The Beginnings of New France

The Jesuits' Work with the Algonquians.

Like the Recollets before them, the Jesuits encouraged the Algonquians to abandon their migratory ways, which the priests regarded as contrary to the laws of the church and incompatible with Christian life. They urged them to live in the French manner, in settled agricultural communities, or reductions, adjacent to French settlements in the St. Lawrence Valley. These became, in effect, the first reserves in Canada.

1639

Marie de l'Incarnation and two Uruline sisters arrive at Quebec

1603

Samuel de Champlain accompanies the Grave expedition to northeastern North America

The Habitants' Company

The Company of One Hundred Associates never overcame the effects of the English occupation of Quebec between 1629 and 1632. -By the early 1640s, it stood on the verge of bankruptcy, heavily in debt and unable to supply the funds needed to maintain and defend the colony. The leading settlers in 1645: a group of about 15 businesspeople: took matters into their own hands and formed the Compagnie des habitants, (Habitants' Company). While reserving its rights of ownership over all of New France, the Company of One Hundred Associates ceded the fur monopoly to them. Henceforth, the Habitants' Company had to pay the costs of administering the colony, including payments to the governor and the military officers for the maintenance of forts and garrisons, the upkeep of the clergy, and the responsibility of bringing 20 male and female settlers to the colony each year.

The French at Port-Royal

After a summer exploring the coastline, the French stayed the next winter on the mainland at Port-Royal. This colony became the first European agricultural settlement in what is now Canada. The French continued to explore the coastline the following summer and then win¬ tered again at Port-Royal. In 1606 to 07, the French had their first successful Acadian winter and enjoyed themselves, thanks largely to the Order of Good Cheer founded by Champlain. Despite the improved situation that winter, de Monts decided to abandon Port-Royal. After three years of considerable expenditures, unsuccessfully searching for mineral resources and the Northwest Passage, de Monts realized the area's limitations. Annually, about eighty ships poached on de Monts's domain. Furthermore, he made insufficient profit to justify the cost of maintaining a post at Port-Royal. Ironically, the very year that the French aban¬ doned Acadia, (the name given to the area of what is now Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia), the English established their first permanent settlement at Jamestown in Virginia.

The Founding of Quebec.

At the point where the St. Lawrence narrows before widening out again, and in the shadow of a toweringcliff, Champlain constructed an habitation, a collection of wooden buildings built in the form of a quadrangle and surrounded by a stockade and moats. He called it Quebec: Kebec being the Algonquian word for "strait" or "narrow passage." Champlain's habitation became the heart of the first permanent and continuous French settlement in Canada.

1605

Champlain and Pierre Du Gua de Monts establish Port-Royal, a French on the Bay of Fundy in present-day Nova Scotia, but abandon it in 1607

1608

Champlain builds a ne fortified trading post at Quebec

1635

Champlain dies on Christmas Day

1609

For the fist time Champlain and the French clash with the Iroquois or Five Nations, initiating a nearly century-long conflict

The French in Acadia

From 1604 to 1607 Pierre Du Gua de Monts, the new fur-trade monopolist, accompanied by Grave and Champlain, searched elsewhere for the best place to establish a colony. To escape the competition of traders who refused to respect de Monts's monopoly of the St. Lawrence fur trade, the French sailed south to the present-day Maritime provinces, a region with a climate milder than that of the St. Lawrence region and one potentially rich in minerals. They also searched for a more southerly location for the colony in the hope that they might still find a route to Asia.

The Company of One Hundred Associates

In 1627, the French government, observing the success of other European settlements in America, decided to end New France's total dependency on furs. Cardinal Richelieu, Louis XIII's prime minister, made that decision. He extended French overseas commerce and authority through mercantile trade. Mer¬ cantilism, the dominant economic philosophy of Europe, held that colonies existed for the mother country's benefit. Colonies would supply those things she needed and provide a market for those things she produced, particularly manufactured goods. The cardinal sponsored a new company called the Compagnie des Cent-Associes, (Com¬ pany of One Hundred Associates), which obtained working capital from 100 investors to develop and exploit New France's resources and to encourage Roman Catholic missionary activity. It had a monopoly on all commerce, including the fur trade, and the right to cede land to settlers in seigneurial tenure. In return for its trade monopoly, the company promised to bring out 4000 settlers, all French and Roman Catholic, within fifteen years and to promote missions to the First Nations.In 1627 the Kirke brothers, English privateers, seized Tadoussac and captured, off the shores of the Gaspe, the French ships that were bringing 400 settlers to New France. With Champlain's death on Christmas Day, 1635, the leadership of the fur-trading colony passed into the hands of the religious orders, particularly the Jesuits.

The Jesuit and Ursuline Orders

In an attempt to solve their financial problems, the Recollets sought to collaborate with the Society of Jesus, (commonly known as the Jesuits), a wealthy and powerful order founded by Ignatius Loyola a century earlier. In 1632, Cardinal Richelieu gave the Jesuits a monopoly over the Canadian mission field. The priests had to give presents to the parents in order to gain students for the seminary. Many students ran away, and others became ill and died. The arrival of the Ursuline nuns in Quebec in 1639 marked the beginning of their outreach to the First Nations. The Jesuits invited them to Christianize and to "civilize" the young girls. The Ursulines proved more successful in their hospital work.

The Contributions of the French Religious Orders

In response to the Protestant Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church began to reform itself from within. Southern Europeans, including the Catholic majority in France, launched a Counter-Reformation, which sought to root out the corruption in the Catholic Church and then win back those lost to Protestant "her¬ esies." The Jesuits, the papacy's most expert missionaries, led the struggle. The Jesuits, the papacy's most expert missionaries, led the struggle. Other groups, such as the Ursulines, a female teaching order, followed them. Both the Jesuits and the Ursulines extended their mission to convert non-Christians throughout the world.

Early French-Aboriginal Relations.

The French learned the value of birchbark canoes, and when the waterways froze, of toboggans and snowshoes. As well, they relied on the First Nations for food. As late as 1643, Quebec depended almost entirely on Aboriginal hunters for its supply of fresh meat. The French also gathered wild berries, particularly blueberries, and learned from the Indigenous peoples how to make maple sugar. He sent Etienne Brule, a young French¬ man, to live with them. In return, Champlain took Savignon, brother of a Huron headman and roughly the same age as Brule, into his custody.

The Founding of Montreal

The Societe de Notre-Dame planned a mission settle¬ ment remote and independent from the main settlement at Quebec. It believed that once it had built a church, a school, and a hospital, the First Nations would come and settle, and be converted to Christianity. The organizers chose the former site of Hochelaga, on the island of Montreal, at the crossroads of the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence rivers, a location that could be easily reached by the Algonquian-speaking nations.

The Jesuits Bring Indentured Workers to New France.

The church, in effect, became the second industry of the colony. The Jesuits, the Ursulines, and the Hospital nuns came in number to serve the Aboriginal peoples and in turn brought out engages, or indentured workers, on three-year contracts, to help them. These newcomers created a market for agricultural produce in the colony. Upon being discharged, many left to return to France rather than stay on in a land that had little to offer in terms of security or creature comforts, with its formidable winters, heavy forests to clear, and shortage of marriageable women. But some engages stayed and began to farm.

1642

Ville-Marie, later known as Montreal, is founded

1627

the Company of 100 Associates is established to speed up the development of the colony of New France

1629

the English seize and hold Quebec for 3 years

1645

the Habitants' Company is estavlished to replace the debt-ridden Company of 100 Associates

1632

the Jesuit order obtains a monopoly ove the mission work in New France

1634

the settlement of Trois-Rivieres is founded