Canada (New France) презентация

Canada (New France) (1534—1763)

Canada (FR. Canada) is a French colony in North America, part of New France. Because it was the most developed of the North American colonies of France, the terms " New France" and "Canada" were often used interchangeably.

Geography and political structure The colony of Canada included land adjacent to the St. Lawrence river. Administratively, the colony of Canada was divided into three districts: Quebec, Trois-rivières, and Montreal. Each district had its own government; the Governor of the district of Quebec was also the Governor-General of New France. The territories dependent on Canada were the so-called "Upper lands" (FR. Pays d'en Haut) - territories extending North and West of Montreal. This included all places where French pioneers reached, although French settlements existed only in the area South of the Great lakes. Part of the Upper lands was Illinois land, which in 1717 was incorporated into the colony of Louisiana.

History In 1534, the French Navigator Jacques Cartier erected a cross on Cape Gaspe and declared these lands the property of the French king Francis I. Despite the fact that the first French attempts to establish settlements ended in failure, French fishermen continued to sail along the North-Eastern coast of the North American continent and swam into the St. Lawrence river, establishing contacts with local Indians. Soon French traders became aware that these places were rich in fur animals (especially beavers, which were few in Europe by then), and the French authorities decided to start colonizing the region. In 1608, sponsored by the French king Henry IV, Pierre Dugua and Samuel de Champlain founded the settlement of Quebec. Allied with the Algonquins and montagnais who lived there and fought the Iroquois, Champlain traveled South along the St. Lawrence river valley in 1609 to lake Champlain, where he took part in the battle against the Iroquois. This strengthened the position of the French among the Algonquins and Hurons, which was essential for the further penetration of French pioneers and settlers into the interior of the continent. Champlain also encouraged young Frenchmen to live among the Indians in order to adopt their language and customs; such people (such as Etienne Brulet) became agents of French influence in the areas South and West of the Great lakes.

In the first decades of its existence, only a few hundred Frenchmen lived in the colony. Wishing to make New France no less important than the English colonies in America, cardinal Richelieu created the New France Company in 1627. Only Catholics were allowed to move to New France; Protestants were required to convert to Catholicism before leaving; this led to Protestants preferring to go to the English colonies. As a result, the Catholic Church has taken root in Canada. Richelieu also established a semi-feudal system of land ownership in Canada that existed in the St. Lawrence valley until the nineteenth century. At this time, the English colonies further South began raiding the St. Lawrence river valley, and in 1629 captured Quebec, which they held until 1632. Champlain, who was appointed Governor-General of New France, returned to America in the same year and established the new trading post of Trois-rivières. In 1642, Paul Chomedi de Maisonneuve, sponsored by the Jesuit order, helped a group of settlers establish the village of Ville-Marie, which later grew into the city of Montreal. At first, the colonists managed to maintain peaceful relations with the Indians, but in 1643-1644, military clashes with the Iroquois began. In 1645, Maisonneuve received news that his father had died and gone to France. In 1647, he returned to the colony and continued the war with the Indians. In 1652, he had to go back to France, where he found one hundred volunteers to defend Montreal. When he returned to Montreal with this hundred, there were only 50 settlers left — the rest were forced to flee to Quebec. Soon the colony was strong enough to resist attacks.

In the 1650s, sparsely populated New France was defenseless against Iroquois attacks. In 1660, the settler Adam Dollar-des-Ormeaux led the Canadians and Hurons against a much larger Iroquois force. Although none of the Canadians survived, they were able to repel the Iroquois invasion. In 1663, king Louis XIV ended the activities of the New France Company and began to manage the colony himself. In 1665, a garrison of Royal troops was sent to Canada, and the administration of the colony was reorganized in the manner of other French territories: the colony was now governed by the Governor-General and intendant, who was subordinate to the French Maritime Ministry. In 1666, the first census of New France was conducted. It showed that there were 3,125 people living there, but 2,034 men and only 1,181 women; this was due to the fact that most of the soldiers, travelers, and fur traders who came to New France were unmarried men. To strengthen the colony and make it the center of the French colonial Empire, king Louis XIV ordered 700 unmarried women between the ages of 15 and 30 (who became known as " Royal girls»); marriages with Indians were encouraged, and people were sent to the colonies to work their way across the ocean.

Due to the fact that Henry Hudson declared Hudson Bay and the surrounding land to be an English possession, the English colonists began to bring the borders of the territories they controlled closer to the French. This led to Franco-English conflicts, in which Indians also participated on both sides. As a result, in 1763, under the terms of the Paris peace Treaty, all French possessions in North America ( with the exception of a couple of Islands) passed to great Britain. The British renamed the colony of Canada as the colony of Quebec.

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