1. Kelly WagnerHistory 140/ Spring 2011Theme 4 The French In North America

2. American Colonies 5- Canada and Iroquoia To have less conflict, the French settled distantly in Northern America away from the Spanish. The French and English explorers failed to find precious metals or a “northwest passage” to the “trade riches” of Asia. This caused them to have smaller profits. What did increase their profits was fish and fur commodities. Both the Europeans and Indians depended on each other. The Indians wanted cloth, metals, and alcohol from Europeans and the Europeans wanted their furs. Indians of North America were Algonquian and Iroquoian peoples. Iroquoian and southern Algonquians were considered a mixed economy of hunting and gathering. They had a very productive horticulture that provided for their large villages. The Northern Algonquians were not so savvy with horticulture. They were constantly moving, spread out, and relied on seasonal fishing, hunting and gathering over cold territories. In the late 16th century the French took the lead in the fur trade, developed alliances with northern Algonquians and broke their alliance with the Five Nations. Thanks to the Dutch and French, the Iroquoians, became better armed than other Indian nations and violently disrupted the Northern Trade Alliance.

3. American Colonies 5- Canada and IroquoiaThe Fur Trade In 1580, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Newfoundland was established. In this area whale and seal hunts employed 400 vessels and 12,000 men. Fishermen used “shorecamps” as temporary places to obtain firewood, freshwater, to dry their fish and to oil their whales. This was also a good location for Europeans to trade manufactured goods to Indians for their furs. As well as adapting to European ornaments and jewelry, Indians adapted to the use of alcohol. Many times they would drink as much as they could over short periods of time to reach their spiritual trances quicker. They believed that anyone who drank the alcohol was not responsible for their violent actions. As alcohol became accessible and cheaper it was very destructive. Natives would lash out with knives and hatchets killing their own people. Then in the 17th century their access became limited. As the natives became knowledgeable at negotiating, they would wait for 2nd and 3rd vessels to come in to port for a better trade. As they traded more they valued the goods for their utility rather than their shine. Since the Indians couldn’t make these items, they started to hunt more so they could receive more. This increase on demand took a toll on their environment. They were hunting so many beavers, some people worried that they were going to exterminate the species of that nation. “Every native people wanted European traders and worked to keep them away from Indian enemies.”

4. American Colonies 5- Canada and IroquoiaCanada The St. Lawrence Valley was ideal for the French. It was away from Spain, the northern location meant that the animal furs were thick, the Indians of this area were very skilled hunters, and the valley “offered the deepest access westward into the continent of any river that flowed into the North Atlantic. Samuel de Champlain helped to found the colony of New France on the St Lawrence River. He realized that in order for the French to have success in Canada, they needed to build an alliance with a network of native peoples. In the 1608 there was a small trading post built. Then in 1627 New France only had 85 colonists who were all men in Quebec, and depended on Indian goodwill for survival and prosperity. The Huron had 20,000 people in 20 villages. They overhunted the animals in this area to provide for their villages and couldn’t participate in the fur trade. To get fur they would trade their agricultural products, which they had a surplus in, for fur. Once they received the furs then they would take them to the French and trade them for manufactured goods. The French at Quebec needed to keep good relationships with their suppliers of fur; Montagnais, Algonkin, and Huron. As a compromise to their business, these three wanted the French to help them fight against the Five Nation Iroquois. June of 1609 the battle begun of the French discharging their weapons at the three chiefs of Iroquois, mortally wounding the. After this the others fled.

5. American Colonies 5- Canada and IroquoiaJesuits Between the years 1625 and 1626, 8 priests of the Jesuit order arrived to start with the Huron. They learned the native language and built them churches, to try to convert them. They learned, even though they learned the language to teach them, that the natives were going to be hard to teach and convert since they do not believe in heaven or hell. During the 1630s, epidemics of disease killed half of the Huron. This was confusing to them that their numbers were dying greatly, shortly after the priests arrived, and the priests weren’t. After this the natives started to consider them “deadly sorcerers.” Most natives resisted the Jesuit message, but then some natives were baptized because of being told they could only marry converts or they would go to a separate after life. If the Jesuits wanted to succeed, they needed to convert many lineages and then more people would follow. The Huron were stuck because they felt they couldn’t live without the trade and alliance to the French, so they kept hosting the Jesuits.

6. American Colonies 16- French AmericaEmigrants At the end of the 17th century, the French founded Louisiana. Louisiana had a low population and depended on Indian allies to counter growing numbers of British Americans. Up until 1663, Canada belonged to New France, the fur trading company and not to the French Crown. Due to the lack of population, seigneurs brought the first farm families to Canada. They introduced the European way of agriculture, featuring crops of wheat and small herds of livestock. From 1650 to 1663, the population grew from 700 to 3000. While emigrants came from the north of France, only 12% of them were women. The men were poor, single, and arrived in servitude. After serving 3 years they would return to France. Many of the French didn’t want to move to New France in Canada because they wanted to be close to where they came from. It was also twice as expensive to move to New France, than going to Spain. In 1669, 200,000 French lived in Spain and 5,000 in New France.

7. American Colonies 16- French AmericaOpportunity & Authority Those who emigrated to Canada, took the opportunity to improve their living conditions. They had plenty of firewood to keep them warmer in winter, they could afford horses and could also hunt and fish with out any restrictions. The Crown sent 3 rival officials to govern New France; a military governor- general, who was supreme; a civil administrator, who controlled the finances and civil patronage; and a Catholic Bishop who supervised the parish clergy, the convents and the seminaries. Between the 3 of these authority figures, they had an overlapping authority to control the church and state. They did not tolerate any faith besides Catholic, they wanted every male between the ages of 16 and 60 to serve in the militia, and they didn’t want to educate. Less than one fourth of the population could read.

8. American Colonies 16- French AmericaThe Upper Country New France divided in to two, the St Lawrence Valley, who practiced colonization by settlement, and the Upper Country, filled of lakes and forests of which was a dispersed empire of trade. The Upper Country’s population grew from 15,000 in 1700 to 52,000 in 1750. These Upper Country men consisted of missionaries, traders, soldiers, inhabitants, and small minorities living on reserves among roughly 80,000 natives. During the 1640s and 1650s, Iroquois attacks destroyed or dispersed many native enemies. They fled to refugees along the upper Illinois River, southern shore of Lake Superior, and western shore of Lake Michigan. These refugees suffered from famine, exhausted local supplies, fought each other, and would murder over disputes of fishing and hunting grounds, and accusations of witchcraft. After the year 1684, when 39 French traders were killed by their allies, French men started to marry Indian women. This offered the women access to the trade of European goods. Over generations of being mixed-blood, these people were know as the metis. The French wanted revenge killings to stop, so they started to give the natives presents to “cover the graves,” of the dead. Not only was this just to make the revenge killings stop, it was in hope that the French could buy obedience from the natives. In order to do this though, the French had to reward multiple chiefs. In 1701, Iroquois “made a peace that conceded the upper country to the French and their allies.

9. American Colonies 16- French AmericaLouisiana Louisiana gained its name because La Salle wanted to flatter his king. On a return expedition to find the Gulf of Mexico in 1684, La Salle was unable to locate it. In 1687 the colony, tired, assassinated him. The French still sent expeditions to occupy Louisiana. In Louisiana, expanding their trade was their priority. During the Carolina slave trade, France helped to stabilize the Indians. France took this as a way to unite and arm many southeastern natives, who suffered from English-led slavers. Between the years of 1717 and 1730, the company of the Indies transported 5400 Europeans and 6,000 African slaves to Louisiana. Making farms in this subtropical environment proposed a problem. There were extreme variations of temperature and rainfall, and the humid summers made vegetation dense. Louisiana failed at exports. They had an underdeveloped economy, corrupt government, and a very rigid class system. “The Louisiana elite pitted all of the races against one another, relying on blacks and natives to control lower class whites, just as they employed Africans and Indians against one another.”