2. American Colonies 5 –
Canada and Iroquoia
• In the mid-16th century the Spanish emperor
declined to block the French from establishing
along the Lawrence River in Canada.
• The French discovered two profitable
commodities: fish and furs.
• The French realized early on that they needed the
Indians as allies and hunters rather than enemies.
• The Indians of northeastern North America were
divided into Algonquian and Iroquoian peoples.
• The French became allies with the Huron and
northern Algonquian which pitted them as
enemies of the Five Nation Iroquoians.
• In 1610 the Five Nation Iroquoians obtained metal
weapons from the Dutch and became formidable
warriors disrupting French trade.
3. American Colonies 5 –
Canada and Iroquoia
• European mariners offered beads, kettles and knives in
exchange for furs from the Indians.
• The natives became adept at driving a hard bargain, waiting
for several ships to port to compete for their furs.
• Occasionally mariners kidnapped Indians as slaves which
soured relations between natives and mariners.
• The Indians reliance on European goods and weapons made
them hunt more to supply their fur trade.
• The northern Algonquian hunted year-round which led to the
depletion of the animals they hunted.
• The Indians had to extend their hunting territories farther
which increased conflicts with their neighbors.
4. American Colonies 5 –
Canada and Iroquoia
• In 1608 Frenchman Samuel de Champlain built
a small trading post in Quebec.
• Two decades later there were only 85 colonists,
all of them men in Quebec.
• In 1609 Champlain and his men helped their northern Indian allies
defeat a group of Iroquois leading the Iroquois to realize their inferior
weapons and penetrable formations.
• The women of the Iroquois cultivated large and productive crops which
allowed the young men to pursue war.
• Iroquois warriors conducted “mourning wars” which entailed capturing
their enemies to distribute among their people who had lost family due
to disease and war.
• They also tortured and cannibalized most men which created cohesion
among the tribe and hardened their adolescent boys to war.
5. American Colonies 5 –
Canada and Iroquoia
• In 1614 a Dutch company established a trading post,
later known as Fort Orange, which was the Dutch
equivalent of French Quebec.
• The Iroquois lived in close proximity to the Dutch,
who were more willing to offer guns than were the
French.
• French leaders hoped to make the northern Indians
more dependable as allies by sending the Jesuits to
convert them to Catholicism.
• After initial resistance, most Huron converted to
Christianity to be with their family in the afterlife.
• The mid-17th century saw the Iroquois become more
violent in their pursuit of their mourning wars and
they had killed or captured most Huron destroying
their villages in the process.
• Toward the end of the 17th century the Iroquois took
more captives than the could assimilate which led to
division within their own nations.
• With all of the complexities associated with alliance
and trade, European powers never realized their goal
of control and colonization of the area.
6. American Colonies 16 –
French America
• In the 1660’s the French crown wanted to
colonize the area around Quebec and give army
officers who stayed the title of “seigneur”.
• Seigneurs brought the first farm families to
Canada which produced small crops of wheat
and brought small herds of livestock.
• The French crown worried that the English were
winning the race to colonize and decided to pay
for transatlantic passage to stimulate emigration.
• Most emigrants were poor young men while
only 12% were female.
• Most emigrants returned home after their three
year stay while only the married men and
women tended to stay.
• Because the women married early and bore
many healthy children the population grew from
3,000 in 1663 to 15,000 in 1700.
7. American Colonies 16 –
French America
• French peasants chose to stay in France rather than
risk the unknown which contributed to slow
colonization.
• Many emigrated to nearby Spain which was
cheaper, closer, and warmer.
• New France had a reputation of being immoral,
cold, and unprofitable land which deterred
moralistic emigrants.
• Most of the French who emigrated enjoyed a
better life with more land and better meals than
that of their counterparts in France.
• The crown appointed three rival officials to govern
New France: a military governor-general, a civil
administrator or intendant, and a Catholic bishop.
• The governing council was comprised of five to
seven seigneurs, the governor-general, bishop,
intendant, and attorney general.
• Early 18th century New France was divided into
sectors: the cultivated St. Lawrence Valley and the
vast forest and lakes of upper country.
8. American Colonies 16 –
French America
• The French treated the Indians as sovereign peoples rather than
French subjects in New France.
• Mid 17th century Iroquois attacks made their native enemies flee
west to refugee villages where they fought among themselves.
• The distant posts of the west attracted
officers to engage on the fur trade on the
side and the officers became known as
coureurs de bois.
• The life of a coureurs de bois was
dangerous but partnership with an Indian
women made it much safer.
• With help from their upper-country Indian allies, the French
defeated the Iroquois which brought about a peace in 1701.
• The French moved their post to Detroit and assumed the Indians
would accept French dictation.
• Without New France’s intervention between the native tribes, their
battles grew fierce again and moved into Detroit.
9. American Colonies 16 –
French America
• In 1682 Sieur de La Salle led a group of French and allied Indians
south and named it Louisiana to impress King Louis XIV.
• Determined to win the support of Indians over the Carolina
traders, the French in Louisiana wooed the Indians with firearms.
• The Company of the Indies was commissioned by the French
crown to colonize Louisiana which led to the town of New
Orleans.
• Many of the colonists were convicted criminals which further undermined
Louisiana’s reputation.
• Far from imperial supervision, Louisiana’s officials were notoriously corrupt.
• Louisiana was the least profitable colony to the French but was
retained for its strategic value.
