquette founded
Sault Sainte Marie (1668) and
Saint Ignace (1671) and explored the
Mississippi River. At the end of the 17th century,
René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle established a network of forts going from the
Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes and the
Saint Lawrence River.
Fort Saint Louis was established in Texas in 1685, but was gone by 1688.
Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded
Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit (modern-day
Detroit) in 1701 and
Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville founded
La Nouvelle Orléans (
New Orleans) in 1718.
Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville founded
Baton Rouge in 1719. performing a tribal dance with Indian allies The European settlement of
Mobile, Alabama began with French colonists, who in 1702 constructed
Fort Louis de la Louisiane, at Twenty-seven Mile Bluff on the
Mobile River, as the first capital of the
French colony of
La Louisiane. It was founded by
French Canadian brothers
Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and
Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, to establish control over France's claims to
La Louisiane. Bienville was appointed as royal governor of French Louisiana in 1701. Mobile's Roman Catholic parish was established on July 20, 1703, by
Jean-Baptiste de la Croix de Chevrières de Saint-Vallier,
Bishop of Quebec. The parish was the first French Catholic parish established on the
Gulf Coast of the United States. Though most of the "
Pélican girls" recovered, numerous colonists and neighboring Native Americans contracted the disease in turn and many died. A new earth-and-palisade Fort Louis was constructed at the new site during this time. By 1712, when
Antoine Crozat was appointed to take over administration of the colony, its population had reached 400 persons. The capital of
La Louisiane was moved in 1720 to
Biloxi, In 1763, the
Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the
Seven Years' War, which Britain won, defeating France. By this treaty, France ceded its territories east of the Mississippi River to Britain. This area was made a part of the expanded British
West Florida colony. The British changed the name of Fort Condé to
Fort Charlotte, after
Queen Charlotte. The French were eager to explore North America but New France remained largely unpopulated. Due to the lack of women, intermarriages between French and Indians were frequent, giving rise to the
Métis people. Relations between the French and Indians were usually peaceful. As the 19th-century historian
Francis Parkman stated: To boost the French population,
Cardinal Richelieu issued an act declaring that Indians converted to Catholicism were considered "natural Frenchmen" by the
Ordonnance of 1627:
Louis XIV also tried to increase the population by sending approximately 800 young women nicknamed the "
King's Daughters". However, the low density of the population in New France remained a very persistent problem. At the beginning of the
French and Indian War (1754–1763), the British population in North America outnumbered the French 20 to 1. France fought a total of six colonial wars in North America (see the four
French and Indian Wars as well as
Father Rale's War and
Father Le Loutre's War).
French Florida In 1562,
Charles IX, under the leadership of Admiral
Gaspard de Coligny sent
Jean Ribault and a group of
Huguenot settlers in an attempt to colonize the Atlantic coast and found a colony on a territory which would take the name of the
French Florida. They discovered the sound and Port Royal Island, which would be called
Parris Island in
South Carolina, on which he built a fort named
Charlesfort. The group, led by
René Goulaine de Laudonnière, moved to the south where they founded the
Fort Caroline on the Saint John's river in
Florida on June 22, 1564. This irritated the Spanish who claimed Florida and opposed the
Protestant settlers for religious reasons. In 1565,
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés led a group of Spaniards and founded
Saint Augustine, 60 kilometers south of Fort Caroline. Fearing a Spanish attack, Ribault planned to move the colony but a
storm suddenly destroyed his fleet. On 20 September 1565 the Spaniards, commanded by Menéndez de Avilés, attacked and massacred all the Fort Caroline occupants including Jean Ribault.
Canada and Acadia The French interest in Canada focused first on fishing off the
Grand Banks of Newfoundland. However, at the beginning of the 17th century, France was more interested in fur from North America. The fur trading post of
Tadoussac was founded in 1600. Four years later,
Champlain made his first trip to Canada on a trade mission for fur. Although he had no formal mandate on this trip, he sketched a map of the St. Lawrence River and in writing, on his return to France, a report entitled
Savages (relation of his stay in a tribe of
Montagnais near Tadoussac). Champlain needed to report his findings to
Henry IV. He participated in another expedition to New France in the spring of 1604, conducted by
Pierre Du Gua de Monts. It helped the foundation of a settlement on
Saint Croix Island, the first French settlement in the New World, which would be given up the following winter. The expedition then founded the colony of
Port-Royal. In 1608, Champlain founded a fur post that would become the city of
Quebec, which would become the capital of New France. In Quebec, Champlain forged alliances between France and the
Huron and
Ottawa against their traditional enemies, the
Iroquois. Champlain and other French travelers then continued to explore North America, with
canoes made from
birch bark, to move quickly through the
Great Lakes and their tributaries. In 1634, the Normand explorer
Jean Nicolet pushed his exploration to the West up to Wisconsin. Following the capitulation of Quebec by the
Kirke brothers, the British occupied the city of Quebec and Canada from 1629 to 1632. Samuel de Champlain was taken prisoner and there followed the bankruptcy of the
Company of One Hundred Associates. Following the
Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France took possession of the colony in 1632. The city of
Trois-Rivières was founded in 1634. In 1642, the Angevin
Jérôme le Royer de la Dauversière founded
Ville-Marie (later
Montreal) which was at that time, a fort as protection against Iroquois attacks (the first great Iroquois war lasted from 1642 to 1667). . Despite this rapid expansion, the colony developed very slowly. The Iroquois wars and diseases were the leading causes of death in the French colony. In 1663 when
Louis XIV provided the
Royal Government, the population of New France was only 2,500 European inhabitants. That year, to increase the population, Louis XIV sent between 800 and 900 '
King's Daughters' to become the wives of French settlers. The population of New France reached subsequently 7,000 in 1674 and 15,000 in 1689. From 1689 to 1713, the French settlers were faced with almost incessant war during the
French and Indian Wars. From 1689 to 1697, they fought the British in the
Nine Years' War. The war against the Iroquois continued even after the
Treaty of Rijswijk until 1701, when the two parties agreed on peace. Then, the war against the English took over in the
War of the Spanish Succession. In 1690 and 1711, Quebec City had successfully resisted the attacks of the English navy and then British army. Nevertheless, the British took advantage of the second war. With the signing of the
Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, France ceded to Britain Acadia (with a population of 1,700 people),
Newfoundland and
Hudson Bay. Under the Sovereign Council, the population of the colony grew faster. However, the population growth was far inferior to that of the British
Thirteen Colonies to the south. In the middle of the 18th century, New France accounted for 60,000 people while the British colonies had more than one million people. This placed the colony at a great military disadvantage against the British. The war between the colonies resumed in 1744, lasting until 1748. A final and decisive war began in 1754. The
Canadiens and the French were helped by numerous alliances with Native Americans, but they were usually outnumbered on the battlefield.
Louisiana On May 17, 1673, explorers
Louis Jolliet and
Jacques Marquette began exploring the Mississippi River, known to the Sioux as
does Tongo, or to the
Miami-Illinois as
missisipioui (
the great river). They reached the mouth of the Arkansas and then up the river, after learning that it flowed into the Gulf of Mexico and not to the California Sea (Pacific Ocean). In 1682, the Normand
Cavelier de la Salle and the Italian
Henri de Tonti came down the Mississippi to its Delta. They left from
Fort Crevecoeur on the Illinois River, along with 23 French and 18 Native Americans. In April 1682, they arrived at the mouth of the Mississippi; they planted a cross and a column bearing the arms of the king of France. In 1686 de Tonti left 6 men near the Quapaw village of Osotouy, creating the settlement of Arkansas Post. De Tonti's Arkansas Post would be the first European settlement in the Lower Mississippi River valley. La Salle returned to France and won over the
Secretary of State of the Navy to give him the command of
Louisiana. He believed that it was close to
New Spain by drawing a map on which the Mississippi seemed much further west than its actual rate. He set up a maritime expedition with four ships and 320 emigrants, but it ended in disaster when he failed to find the Mississippi Delta and was killed in 1687. In 1698,
Pierre LeMoyne d'Iberville left
La Rochelle and explored the area around the mouth of the Mississippi. He stopped between Isle-aux-Chats (now Cat Island) and Isle Surgeres (renamed Isle-aux-Vascular or Ship Island) on February 13, 1699, and continued his explorations to the mainland, with his brother
Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville to
Biloxi. He built a precarious fort, called 'Maurepas' (later 'Old Biloxi'), before returning to France. He returned twice in the Gulf of Mexico and established a fort at
Mobile in 1702. From 1699 to 1702, Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville was governor of Louisiana. His brother succeeded him in that post from 1702 to 1713. He was again governor from 1716 to 1724 and again 1733 to 1743. In 1718, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville commanded a French expedition in Louisiana. He founded the city of New Orleans, in homage to
Regent Duke of Orleans. The architect
Adrian de Pauger drew the orthogonal plane of the
Old Square.
Louisiana immigration In 1718, there were only 700 Europeans in Louisiana. The
Mississippi Company arranged for ships to bring 800 more, who landed in Louisiana in 1718, doubling the European population.
John Law encouraged
Germans, particularly Germans of the
Alsatian region who had
recently fallen under French rule, and the
Swiss to emigrate. Prisoners were set free in Paris in September 1719 onwards, under the condition that they marry prostitutes and go with them to Louisiana. The newly married couples were chained together and taken to the port of embarkation. In May 1720, after complaints from the Mississippi Company and the concessioners about this class of French immigrants, the French government prohibited such deportations. However, there was a third shipment of prisoners in 1721. The
Mississippi Company arranged for hundreds of German immigrants to move to Louisiana by ships in 1721.
Charles Frederick d'Arensbourg was a leader of the settlement called the
German Coast. By the end of 1720, the Mississippi Company failed. Later, more Germans immigrated to Louisiana during the 1750s and 1770s.
Dissolution The last
French and Indian War resulted in the dissolution of
New France in 1763, with
Canada going to
Great Britain and
Louisiana going to
Spain, although mainly absent. French colonists descendants or "Canadiens" that had settled in the
Valley of Ohio, migrated into the Spanish territory West of the Mississippi and were instrumental in pushing further West toward the Pacific through their longer experience of the new continent and its native inhabitants. Only the islands of
Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon are still in French hands. In 1802 Spain returned Louisiana to France, but
Napoleon sold it to the United States in 1803. The French left many
toponyms (
Illinois,
Vermont,
Bayous) and
ethnonyms (
Sioux,
Coeur d'Alene,
Nez Percé) across North America. ==West Indies==