The French colonization of Americas began with the XVIe century and continued during the XVIIe and XVIIIe century S. France built a empire colonial in North America, called the News-France, which extended from the Golfe of the St. Lawrence towards the west until the Rocky Mountains, and in the south, until the Gulf of Mexico. The French also colonized many West-Indian islands of which Saint-Domingue, St Lucia, the Dominique, as well as his French islands current, like the Guadeloupe and the Martinique. In South America, they tried to establish three colonies, of which became permanent: the Guyana.
During the time of colonization, the French founded many important cities, including/understanding the towns of Montreal and Quebec with the Canada; Stick-Red, Strait, Mobile, the New-Orleans, and Saint-Louis with the the United States; Port-au-Prince and Cape-Haitian in Haiti.
North America
First attempts at colonization
The French arrived at the Nouveau World initially like explorers seeking the passage towards the the Indies. The French exploration of North America began under the reign from the king François Ier. In 1524, François Ier sent (thanks to the ships of Norman Jéhan Ango) Giovanni da Verrazano to explore the area between the Florida and Newfoundland, with an aim of discovering a driving route with the Pacific Ocean. Although it did not find such a road, Verrazano became the first European to explore most of the Atlantic coast of the United States and Canada. Ten years later, François Ier sent Jacques Cartier to explore the coast Newfoundlander and the Fleuve the St. Lawrence with the first of a series of voyages.The first and second voyages of Cartier were concentrated on the objective to find a passage towards the East but, the third, which began in 1541, was to seek the legendary “kingdom of Saguenay” and, also, to establish a permanent colony on the edge of the St. Lawrence. In August 1541, its group established a fort and a dwelling, called Charlesbourg-Royal, on the site of the current district of Cape-Red. A strong second was built on a cliff giving on the dwelling for an additional protection. After having placed load for each one, the September 7th, Cartier left with the launches for a recognition with the research of the Saguenay. However, the bad time and the rapids prevented Cartier from crossing the Rivière of Outaouais.
Cartier is turned over to Charlesbourg-Royal and found the colony fighting for his survival. After one difficult winter, Cartier is convinced that it missed labor and resources to protect the fort and to find Saguenay. It turns over to France in June 1542. The sior Roberval took the command of Charlesbourg-Royal, but it decided to give up it the following year after the disease, the provisioning limited and the hostile natives. What carried out the colonists to despair. The precise site of this colony was a mystery for the historians until August 2006, when unquestionable of its remainders - including a dish which probably belonged to Roberval - were discovered by archeologists. France tried to colonize the Atlantic coast in 1562 when Charles IX, under the impulse of the Admiral Gaspard of Coligny, sent Norman the Jean Ribault and a group of colonists Huguenot S. They discovered and tried to build a dwelling with the island Parris, in South Carolina, but the colony fought to survive. The group, carried out by Rene de Goulaine de Laudonnière, moved thereafter towards the south where they based the strong Caroline on the river Saint Johns, in Florida, the June 22nd 1564. This irritated the Spanish which claimed Florida and also refused any colonist Protesting. In 1565, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés carried out a group Spanish to found St Augustine, 60 kilometers in the south of strong the Caroline. Fearing a Spanish attack, Ribault projected to replace the colony but a sudden Tempête destroyed its fleet. September 20th, 1565, the Spaniards, ordered by Ménendez de Avilés, attacked strong Caroline and massacred horrible manner its occupants of which Jean Ribaut.
Canada and Acadie
See also: News-France, Acadie
At the beginning, the French interest in Canada concentrated on the fishing with the Grands Benches of Newfoundland. However, by the beginning of the XVIIe century, France had become more interested to direct the treats furs of North America. The station of Tadoussac was founded in 1600. Four years after, Samuel de Champlain made its first voyage to Canada, on a commercial mission of fur. Although it did not have an official assignment on this voyage, it outlined a chart of the St. Lawrence river and, on its return in France, it wrote a report of its voyages entitled “Of the savages” (relation of its stay in a tribe of Montagnais close to Tadoussac).
Charged by Henri IV with submitting a report/ratio on its discoveries, Champlain took part in another forwarding in News-France in spring 1604, carried out by Pierre Dugua of Mons. It helped with the foundation of the dwelling of the Île Holy-Cross, the first French establishment of the New World, which was abandoned the next winter. Then, forwarding founded the colony of Port-Royal with the assistance of Champlain.
In 1608, Champlain founded a station of fur which will become the city of Quebec, being essential like the capital of News-France. In Quebec, Champlain forged alliances between France and the Huron S and the Outaouais against their traditional enemies, the Iroquois. Champlain and other French travellers then continued to explore North America, using the Canoë of bark of Bouleau, to move quickly through the Big lakes (North America) and their affluents. Towards 1634, the Norman explorer Jean Nicolet had pushed his exploration towards the west until worms the current state American of the Wisconsin.
Following the capitulation of Quebec vis-a-vis the brothers Kirke, the English occupied the town of Quebec and the Acadie, of 1629 with 1632. Samuel de Champlain was made prisoner and it followed the bankruptcy of the Compagnie of the Hundred-Associates. Following the treated Saint-Germain-in-Bush hammer, France took again possession of the colony in 1632. The town of Three-Rivers was founded in 1634. In 1642, Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve founded City-Marie (future Montreal) who was not, at the time, that a fort being used as protection against the attacks of Iroquois (the first Great War iroquoise lasted of 1642 with 1667).
In spite of this fast expansion, the colony developed very slowly. The wars iroquoises and the diseases were the leading causes of mortality in the French colony. In 1663, when Louis XIV instituted the royal Gouvernement, the population of News-France had only 2.500 European inhabitants. This year, to increase the population, Louis XIV sent between 800 and 900 “girls of Roy” to become wives of the French colonists. The population of News-France reached thereafter 7.000 in 1674, and 15.000 in 1689.
From 1689 with 1713, the French colonists were confronted with the war in an almost ceaseless way. From 1689 with 1697, they fought the English in the war of the league of Augsburg. The war against Iroquois continued even after the Traité of Ryswick, until 1701, when the two parts were of agreement on peace. Then, the war against the English began again, in the war of succession of Spain. In 1690 and 1711, the city of Quebec resisted successfully attacks of the English navy. Nevertheless, the English benefitted from the second war. With the signature of the Treated of Utrecht, in 1713, France yielded to Great Britain Acadie (with a population of 1.700 inhabitants), Newfoundland and the Hudson Bay.
Under the sovereign Council, the settlement of the colony progresses more quickly. However, the speed of settlement is far from being equivalent to what occurs to the south in the Thirteen British colonies. In the middle of the XVIIIe century, News-France counts 60.000 inhabitants whereas the British colonies counts of it more than one million. This placed the colony in a great military disadvantage against the British. The war between the colonies takes again in 1744, lasting until in 1748. A final and decisive war began in 1754. The French were helped by many alliances with the Amerindians, but they were usually exceeded of number on the battle fields.
In Acadie, (renamed the Nova Scotia), the population of French origin reached more than 15.000 inhabitants in 1755, but the war brought devastators effects. This year, the British governor required that the Acadian ones swear their fidelity in Great Britain. The majority refused, and they were expelled of the colony. ( See the article Deportation of Acadian the. )
In September 1759, the British, led by the major-general James Wolfe, the French in Quebec attack after a 10 week old seat. The French, led by the marquis Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, try to defend themselves in spite of a crushing numerical inferiority. While the British forces climb a cliff to fight the French on the Plaines of Abraham in front of Quebec, the British fleet bombards the city. The British, superiors of number and in tactic, gain the victory. In 1760, the British attacked Montreal. The city, encircled, goes without fighting. The French defeat is officialized by the treated of Paris in 1763.
Louisiana
See also: Louisiana (News-France)
May 17th 1673, the French Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette begin the exploration of the Mississippi river, which they know under the name Sioux Tongo (the large river) or Michissipi . They reach the mouth of Arkansas, then go up the river, after having learned that it ran towards the Gulf of Mexico and not towards the Sea of California (Pacific Ocean).
In 1682, Norman the Cavelier of the Room and the Italian Henri de Tonti descend in their turn the Mississippi to his delta. They leave the Fort Crèvecœur on the river of Illinois, accompanied by 23 French and 18 Amerindians. In April 1682, they arrive at the mouth of the Mississippi; they draw up a cross and a column there carrying the weapons of king de France. Forwarding sets out again by the same way towards Canada and the Room turns over to Versailles. There, he convinces the minister of the marine to grant the command of Louisiana to him. He makes believe that this one is close to the News-Spain by drawing a chart on which the Mississippi appeared much more in the west that its real course. He sets up a maritime forwarding with four ships and 320 emigrants, but this one turns to the disaster: he does not manage to find the delta of the Mississippi and is made assassinate in 1687.
In 1698, Pierre LeMoyne d' Iberville leaves La Rochelle and explores the area of the mouth of the Mississippi. It stops between Cat Island and Ship Island the February 13rd 1699, then continues its explorations to the continent, with Biloxi, with its brother Jean-Baptiste Moyne de Bienville. It built there a precarious fort, called “Maurepas” or “Old Biloxi”, before turning over to France. It returns by twice in the Gulf of Mexico and establishes a fort with Mobile in 1702.
From 1699 to 1702, Pierre Moyne d' Iberville is the Gouverneur of Louisiana. His/her brother succeeds to him this station of 1702 to 1713. He is again governor of 1716 with 1724 and still of 1733 with 1743. In 1718, Jean-Baptiste Moyne de Bienville orders a French forwarding in Louisiana. It founds the city of New-Orleans, in homage to the regent, the duke of Orleans. It is the architect Adrien de Pauger who draws the orthogonal plan of it (Vieux Carré).
The French exploration of the west continues at the XVIIIe century. In 1714, Louis Juchereau of Saint-Denis goes up the river Rouge and reached the Río Grande. The same year, Etienne Véniard de Bourgmont sails on the Missouri. In 1721, Jean-Baptiste Bénard of the Toothing-stone goes up the Arkansas in country Caddo. The zone of French influence extends considerably and the voyages provide the foundations of the recognition of the Far West. In 1738, the tradesman of fur Pierre of Verendrye arrived among the Mandan S of the part higher of Missouri, becoming the first European to enter the North Dakota and the Manitoba. In 1739, Pierre and Paul Mallet discovered a chain of the mountains to water more close to the source of the Rivière Platte, that the Amerindian call the " Rock, " becoming the first Europeans to give an account of this unexplored chain.
Louisiana remained French until in 1762, when it was yielded to Spain like compensation for the Spanish loss of the Florida. Néamoins, the colony is remained culturally French, and it attracted approximately 4.000 Acadien S, which had been expelled of their colony in 1755. Several their descendants always live in the area known under the name of the Acadiane.
In 1800, the Traité of San Ildefonso, which envisages the transfer of Western Louisiana as well as New-Orleans in France in exchange of the duchy of Parma, was signed in secrecy. In January 1803, the king of Spain reassigns Louisiana in France. However, Napoleon Bonaparte decides not to keep this immense territory. Dictated by the failure of the Forwarding of Santo Domingo and also by the rupture of peace with the United Kingdom, the decision is made to sell Louisiana to the young people the United States of America in April 1803.
The Antilles
Establishment of the French colonies
The first test not-Spanish of colonization of the the Antilles occurred with the Île Saint-Christophe, where Réfugié S Jesuit S French of the town of Dieppe established a small town on the coast of the north of the island, also called Dieppe, in 1538. However, a few months after the foundation, the city was plundered by the Spaniards and all the inhabitants were expelled. Then, France will not try to colonize the area during all XVIe century.In 1625, the Norman adventurer Pierre Belain d' Esnambuc, launched at the continuation of a Spanish galleon, managed from there to take possession of Saint-Christophe, two years after the English which had established a colony there. The possession of Saint-Christophe will be disputed between the French and the English for more than one century.
In 1626, Belain d' Esnambuc returned to France, where it gained the support of Richelieu to colonize the islands which would not be occupied by the Christians with the Company of the islands of Saint-Christophe (fame the Company of the islands of America in 1635) that it founded in 1625. Between 1625 and 1635, it occupies also the Martinique, the Marie-Gallant Guadeloupe and . In Martinique, it founded the town of Saint-Pierre, which became the first permanent French dwelling in the Antilles.
In 1648, at the end of the War Eighty Year old, the Spaniards gave up the island of Saint Martin's day, which they had employed as bases during this war. The French and Dutch colonists unloaded quickly on the island. Rather than to fight for the island, they agreed to sign the treated of Concordia, which divided the island between the two countries; a division which exists always today.
In 1651, a group of French colonists of Martinique vînrent with St Lucia, ordered by Rousselan. It held the island until its death in 1654. In 1664, Thomas Warner, sons of the governor of Saint-Christophe claimed St Lucia for England.
Islands of St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre and Holy-crosses were captured by France in 1648 and 1650, respectively. During the XVIIIe century, both will be sold - Holy-Cross with the Denmark in 1733, and St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre with the Sweden in 1784. France regained the last island in 1878.
Since 1625, the French buccaneers employed the Île of the Tortoise, close to the coast of Hispaniola, as bases. Although the Spaniards destroyed its dwellings buccaneers several times, to each occasion they are gone back there. The first official colonization on the Tortoise was established in 1659, under a commission of Louis XIV. In 1664 the news Company of the Western Indies taken possession of the colony, which it called Saint-Domingue, and France claimed the Western part of the island of Hispaniola. By the treated of Ryswick, in 1697, Spain the control of this part of the island yielded officially to France.
The islands of Dominique and Saint-Vincent were visited by French missionaries and colonists since 1635, but because of the conflict with the the Caribbean in 1660, France and England decided that the colonization of the two islands were to be abandoned. The Dominique was officially stated “neutral” for the century to come, but its natural resources remained attractive and, at the beginning of the XVIIIe century, from British forwardings and Frenchwomen of foresters came to collect structural timber on the island. In Saint-Vincent, the French established plantations about 1719.
Colonial conflicts
France fights with the the United Kingdom for several islands of the Antilles. Possession of St Lucia changa 14 times of hands until 1814, when the island becomes definitively British.Because of the geographical position of the Dominique between Martinique and the Guadeloupe, France became little by little the prevalent power on the island, which became a French colony then. But, at the end of the treated of Paris of 1763 which put an end to seven years of Franco-English war, the island became a British possession.
In 1778, at the time of the American Revolution, French invaded the island with the active co-operation of the population, which was mainly French. The treated of Paris of 1783, which put an end to the war, returned the island to the Great Britain. Other attempts at French invasions took place in 1795 and 1805, but showed failures.
In Saint-Domingue, the French faced a conflict with the slaves. ( See Haitian Revolution. ) the revolt of the blacks began in August 1791. Under the control of their chiefs - of which most important was All Saints' day Louverture - the blacks passed from a revolt to a war of liberation while being combined initially to the Spaniards of Santo Domingo, in war against the new French Republic. Many white, royalists, supported the British or the Spaniards. The police chiefs of Convention, guided at the same time by their ideal and the need for being allies, proclaimed the freedom of the slaves in 1793.
Cependent, Napoleon Bonaparte wished the re-establishment of slavery. In January 1802, benefitting from the negotiations of peace with the British, it dispatched an army of twenty thousand men ordered by his brother-in-law, the general Charles Leclerc. ( See the Forwarding of Santo Domingo ) Leclerc captured All Saints' day, and it restores slavery in the oriental party of the island in July 1802. But the war of liberation began again as of October. It was federate in May 1803 by one of the generals of All Saints' day, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, and leads to the defeat of the French Armies on November 18th, 1803 at the time of the Bataille of Vertières. Haitian independence was proclaimed on January 1st 1804.
South America
See also: France the Antarctic, equinoctial France, History of Guyana (France)
Of 1555 with 1567, a group of Huguenot S, under the control of vice-admiral Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon, tried to establish the colony of the France the Antarctic in the current territory of the Brésil, but they were expelled by the Portuguese.
France made a second attempt colonize the east coast of the South America in 1612. With the difference of Antarctic France, this colonial company, (the equinoctial France), was not justified by the will to escape religious persecutions. A French forwarding starts from Cancale, in Brittany, under the command of Daniel of the Key, lord of Ravardière. With five hundred colonists on his board, it approaches on the northern coast of what is today the state of Maranhão, in Brazil. The colony was not to remain a long time. The Portuguese gathered an army in the state of Pernambuco, which drove out the French colonists in 1615.
Guyana
The Guyana was colonized the first time by France in 1604, but the colony was abandoned vis-a-vis the Amerindian hostility and with the tropical diseases. The town of Cayenne was founded in 1643, but it was abandoned for the same reasons. In 1652 the Company of Equinoctial France tries to settle, it is at this period that the first black slaves are introduced in Guyana. In 1654 the Dutch occupy the régionet introduce the cane with sugar there. In 1664, under the impulse of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, a powerful fleet unloads and tries to establish a colony, but the English attack in 1667 without to settle there. In 1674 the French take again Cayenne.
In 1764, a propaganda campaign especially carried out in Lorraine Alsace and , was going to precipitate 15.000 French including 12.000 Alsatian and Lorraine towards Rochefort to unload in 1764 with Kourou in full period of the rains and in the marshes. It followed from there 12.000 dead in one year due to diseases (Dysenterie, Yellow fever, Syphilis) and to the mosquitos (Paludisme). The forwarding, carried out by Choiseul will be one cooking failure. Finally, an about sixty group of survivors will take refuge with the islands of the Hello before turning over to France.
Well after this serious failure, a qualified governor is finally named. Pierre-Victor Malouet, assisted by the engineer Joseph Guisan, of Swiss origin, undertakes a program of reform of agricultural agriculture and town and country planning. The territory will know one boom until the French revolution.
Á to start from 1792, the French revolution makes of Cayenne a place of deportation for the refractory priests and the political enemies of the revolution. The first bagne - bagne of Sinnamary - had been born and until in 1805, the territory became a place of deportation for the political opponents with the various modes which followed one another in France.
Á to start from 1854, the law of transportation, supports the construction of famous the bagnes of Cayenne, Devil's Island and of Saint-Laurent-of-Maroni (1858). The commune of Saint-Laurent-of-Maroni the becomes the administrative center of the penal system, towards which will be sent nearly 90.000 men and 2.000 women, of which more than one third of them will die in Guyana, corruption and social inequality become the bases of the penitentiary social organization.
In 1946, Guyana obtains the statute of French Département. This year, the bagnes were closed.
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