New France

New France (French: la Nouvelle-France) describes the area colonized by France in North America during a period extending from the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 to the cession of New France to the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1763. At its peak in 1712 (before the Treaty of Utrecht), the territory of New France extended from Newfoundland to Lake Superior and from the Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. The territory was then divided in five colonies, each with its own administration: Canada, Acadia, Hudson Bay, Newfoundland and Louisiana.

Fall of New France

New France now had over 50,000 inhabitants, a vast increase from earlier in the century, but the British American colonies greatly outnumbered them with over one million people (including a substantial number of French Huguenots). It was much easier for the British colonists to organize attacks on New France than it was for the French to attack the British. In 1755 General Edward Braddock led an expedition against the French Fort Duquesne, and although they were numerically superior to the French militia and their Indian allies, Braddock's army was routed and Braddock was killed.

Related Topics:
Huguenots - 1755 - Edward Braddock - An expedition - Fort Duquesne

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In 1758 Great Britain again captured Louisbourg, allowing them to blockade the entrance to the St. Lawrence River. This was essentially the death sentence of New France. In 1759 the British besieged Québec by sea, and an army under General James Wolfe defeated the French under General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in September. The garrison in Québec surrendered on September 18, and by the next year New France had been completely conquered by the British. The last French governor-general of New France, Pierre Francois de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal, surrendered to British Major General Jeffrey Amherst on September 8 1760. France finally ceded Canada to the British in the Treaty of Paris, signed on February 10, 1763.

Related Topics:
1758 - 1759 - James Wolfe - Louis-Joseph de Montcalm - Battle of the Plains of Abraham - September 18 - Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal - Jeffrey Amherst - September 8 - 1760 - Treaty of Paris - February 10 - 1763

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French culture and religion remained dominant in most of the former territory of New France, until the arrival of British settlers led to the later creation of Upper Canada (today Ontario) and New Brunswick. The Louisiana Territory, under Spanish control since the end of the Seven Years' War, remained off-limits to settlement from the 13 American colonies. Following Napoleon Bonaparte's defeat of Spain, he took back the Louisiana Territory and in 1803 sold it to the new United States. This sale represented the end of the French colonial empire in North America except for the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon which it still controls to this day.

Related Topics:
Upper Canada - Ontario - New Brunswick - Louisiana Territory - Spanish - Napoleon Bonaparte - 1803 - United States - French colonial empire - North America - St. Pierre and Miquelon

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