American History

French Colonization of North America

American History for the Masses

Photo by Elyssa DeDios on Unsplash

At first glance, the French colonization of North America appears to have much in common with Spanish and English colonization. While the English had founded a permanent settlement at Jamestown in 1607, the French colonized what is today Quebec City in 1608. Like the Spanish missionaries, the French Jesuit priests were trying to convert native peoples to Roman Catholicism, but they were much more likely to spread diseases, such as smallpox, than to convert large numbers to Christianity. Like colonists from other European countries, the French were exploring as much land as they could, hoping to find natural resources, such as gold, as well as a shortcut to Asia.

Unlike the Spanish and English, however, the French colonists had a much lighter impact on the native peoples. Few French settlers came to North America, and those who did tended to be single men, some of whom intermarried with women native to the area. They also tended to stay on the move, especially if they were coureurs du bois (“runners in the wood”) who helped trade for the furs that became the rage in Europe. True, the French did ultimately play a significant role in the French and Indian War from 1754–1763; however, their chances of shaping the region soon known as British North America were slim from the outset and faded dramatically with the Edict of Nantes in 1598.

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References and Further Reading

[embed]Princeton Review AP U.S. History Premium Prep, 25th Edition by The Princeton Review: 9780593518571… PREMIUM PRACTICE FOR A PERFECT 5-WITH THE BESTSELLING AP U.S. HISTORY BOOK ON THE MARKET! Ace the newly-digital AP U.S…www.penguinrandomhouse.com

[embed]Footer Scrape (Do Not Delete) | Canadian Museum of History Over the course of the 240 years that separated Giovanni da Verrazano's voyage of exploration in 1524 and the…www.historymuseum.ca

[embed]The French Lead the Way: c. 1500-1763 | The History of the Upper Midwest: An Overview | Articles… France took the lead in colonizing the Upper Midwest region. From the early sixteenth century on, French soldiers…www.loc.gov

[embed]The Time of the French in North America | Chicago Portage As the English, Spanish and Dutch began to explore and claim parts of North America, Jacques Cartier began the French…drupal.library.cmu.edu