2. English, French, and Dutch mariners crossed
the Atlantic to take over Spanish shipping and
5-Canada and conduct a smuggling trade.
Iroquia
With nothing, but corpses to show for the
expensive effort, the French abandoned
attempts to permanently colonize the St.
Lawrence Valley until the next century.
The French discovered two very profitable
items that made northern colonization
possible: fish and furs.
The fur trade deeply implicated European and
natives in mutual dependency.
As Indians became dependent upon European
metals, cloth, and alcohol, the traders and
their empires became hostage to Indian
demand.
3. Canada and Iroquoia-5 The Fur Trade
By 1580 Newfoundland and the
Gulf of St. Lawrence employed at
least four hundred vessels and
about twelve thousand men.
To obtain firewood, fresh
water, and room to sun-dry their
fish , the fishermen and whalers
established temporary sheltered
coves.
Indians voluntarily performed the
hard labor of hunting the animals
and treating their furs, that way
traders could immediately profit in
America without the
time, trouble, expense and violence
of conquering Indians to
reorganize their labor.
4. Canada and Iroquoia-5 Canada
At the turn of the sixteenth century
, French fur traders focused their
efforts around Tadoussac, on the
Gulf of St. Lawrence, and along he
pennisula they called Acadia.
Harsh and scurvy winters killed
most of the colonists and
demoralized the survivors. In 1613
an English pirate destroyed Port
Royal, asserting his nation’s
counterclaim to the region.
St. Lawrence offered the deepest
access westward into the continent
of any river that flowed into the
North Atlantic. Cartier had
demonstrated that European ships
could ascend a thousand miles to
meet indians.
5. Canada and Iroquoia-5 The Five Nations
The women cultivated large and
productive fields of
maize, beans, and
squash, producing an abundant
surplus that freed their young men
to pursue war. More than any
other northeastern people, the
Five Nation Iroquois could sustain
long distance and large-scale raids
against multiple enemies.
Success in war boosted male
prestige and influence,, creating
powerful incentives for young men
to prove themselves against
outsiders.
6. French America-16
The colder climate and difficult
access complicated British
invasions, while New France’s
limited numbers reduced frictions
with the Indians.
At the end of the seventeenth
century, the French founded a new
colony named Louisiana , in the
lower Mississippi Valley.
As Spanish power faded in Florida
after the destruction of their
missions, the French in Louisiana
became the chief rival for British
Carolina.
7. French America-16 Emigrants
Because Indians did the work of
the beaver hunt, the company
needed only a few French
employers, primarily soldiers to
defend the post and clerks to
handle the furs and the
manufactured goods that
purchased them.
Fearful of losing the colony, the
French crown ordered the
Company of New France to recruit
more inhabitants. He company
farmed the tasks to men of
means, who could obtain immense
colonial estates.
8. French America-16 Opportunity
Most of the French who did
emigrate to Canada improved their
status and standard of
living, escaping from poverty as
landless laborers.
At least 80 percent of colonies
lived as habitants, leasing farms of
about one hundred acres far larger
than the peasant plots of the
homeland.
Habitants took pride in their
regular consumption of meat and
white bread which few French
peasants could afford.
9. French America-16 Authority
The democratic weakness and
military peril of New France
demanded a more frequent and
total mobilization for defense.
Louis XIV, who reigned from 1661
to 1715 relied upon the largest and
best army in Europe to reward the
nobility with officer commissions
and to intimidate his common
subjects. Louis raised
extraordinary tax revenues from an
impoverished population to sustain
his vast army and growing navy.
Louis expected his officials to
govern by command.
