The Americas

French Colonies in the Americas
AD 1541 - 1763

Initial attempts to create a colony in what would become New France - centred on Quebec in modern Canada - were patchy, with two attempts being undertaken in 1541 and 1598. The second attempt took root and while each of the French provinces had its own governor, the lieutenant-general of New France, who was usually the most senior of the governors, was the ultimate authority in the colonies, answering directly to France between 1603-1627. After 1627 a permanent governor was appointed.

At its height, New France included Acadia (areas of eastern Quebec, the coastal territories, and claims to New England as far as Philadelphia, although these became increasingly impractical in the face of English expansion there), Canada (modern eastern and central Canada), and Louisiana (a vast territory stretching across much of the east half of modern Midwestern USA).

1522 - 1523

King Francis I of France is persuaded by the Italian explorer, Giovanni da Verrazzano, to allow an expedition to find a western route to China. At this time (and for a considerable period afterwards) it is believed that there is a land bridge between America and China. Instead, in 1524, Verrazzano explores the coast of what is now South and North Carolina, and then heads north to become the first European to explore the region of later New York.

1541

As a friend of the king of France, Francis I, corsair and adventurer Jean-François de la Roque de Roberval is appointed the first lieutenant-governor of New France, after being commissioned by the king to settle the province of Canada. An advance party under Jacques Cartier arrives in 1541 and founds a settlement at Charlesbourg-Royal, while Roberval arrives in 1542 and meets the departing Cartier off the coast of Newfoundland. Roberval continues onwards and resettles Charlesbourg-Royal, but the colony survives less than two years due to severe weather, disease, and attacks by the local tribe of Iroquois.

The settlement of Charlesbourg-Royal survived just two years and was abandoned twice

1541 - 1543

Jean-François de la Roque de Roberval

First lieutenant-governor of New France.

1543

The post of lieutenant-general falls vacant when the colony is abandoned.

1564 - 1565

The French create their first colony in south-eastern North America when they found Fort Caroline in Florida. The Spanish destroy it the following year.

1598

Trading posts are being established in several parts of the territory which soon becomes Acadia, but generally these fail as permanent settlements.

1598 - 1603

Marquis de la Roche-Mesgouez

1603

Pierre Dugua is granted exclusive rights to colonise lands in North America, expanding the various settlements which collectively form Acadia. The following year, a new settlement is founded on the modern Bay of Fundy: Ile-Saint-Croix. Just a year later it is moved to Port Royal.

1603 - 1610

Pierre Dugua

1608 - 1609

Just a year after Port Royal is abandoned, Quebec City is founded when three ships land from France at Tadoussac and their occupants proceed up river in boats to the site which they start fortifying. Samuel de Champlain, the eventual first governor of New France commands one of the ships. The following year, while striving to improve relations with the local native tribes, Champlain and his small group encounter the Iroquois. The Europeans drive them off after killing their leaders, but the tone has been set for future Franco-Iroquois relations.

1609

French explorer Samuel de Champlain enters the territory that now forms Vermont on 30 July, claiming it for New France, and constructing a fort which is the first European settlement there.

1611 - 1612

Charles de Bourbon

First cousin of King Henry IV of France.

1612 - 1613

Henry II, prince of Condé

1613

Port Royal, which had been re-established in 1610, is destroyed. The surviving settlers move off to neighbouring areas to create new settlements within Acadia.

1622

Étienne Brûlé leads an expedition into the territory that will become Michigan, but the first permanent settlement is not made until 1668, at Sault Sainte-Marie. Also during this century, French fur traders begin to enter into the territory that will later form Minnesota.

Governors of New France
AD 1627 - 1663

The position of governor in New France was the equivalent of a viceroyalty. The governor answered directly to the king's ministers in France, and controlled the territories of Acadia, Canada and Louisiana, although Acadia and Louisiana had their own regional governors. The capital was in Quebec City. It was this post which was later taken over by the British and survives today as the office of governor-general of Canada.

1627 - 1635

Samuel de Champlain

First governor of New France. Founded Quebec City.

1629 - 1633

Champlain is captured in an English attack and taken to London. Quebec is ruined, but when Champlain is able to return in 1633 he sets about rebuilding it. He also sets about attacking the Iroquois, intent on bringing them to heel.

1634

Frenchman Jean Nicolet is the first European to explore what is now Wisconsin. He founds the Green Bay colony, which is settled mainly by fur traders.

1635 - 1648

Charles de Montmagny

1645

Montmagny is able to negotiate a peace treaty with the Iroquois at Trois-Rivieres.

1648 - 1651

Louis d'Ailleboust de Coulonge

1648 - 1650

Coulonge strives to prevent the Iroquois massacre of the Huron people, in retribution for the latter becoming allied to the French. The attempts fail, and only small numbers of Huron survive the massacre.

1651 - 1657

Jean de Lauzon

1653

Lauzon negotiates successfully with the Mohawks, agreeing a peace treaty which removes one of the more major threats to the colony.

1657 - 1658

Louis d'Ailleboust de Coulonge

Returned as acting governor.

1658 - 1661

Pierre de Voyer d'Argenson

1661 - 1663

Pierre Dubois d'Avaugour

1663

The French government of Louis XIV reorganises the colonies. The duties of the governorship are divided and the more important military responsibilities are retained by the new position of governor-general.

Governors General of New France
AD 1663 - 1763

The old governorship was divided in 1663, when the French king, Louis XIV, took over the administration of New France from the Compagnie des Cent-Associés. Responsibility for finance, justice, and the police was handed to a new position, the intendant. Control over diplomatic relations and military affairs was given to the new governor general, who held office in Quebec City. During the century of its existence, New France reached its greatest extent, reaching from Newfoundland to the Gulf of Mexico via the later American Midwest.

1663 - 1665

Augustin de Mesy

First governor general of New France.

1665 - 1672

Daniel de Courcelle

1665 - 1672

De Courcelle establishes the first militias in New France, which will become an essential element in the wars against the British. He also negotiates with several of the native tribes to secure the colony some peace, and approves an expedition to the west in order to find the long-sought after land passage to China.

1673

Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet travel along the Mississippi, documenting the native villagers. They are the first Europeans to enter the region.

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, explored the Great Lakes, the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico, and claimed the entire Mississippi basin for New France

1672 - 1682

Louis de Buade de Frontenac

1682 - 1685

Joseph-Antoine de La Barre

1685 - 1689

Jacques-Rene de Brisay de Denonville

1689

Denonville arrives with intentions of having a great effect on the colony for the glory of France. The colony has been continually hampered in its efforts to expand by the hostile attentions of the Iroquois, so after capturing British fur trader posts on Hudson Bay he marches against them, captures their leaders to be shipped to France as slaves, and lays waste to the lands of the Seneca. Retribution is swift, with the Iroquois destroying farms and burning towns. The violence ends with the Massacre of Lachine in which the town of that name is burned to the ground. Twenty-four colonists are killed and another hundred or so are captured, many of them to be burned alive and even eaten. Louis de Buade, comte de Frontenac is selected by the king to regain control in the beleaguered colony, and for a while he does, until ships from the British colonies in New England arrive in 1690.

1689 - 1698

Louis de Buade de Frontenac

Second term.

1691

Due to the threat of French encroachment from Louisiana, New Spain establishes its first presence in Texas, although these early missions quickly fail. King William's War (1690-1697) sees Acadia captured by the British, but it is returned as part of the peace settlement.

1698 - 1703

Louis-Hector de Calliere

Governor of Montreal (1684-1698).

1699

A colony is founded at Fort Maurepas, which is also known as Old Biloxi (now Ocean Springs in the state of Mississippi), the first in this territory.

1702

The first European settlement in what will become Alabama is founded by the French at Mobile.

1702 - 1713

Acadia is recaptured by the British during Queen Anne's War and this time it remains in British hands, as confirmed by the Treaties of Utrecht in 1713, becoming part of the British Colonies territory of Nova Scotia. New France itself is split into five colonies which each have their own administrative bodies: Acadia, Canada, Hudson Bay, Louisiana, and Newfoundland.

1703 - 1725

Philippe de Rigaud de Vaudreuil

1716

New missions are established by New Spain in Texas to create a buffer zone between it and the French possession of Louisiana. These are followed in 1718 by the first European settlement in Texas, at San Antonio.

1726 - 1747

Charles de la Boische de Beauharnois

1738

The French-Canadian trader, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye, enters the territory that will become North Dakota with an exploration party that reaches the Mandan villages in the region. During this period, trading posts are also being set up in what is now Ohio and New France lays claim to what is now Oklahoma.

By the start of the eighteenth century, French Quebec was a thriving colonial city

1747 - 1749

Roland-Michel Barrin

1749 - 1752

Jacques-Pierre de Taffanel

1750

By this time, settlers from New France have drifted from the east side of the Mississippi into the area of what is now St Genevieve in the state of Missouri. St Louis is subsequently founded as the centre of the regional fur trade.

1752 - 1755

Michel-Ange Duquesne de Menneville

1755 - 1760

Pierre François de Rigaud

Son of Philippe de Rigaud (1703). Last governor.

1759 - 1763

In 1759 General James Wolfe claims New France for the British Colonies with victory over the French in the Battle of Quebec. In 1763, France cedes the vast and wild Louisiana Territory (stretching from modern Louisiana to Canada) to Spain where it forms part of New Spain (excluding southern Alabama which is appended to British West Florida). New France itself is formally handed over to Britain and renamed the Province of Quebec, which in 1791 becomes part of Canada.

1800

The French take back the Louisiana Territory under the terms of the Treaty of San Iidefonso.

1803

On 30 April, Napoleon Bonaparte, first citizen of France, sells Louisiana to the United States for 80 million francs. This marks the end of French involvement in North America, but France is responsible for creating the short-lived Second Mexican empire in 1864.