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The Three Colonies In North America During The 1600s

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The French established three colonies in North America during the 1600s and 1700s. Louisiana and Canada were two of the three colonies. The colony of Canada extended from the north east coast where New Foundland was, down to the Great Lakes. Canada had no real settlements, however, they had many posts which served as trading posts and military support. The colony experienced harsh winters and short growing seasons and because of this their farming efforts usually failed and populations never grew. Since they had little to no success in farming, their economy thrived on fur trade with natives. By creating close ties with the natives they were able to trade metal goods for fur and then craft the fur and later profit from it. In the 1660s the …show more content…

King Louis XIV did not want the colonies to be a refuge for those who practiced anything other than Catholicism. During the revocation in 1685, French Huguenots were allowed to migrate to Louisiana as long as they converted to Catholicism once in the colony. This condition led to a small migratory population (Bond, 2005). The French wanted to set up a colony on the North American interior to control fertile farm land as well as to keep the rivals out of the interior. Louisiana was founded to provide the French a southern outlet for their fur trade. When the colony was first established it was ignored by the French due to the War of Spanish Succession taking place in France Colonists from Canada who had wilderness experience were drawn down while colonists from France had no colonial life experience(Jones, 2014, 57). Originally they hoped Louisiana would turn into a plantation society. However, their farming efforts were unsuccessful. The only crops they were able to produce were indigo and tobacco, both held little value. In the end Louisiana just became a way to block the expansion of the British ("France In America: The Colonies / La France En Amérique: Les

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