The First French Settlements 1603-1663

1. The First French Settlements 1603-1663 Chapter 4

2. 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

3. Voyages of Champlain

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. Ile Ste. Croix

8. 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

9. Port Royal

10. 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

11. 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”

12. Aboriginal Alliances in Acadia • Membertou was Chief of people’s in 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

13. Quebec • Louis XIII was convinced by Champlain to establish a permanent colony • Christianize aboriginals • Trade with aboriginals • St. Lawrence= Northwest passage?

14. Quebec • Good location for trade • Fertile soil • 98-metre high cliff • Uninhabited as Stadacona village that Cartier had visited was gone

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0e2Jr00kSU

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. Truchement

24. Etienne Brule • Original settler from 1608, one of only 8 who survived • 18 years old when sent to live with Huron

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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 ;)

28. Beaver Hats

29. 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

30. 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

31. Company of One Hundred Associates

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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

35. 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

36. 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

37. 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

38. The Ursulines