EARLY EUROPEAN
COLONIES
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What purpose did the colonies serve
What were the similarities and differences between French and British
colonies in British North America
What impacts did colonization have on First Nations?
What characterized the colony of New France?
IMPERIALISM AND COLONIES
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Imperialism and colonies are related concepts
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Imperialism is an official objective of a
country, to dominate other regions of the world
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a colony is a region claimed and governed
by a country from another part of the world
the job of the colony was to supply raw goods
which European countries would turn into
manufactured goods, and finished products
these goods and products would be sold
around the world, and back to the colonies for
a profit
Mercantilism a regulated economic system
that made a country rich from its colonies
IMPERIALISM DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FRENCH AND ENGLISH
FRENCH
ENGLISH
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wanted resources such as furs
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wanted land for farms
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saw first nations as resources who
could help them
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saw first nations as obstacles
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tried to convert first nations to
Catholicism
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pushed first nations into established
colonies
MERCANTILISM AND MONOPOLIES
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Mercantilism rules included the granting of monopolies for territories
and land in North America
Monopoly is the complete control of a resource by a single company
under these monopolies, a ruler would give a merchant, or a group of
merchants exclusive rights to make money from a specific colony
the merchants had to commit to establishing a permanent settlement to
exploit the resources
Charters were the sets of rules and privileges granted to a company by a
monarch
In North America the English chartered companies had a colonizing as well
as a trading purpose.
Although the Hudson’s Bay Company was almost wholly devoted to trade,
most companies—such as the London Company, the Plymouth Company,
and the Massachusetts Bay Company—were directly involved in the
settlement of colonists http://www.hbcheritage.ca/hbcheritage/collections/archival/charter/home
BACKGROUNDER NEW FRANCE AND THIRTEEN COLONIES
FACTOR
NEW FRANCE
THIRTEEN COLONIES
POPULATION NUMBERS
1700: 15, 000
1760: 65,000
1700: 250, 000
1760: 2,500, 000
RELIGION
Almost all French and Catholic, attempted to
convert first nations to Catholicism
mostly from Protestant countries like
Britain, Germany, Sweden and
Holland. Som were seeking religious
freedom. Conversion of first nations
was not a priority
GOVERNMENT
established monopolies in fur trade, it
flourished but colony did not. 1663 French
crown takes direct control of New france and
governs it like a province of France and
began to encourage colonization
each of the thirteen colonies had
separate governments. British
controlled these governments by
directly appointing their governors.
elected assemblies also played a
role in most colonies.
ECONOMY
fur trade primary economic activity.
Partnerships with Ouendat, Anishinabe and
Innu were key
land used to produce agricultural;
products for Britain, whet cattle, corn,
tobacco and rice key
RUPERT’S LAND
RUPERT’S LAND
European Population: minimal
Religion: Protestant but played a minimal role in the territory
Government: was a monopoly of the Hudson’s Bay
Company, granted in 1670. Overseen by a governor, no
elected assembly
Economy: did not develop inland forts or seek partnerships
with first nations instead expected traders to come directly to
Hudson’s Bay
Areas belonging to Rupert's Land were mostly in present day Canada and included the
provinces of the whole of Manitoba, most of Saskatchewan, southern Alberta,
southern Nunavut, and northern parts of Ontario and Quebec. It also included presentday United States territory, including parts of the states of Minnesota and North
Dakota and very small parts of Montana and South Dakota. The southern border west
of Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains was the height of land between the
Mississippi and Saskatchewan watersheds until the London Convention of 1818
substituted the 49th Parallel. https://www.nfb.ca/film/other_side_of_the_ledger
EPIDEMICS AND THE FIRST NATIONS
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First peoples of North America,
South America and Australia had no
immunity to diseases brought by
europeans
Small pox, measles and
tuberculosis
When disease strike populations
with no immunity many people get
ill at the same time
Epidemics are the infection of a
large population by a disease
in some severe cases up to half of a
population may die
http://timelines.tv/index.php?t=3&e=3
NEW FRANCE
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New France was the first European colony
established in what today is known as
Canada
The nobles were generally wealthy, with
the most important noble being the king
wealth commanded respect and prestige,
many of the merchants were wealthy
most people had neither nobility or
wealth, they were farmers most did not
own their land
the church played a key role in French
society providing moral direction and
operating hospitals, orphanages and
schools
THE SOVEREIGN COUNCIL
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in 1663 the king established the Sovereign Council to rule new france
TITLE
DUTIES
FIRST OFFICE HOLDER
GOVERNOR
represented the king, controlled the military
and looked after defence of the colony.
Also dealt with trade with the first nations
Augustin de
Saffray be Mesy
INTENDENT
chief administrator of the colony. Attempted
to make the colony less dependent on
France for meeting its basic needs
Jean Talon
BISHOP
represented the Catholic Church.
François de Laval
THE HABITANTS AND SEIGNEURS
● Seigneurs were landlords of New France who received land grants
from the King
● the land grants known as seigneuries had several conditions
○ they had to recruit settlers to farm the land
○ they had to build a house for themselves
○ they had to build a church and a flourmill for the settlers
○ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXKjTt2zCDQ
● Habitants were settlers recruited by the seigneurs to farm the land
○ had to clear the land
○ plant crops
○ build a house
○ had to pay the seigneur’s miller to grind grain into flour
○ give a few days of free labour to Seigneur known as corvee
THE HABITANTS AND SEIGNEURS
● The seigneurial system
was an institutional form
of land distribution
established in New
France in 1627 and
officially abolished in
1854.
● In New France, 80 per
cent of the population
lived in rural areas
governed by this system
of land distribution
THE DAILY LIFE IN NEW FRANCE
● The early settlers were mostly male, so
one of the challenges was recruiting
women to the new world
● Louis XIV offered a fresh start for poor
and orphaned girls to move to New
France, these young ladies were known
as fille du roi “daughters of the King”
● all of these young women came with a
dowry, money a women traditionally
brings to a marriage
● https://ancestryquebec.wordpress.
com/category/filles-du-roi
THE DAILY LIFE IN NEW FRANCE
● The early settlers often found life as habitants too difficult
● many abandoned their commitments to make a living in the fur
trade
● many became coureurs de bois a term meaning runners of the
woods
● coureurs worked independently going deep into the woods to trade
directly with the first nations
● while the government at first supported these independent traders,
soon it made it illegal
● another option was to become a voyageur - men hired to travel
between the fur merchants of Montreal and the fur trade posts of
the Great Lakes
THE DAILY LIFE IN NEW FRANCE
● as the settlement increased in New
France business activity grew in
Quebec, Montreal and Trois Rivieres
● the merchant class developed with
blacksmiths, shoemakers, masons,
butchers, and bakers setting up
shop
● many merchants made their living as
middle men in the fur trade buying
from first nations, coureurs de bois
and other colonists who were trying
to supplement their income
THE DAILY LIFE IN NEW FRANCE
● the Catholic Church and the Clergy also played a key role in the
early days of New France
● a group known as the Jesuits - a catholic religious order - first
came to New France in the early 1600s
● they established missions among Mi’Kmaq, Kichesiprini,
Haudenosaunee and Ouendat first nations in an effort to convert
these groups to Catholicism
● for nearly forty years, the Jesuits supplied key information about
New France in an annual report, the Revelations
● schools, hospitals and orphanages in New France were also part
of the legacy
● the clergy were among the small group of educated people
THE DAILY LIFE IN NEW FRANCE
● Marguerite d’Youville was born in New France and married a
nobleman in Montreal
● four of her six children died in infancy
● when her husband also died she pledged her life to help the poor
and the sick
● in 1747 she was asked to take over the Hospital General in
Montreal which was in disrepair and debt
● she used the poor and the sick to sew clothing, make sails and
tents, make candles, cure tobacco and bake bread
● along with her fellow workers received official recognition adn
became known as the Sisters of Charity or the Grey Nuns
● Grey Nuns eventually established hospitals in Edmonton,
Calgary, St. Paul and Lethbridge