France: Notable Colonies

1564 - 1565 - Fort Caroline (All Facts)

• First French Colony in the Americas

• Colony founded by René Goulaine de Laudonnière

  • He landed at Matanzas inlet on the river of May (modern-day St. John’s River) with a party of 300 to set up the post

  • Beset by food shortages and mutinies since he first initially established the settlement, he attacked one of the villages of the Utina tribe, holding its chief to ransom hoping that the Native Americans will pay him with a supply of corn

• Colony in which Jacques de Magne de Morgues lived with the Huguenots there until it was destroyed

  • He made paintings of Florida natives he saw there

  • He depicted monstrous reptiles, called alligators, and savages with tattoos all over the bodies

  • He depicted scenes of terrible executions and barbarous rites

• Colony destroyed by Pedro Menendez de Aviles of Spain

  • It was destroyed and its people massacred by Pedro Menendez de Aviles and his Spanish troops, the culmination of several years of tension between the French and Spanish in the region as a result of religious differences

    • The attackers showed no mercy, slaughtering 132 people within an hour

    • Those who surrendered were killed too, including Jean Ribault

    • Only a few Catholics and some women and children were spared

1597 - 1603 - Sable Island (All Facts)

• Colony founded by Troilus de Mesqouez, the Marquis de la Roche of France in “New France” (Canada)

  • He left France with 40 convicts to colonize the namesake island, off the coast of Nova Scotia

  • 50 petty criminals and their guards were left on the island, having sent sealskins and oil back to France

  • When no word was received by the end of the year, the envoys returned to colony to find that the guards had been killed and prisoners had turned on each other

  • Only 11 survived

1605 - 1713 - Port Royal (All Facts)

• Colony founded by Samuel de Champlain during the reign of King Henry IV as a part of Canada (New France)

• Colony located in Acadia (Nova Scotia)

• Colony which was famous for having the first play staged in the New World, that being the French performance of “La Theatre de Neptune”

• Colony eventually abandoned by Samuel de Champlain and his colonists

1608 - 1763 - Quebec / New France (All Facts)

• Colony founded by Samuel de Champlain

  • He established and set up the first French settlement

  • As the province’s founder, he strengthened its French presence by persuading more French farmers to settle there

  • He believed that the lack of settlers made it vulnerable to the English, as French colonists prefer working with the Native Americans in the fur trade rather than working the land

  • His ability to cooperate successfully with the Native American gave France a foothold there

  • On his first voyage there, he landed there on a mission to study conditions for a possible permanent settlement there

  • On his second voyage there, he reached Cape Cod in search of an ideal location for French settlement in the New World

  • On one voyage, he set out on an intrepid voyage of exploration covering the Ottawa River, Georgian Bay, and Lake Ontario

    • He travelled by canoe and, while expanding geographical knowledge to a great extent, he was also plunged into the middle of an internecine Native American war, which shaped him to become a soldier

    • Wounded in battle with the Iroquois, he arrived to winter in Huron village

  • On another voyage, he sailed up the Ottawa River and explored Lake Huron and Lake Erie

  • On his seventh voyage, he found Lake Huron, opening up an easier route inland for French fur traders

  • He returned to “New France” to continue work on the fulfillment of his dream of a flourishing France in the New World

    • This was his first visit there since it was returned by the English after they had forced the namesake to surrender it

• Colony in which France established a fur trade

  • Beaver skins were sent to La Rochelle in France from Canada

• Colony in which

  • By 1615,

    • Franciscan Missionaries arrived to start evangelizing

1664 - 1954 - French India (All Facts)

1674 - Pondicherry (All Facts)

• First (Successful) French Colony in India

• Colony founded by Francois Martin and the French East India Company

• Colony governed by Francois Martin and the French East India Company