1. American Colonial Empires:
France and England
History 140
By Ryan Babers

2. American Colonies 5- Canada and Iroquois
 The English, Dutch, and French mariners sought out to  In the region, Indian tribes were split among the
conduct a smuggling trade against Spain who at the time Algonquian and the Iroquois
(16th century) was the leading superpower in Europe.
Especially across the Atlantic in the Americas  The Iroquois were centralized around lake Ontario
whereas the Algonquian covered much o the Eastern
 European countries needed to establish colonies to seaboard
disrupt Spain’s flow but not be in range of any attack
 The French had become an early leader in the fur trade
 The French sought after “weaker” resources and land to
colonize in North America along the St. Lawrence river but  French traders established alliances with the Algonquin
were forced to abandon the area due to the harsh climate,
scurvy, and hostile Indians
 Rival Iroquois tribes had been supplied with metal
weapons by the Dutch which in turn the Iroquois sought
 Along the gulf of St. Lawrence, the French set up a post out to disrupt French trade and colonization
 There, the French, English, Basque, and Portuguese
found two new commodities to profit from; Fish and furs
 Local Indians became more dependent on the European
goods which, forced them into a bind
 If the traders refused to help, war would break out with the
local tribes. However, European traders would rather
avoid conflict and helped the locals
 The French had placed themselves as diplomats pledging
alliances to the tribes to avoid any hostility

3. Canada
 The fur traders had thoughts about creating permanent
posts within their territory
 Posts would attract Indians over seasonal ships. Were
fortified and armed with a canon in an effort to scare away
other traders. It had also attracted more colonists who
might invest in the trade business
 Companies kept their posts small and inhabited
exclusively by their own dependents to avoid any new
competitors
 At the end of the 16th century, French fur traders shifted
their focus to Tadoussac, on the Gulf of St. Lawrence and
along the peninsula Acadia (Nova Scotia)
 The French created a monopoly in Acadia setting up
small, all-male settlements but it had failed to deter
interloping traders, and due to harsh & scurvy winters
annually that killed most of the colonists
 The French shifted their focus to reclaim the St. Lawrence
valley
 The region was a poor location for an agricultural colony
 The St. Lawrence had promised the French with a more
extensive fur trade with more northern Indian people than
any other river system the continent could provide

4.  Frenchman Samuel de Champlain led to found a colony of  The French introduced firearms to the natives which
New France on the St. Lawrence River would revolutionize Indian warfare
 Champlain recognized that French success in Canada  The Iroquois sought after their own firearms dealing with
depended upon building an alliance with a network of the Dutch to even the score
native peoples
 Although previously forbidden, French and Dutch trader
 Champlain built a fortified trading post in QUEBEC had profited greatly from the sale of firearms to Indians
 Colonists relied heavily on French supply ships for food &  Five Nation natives feared for their own who would be
Indian goodwill for their survival and prosperity killed that didn’t receive a proper ceremony and would
haunt them
 The Five Nation Iroquois consisted mostly of Mohawk,
Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca who all had  They felt compelled to replace the dead by capturing or
frequently raided northward to afflict the Montagnais, killing a prisoner
Algonquin, and Huron which hurt the French trade
 The French needed little hand putting a little pressure on
Canada’s natives who had more territory than they
needed after the epidemics of the 16th century
 The French agreed to help their native suppliers against
the Five Nation Indians creating new enemies for
themselves
 Champlain and others had joined with allied Indians
against rallied Iroquois (Mohawk) where they defeated
them in present day (Lake Champlain)

5.  The Iroquois were brutal to their prisoners by torturing Jesuits & Destruction
them and the women would butcher the remains for the
village to eat as act of gaining power  The French colony had the idea to convert the Indians to
be Catholic in an effort to make them more dependant on
 The Five Nation Indians had been on the brink of the French who used the mission style like the Spanish
destruction when internal wars broke out
 The Jesuits had been trained extensively in Indian culture
 An Indian prophet and his chief disciple helped restore and would not let their ideals go to waste
peace under a new Great League of Peace stopping the
internal conflict and revenge killings  Indians were entitled to equality but of poor status if
converted
 The peace was overshadowed by a new threat of disease
epidemics which afflicted much damage to many Indians  The mid 17th century saw conflict on epic proportions
when the Iroquois went on a rampage which brought
 The French and Iroquois had been increasingly chaos to all sides
dependent on one another despite their rivalry
 The Great League had nearly wiped out the Huron and
forced other tribe into the league
 There was a mixed feeling for New France who had
started to think twice about their investments in Canada

6. American Colonies 16-
French America

7. French America 1650-1750
 The British had been colonial rivals to the Canadian  Comprised mostly of urban laborers and artisans
French
 Most were also engages or indentured servants
 The French had the Indians to rely on to deter British
expansion  Many of the engages had negotiated their contracts and
tended to leave whereas married men mostly stayed
 Louisiana, a new French colony was created in the lower
Mississippi valley at the end of the 17th century  French emigration was hindered by failing to secure a
migration chain unlike rival Britain who had done so
 Louisiana was scarcely populated much like New France
in the North and also relied on native Indians for defense  Much of New France’s increase in population was natural
against the British
 The French colonies stretched from the Gulf of St.
Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico
 The French crown ordered the New France company to
recruit more inhabitants
 The colonies began to include farming families which
started to grown but only at a slow-steady pace
 For being to slow in growth, the French crown seized
control of the colony in 1663 and played for their
transatlantic passages
 Most of the emigrants were men looking for work and food

8.  Still, the growth was minimal in comparison to English
colonists
 Cultural values and institutional obstacles obstacles
blocked overseas emigration
 Peasants were determined to remain rooted in their land
 Canada’s environment was also very unpleasant for
potential colonies, especially for agriculture
 French colonies reflected a more militaristic, paternalistic,
and centralized form of authority
 The French crown appointed three rival officials in New
France: a military governor-general, a civil administrator
(intendent), and a Catholic bishop
 All three positions were involved in a triangle which each
position had power over the other in an attempt for crown
favorite
 The French had appointed a sovereign council which
included the 3 officials, 5-7 seigneurs, and an attorney
general
 New France also lacked the town or county governments

9.  Instead of not having town or county governments, they
divided the St. Lawrence valley into parishes, which
combined civil, military, and ecclesiastical functions
 Each town had a church, a priest, and a militia company
under a captain appointed by the intendant
 By the 18th century, France consisted of two very different
sectors: the narrow, cultivated St. Lawrence valley and the
vast forest and lakes known as the Upper Country
 One sector was mainly colonization (St. Lawrence valley)
and the other was mostly trade (interior)
 Much of the region saw increased reproduction, and
because of peace with the Iroquois it brought greater
security, prosperity, and development to the valley
 A mix of tribes had also come to an agreement with the
priests who conformed to a more traditional custom and
ritual that wasn’t in opposition to Catholic Worship
 The Indians had become a hybrid of Indian and European
horticulture and continued to hunt for meat and furs
 The French were obliged to respect their pact with them

10.  The French were more concerned about expanding their  The Company of the Indies had transported 5,400
trade business in Louisiana more than their religious European colonists (mostly French) and 6,000 African
ambitions slaves to Louisiana
 Louisiana was given a private company, The Company of  The climate in the south proved difficult for colonists
the Indies by the crown which promoted plantations to
cultivate tobacco and indigo  Only a 1/3 of European emigrants remained alive in
Louisiana (1731) however, conditions improved during the
 The focus was then shifted by establishing New Orleans 1740s as colonists acquired partial immunities to fevers
and became the colony’s largest town, principal seaport, and farming conditions improved
and government headquarters
 With a failing business the Company of the Indies had
eventually become bankrupt and forced to surrender the
colony to the French crown in 1731
 The French had been employing blacks in militias to fight
the Indians fearing blacks and Indians would rebel against
them
 Some blacks managed to seek refuge in New Mexico and
other Indian tribes from harsh punishment by the French
 From the French crown perspective French America was
a economic disappointment and cost them
 France could not force their way out due to the Indians
desperate bind & need for their goods, had become so
well adapted

11. American Colonies 6- Virginia
1570-1650

12. Virginia 1570-1650
 The Spanish had established missions up to the
Chesapeake Bay (Virginia) but were driven out by native
resistance
 The English had successfully colonized Ireland and
sought to continue their expansion to Virginia, named in
honor of Queen Elizabeth, a supposed virgin
 England originally were looking for ways to get rich by
searching for gold and Spanish treasure ships
 Tobacco was instead found and in an effort to colonize the
region, the English faced resistance from Algonquian
Indians
 England invested in subcontractors and monopolies to
privatize the area
 The country needed to expand to prevent collapse
internally
 The executive power was bestowed in the monarch, with
a Queen instead of a king
 English rule included kingdoms of England, Wales, Ireland
and Scotland (1603)

13. The English
 From London, England dominated over the others
 The Queen had to share her power with the Parliament
 Under her rule, England hit a series of social woes
economically and crime filled
 Colonial plantations could improve England’s balance of
trade with other nations was suggested
 Virginia plantations had promised to improve the nations
trade by providing import substitutes
 It was also relief to the cloth industry
 England used the colonization of Ireland as a model for
how to colonize overseas
 In 1585, one hundred male colonists under Sir Walter
Raleigh set out to colonize Roanoke, a small island on the
North Carolina coast
 The island prevented any Spanish activity and England
access due to the shoals and sands
 Roanoke was eventually abandoned

14. Virginia
 Some surviving members in the Roanoke expedition
apparently found refuge in a Indian village but were killed
 The English made another attempt at Chesapeake Bay
which offered better harbors, navigatable rivers, and more
fertile land
 The English named the 4 major rivers in Virginia: James,
York, Rappahannocha, and Potomac
 The region had some 24,000 Indians who were all united
under a chief named Powhatan
 Virginia Indians viewed England’s total war as pointless
and wasteful. However natives were interested in English
technology and thought of them as allies to defeat rival
tribes
 The English though were highly distracted because of
ruthless acts of killings and kidnappings
 They had also distrusted the English way of life
 England had not set up missions like the Spanish or
French either
 In 1604 a peace treaty with Spain reduced danger of
Spanish attack on any new colony

15.  A newer interest in colonial Virginia became more popular
 The colony of Jamestown was established after a band of
English ships sailed up the James river
 The town was good for defense against Spain and Indians
but extremely poor on health (disease-wise)
 Colonists expected the Indians to feed them but did not
know about the scarce resources available for the
colonists
 Some colonists tried to parade on a village and were killed
and left for their countrymen to see
 Captain John Smith was taken prisoner and offered a role
as subordinate chief
 Smith was released and continued to harass Indians for
corn
 Both the colonists and Powhatan launched brutal attacks
on each other
 Pocahontas was captured, accepted Christian conversion,
and married colonist John Rolfe
 Both sides made peace however, Pocahontas went to
England and would die from disease

16. American Colonies 9- Puritans and
Indians

17. Puritans and Indians 1600-1700
 Puritans perceive the pre-colonial landscape as “a
hideous and desolate wilderness full of wild beasts and
men.”
 They saw the Indians as their opposite and feared that
their own peoples (puritans) would turn into them
 Colonists had spread out mostly for better land
 Puritan leaders feared that “profit & religion” were
diverging and people thought more about their economic
interests
 The New English worked to show that they are still
Christians and would not dwell into Indian culture
 The puritans were also working to convert and transform
Indians into English Christians
 The New English wanted to dominate the region and its
natives
 South New England Indians had culture, and language but
lacked the political strength that the Powhatan chiefdom
had
 The top tribes in the region were the Mohegan and Pequot
of Connecticut, the Narragansett of Rhode Island, the
Patuxet and Wampanoag of the Plymouth colony, and the
Nipmuck, Massachusetts, and Penacook of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony

18.  The tribes were subdivided into local bands who had a
common hunting & gathering territory, and shared villages
 Natives could leave from one band to go into another
 To the English, the natives had the notion that all they
were is hunters
 The Indians also surprised the English with their superior
agriculture skills and their diet had been so well balanced
with nutrients
 Indians had been able to control forest fires rather let
them burn wildly and destructively like the English had
done
 Fires had become a staple in Indian agriculture as well
 Men and women in tribes had general roles where men
would do “male” centered roles like hunting, fishing, and
warfare whereas women took care of the children,
maintained homes, and agriculture (gathering roles)
 Indian women performed roles which were less time
consuming than colonial women and took pride in their
work

19. Puritans and Indians
 Most Indians had to share their resources unless
acquiring or stealing goods from the English
 Colonists had been protective of their possessions and
tended to not share with natives
 Colonists marveled at the vast wildlife and land which they
began to see it as a chance of commodity
 They had themselves decided to determine the portions of
land to clam and what to give to the Indians by issuing
deeds or contracts
 Once property was in colonists hands, they felt any
trespassers by Indians would result in self defense
 The colonists were also clearing out land at a faster rate
and with more claims of land, it became off limits and
hostile to Indians
 The first major conflict between the New English and the
Indians broke out in 1636
 Colonial leaders had made outlandish demand of the
Pequot tribe and declared war, forcing the Mohegan, and
Narragansett to fight against the Pequot as allies

20. Puritans and Indians
 With the help of the Mohegan and Narragansett the New
English attacked the Pequot village
 Both the Mohegan and Narragansett were in a state of
shock as the colonists had slaughtered men, women, and
children sparring no one which was originally thought
 England Puritans also criticized the New English for their
slaughter
 They had nearly wiped out all the remaining Pequot
 Ironically the Pequot would eventually help the colonists
fight the Narragansett some years later
 Many remaining bands began to ponder the price of
fighting the colonists or being subordinate to them
 Some of the colonists began to attempt evangelizing the
Indians where they built “praying towns” to attract them
 Smaller, weaker bands were of most concern
 In 1675-76, the bloody King Philips’s war broke out
 The chaotic war had finally subdued the natives after
years of massacre