The Duel for North America and Colonial Empires

Vocabulary flashcards derived from lecture notes on French colonization, early world wars for North American dominance, and key historical figures and treaties between 1572 and 1763.

Guerrilla warfare

Unconventional warfare characterized by "hit & run" tactics such as ambushing, raiding, and sabotage.

King William's War

A war from 1689–1697 pitting British colonials against French coureurs de bois and their Indian allies, featuring events such as the Schenectady Massacre in 1690.

Peace of Utrecht (1713)

A 1713 treaty that ended Queen Anne's War, granting England large tracts of land in Nova Scotia and Hudson Bay, as well as limited trading rights in Spanish America.

War of Jenkins's Ear

A 1739 conflict mostly limited to the Caribbean, sparked when Spanish revenue authorities sliced off the ear of English Captain Jenkins due to smuggling tensions.

King George's War

A 1744–1748 conflict where France and Spain allied against Great Britain, in which New England colonists captured the French fortress of Louisbourg at a cost of up to 8% of New England's adult male population.

Louisbourg

An "impregnable" French fortress in Canada captured by New England colonists during King George's War, which was handed back to France in the 1748 peace settlement.

Ohio Company

A joint-stock company formed in 1747 by Virginia land speculators, including the Lee and Washington families, to secure land grants in the Ohio River Valley.

FFVs

First Families of Virginia, referring to descendants of the original gentry class elite, such as the Lee and Washington families.

Thomas Lee

The first President of the Ohio Company formed in 1747 by Virginia land speculators.

Fort Duquesne

A fort built by the French in 1754 near the site of modern-day downtown Pittsburgh, PA.

Fort Necessity

A hastily constructed fort where 21-year-old Lt. Col. George Washington surrendered to French forces on July 4, 1754, following a 10-hour bombardment.

Acadians

French inhabitants of Canada who were rounded up and deported by the British to Louisiana, whose descendants became known as "Cajuns."

Huguenots

French Calvinist Protestants who were targeted by majority French Catholics, notably during the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572.

St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre

A 1572 event in which French Catholics killed thousands of Huguenots (French Calvinist Protestants).

Edict of Nantes

A 1598 decree that granted limited toleration to Huguenots, bringing an end to religious wars in France and allowing French colonization efforts to grow.

Samuel de Champlain

The explorer known as the "Father of New France" who founded Quebec in 1608 and formed an alliance with the Huron Indians against the Iroquois.

Jacques Cartier

An explorer who navigated the St. Lawrence River and claimed "New France" for France during the 1530s–1540s.

Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette

French explorers who traveled from the Great Lakes region to the Mississippi River in 1673 while searching for a Northwest Passage.

New France

French colonial territory in North America characterized by an autocratic government with no representative assembly or right to trial by jury, whose primary economic resource was the beaver.

Coureurs de Bois

Translating to "runners of the woods," these French fur-trappers traveled deep into North America to trade pelts, unintentionally decimating beaver populations and native communities through disease and alcohol.

Jesuits

French Catholic missionaries who attempted to convert Native Americans and played vital roles as explorers and geographers in New France.

Antoine Cadillac

The French explorer who founded Detroit ("the city of straits") in 1701.

Robert de La Salle

An explorer who traveled down the Mississippi River in 1682 and claimed the entire basin, naming it "Louisiana" in honor of King Louis XIV.

New Orleans

A strategically located city founded in 1718 that allowed France to command the delta and mouth of the Mississippi River.