Dealing with natives
French Native people were very important to the
French settlement of Canada. Native
First Discovery people helped the French get enough
Europeans first visited the Americas in food so they could live through the
1592, when Christopher Columbus winter. Native people taught the French
arrived. John Cabot was the first how to use the land to survive.
European to arrive in North America, in
1597. Jacque Cartier was the first French In the fur trade, native people caught the
explorer to reach North America, in beavers and other animals. They sold it
1534. to Europeans, who shipped it back to
Europe.
Cartier
Cartier met the native peoples who were The French were involved in native wars
living in Eastern Canada. They were the also. The native people were often
Iroquois. Cartier made friends with the fighting against one another. They knew
Iroquois, and asked two Iroquois men to Europeans had better weapons, such as
go back to Europe with him. On guns. One of the native peoples, the
Cartier’s next trip to Canada, he tried to Huron, asked the French to help them in
find Hochelaga. The natives told Cartier their war against the Iroquois. The
that at Hochelaga there was a lot of gold. Iroquois had help from the Dutch,
Cartier never found this place. Instead, another European country. The Hurons
he was trapped in Canada for the winter, lost that war, because of the help they
because the river froze. With the river got from the French. The French gave
frozen he could not leave. them guns. The French also gave Hurons
smallpox, which killed most of them.
Staying the winter, he did not have With most Huron dead, the Iroquois
enough food for his men, and many of were able to easily win.
them died. Also, many died from a
disease called scurvy. Scurvy is caused Often, native groups such as the Iroquois
by not getting enough vitamin C from also attacked French settlements.
fresh fruits and vegetables. Many of the Eventually, the Iroquois and the French
natives who were staying with Cartier had a war. This war happened because
also died, from a disease called smallpox. both the Iroquois and the French wanted
Europeans brought this disease with control of more fur trade. The Iroquois
them, and natives had no natural wanted furs to sell to the British, and the
immunity to it. French wanted furs to export to Europe.
Cartier never found what he wanted
from Canada, but by the time he finished New France
his third trip, he had mapped the St. Samuel de Champlain started France’s
Lawrence River. first colony in Canada. It was called
New France. Life was difficult for the
colonists. They had trouble getting
enough food. Many died of scurvy in the
winters. Their main purpose was to buy
furs from natives and export them back
to France. Often they did not get enough
furs to make money.
New France was not growing quickly.
The King of France, Louis XIV wanted
the colony to grow faster, so the French
government took control of the colony.
They sent Jean Talon to help grow the
colony.
Talon’s most important job was to
increase New France’s population. New
France had many men, but almost no
women. He had young women imported
from France. They were called “filles du
roi”, or daughters of the king. Talon Eventually, the colonists of New France
married the filles du roi to young men formed a new identity, Canadiens.
and encouraged them to have many Canadiens were very tough, very
babies. He gave a family money each independent, and very proud. They were
year depending on how many children it different from French people in France.
had.
Religion
Another way Talon changed New France French at this time were very religious.
was to make it more independent. He Most people in France were Catholic.
built a shipyard, built machines for Catholic is one kind of Christian.
making clothes, brought horses from Catholic priests went to live with native
Europe, and started producing different people, to try and convert them to
kinds of food. Christianity. The natives called the
priests Black Robes, because they wore
Talon also started the seigneurial system. black clothes. Another group of
The seigneurial system was about how Catholics who went to live with the
land was divided and farmed. The natives were called Jesuits. They tried to
seigneur was the landlord. The habitants learn native languages and culture, to be
were the workers. Each habitant had to able to convert the natives more easily.
spend some time doing work on the
seigneur’s land. Then, the habitants The Church was also very influential
could work on their own land, which with the colony of New France. They
was rented to them by the seigneur. The controlled many aspects of life, such as
land was divided into long strips, so that education, health care, and helping the
each person’s land could be near the poor.
river.