CHAPTER III

THE WORK OF FRANCE

Early French Voyages. While Spain was making efforts to colonize her newly acquired lands, other nations sought to discover the short route to the Indies, and also tried to increase their commercial interests by securing possessions in the New World. Among those who took up this task was France.

As early as 1506, French fishermen found their way to the fishing banks of Newfoundland, but they made no attempt to settle this district because of the severe climate and the remote distance from the markets of Europe; hence years went by and no official notice was taken of these independent voyages.

Francis I. About 1524, Francis I was ruling in France. He was a very active king, with a determination to make France powerful, both at home and abroad. After settling a number of disputes among his nobles, and securing wide influence at home, Francis turned his attention to the lands beyond the seas. Both Spain and Portugal were jealous of their claims and re-asserted the Pope's edict relative to the line of demarcation. Francis lightly asked by what clause in Father Adam's will these nations were so favored, and, promptly ignoring their claims, sent out an expedition. Verrazano. He selected an experienced Venetian sailor, named John Verrazano, to undertake the work. Verrazano sailed westward across the Atlantic Ocean and reached the Hudson River, then visited the shores of New England, and made a favorable report of the land. But there were few

results from this voyage, and ten years passed before another attempt was made by France to secure a claim in the New World.

Cartier. In the year 1534, the services of Jacques Cartier, a sea captain of St. Malo, Brittany, were secured,

JACQUES CARTIER.

and he set sail for the coast of Newfoundland. He steered his vessel around the coast of the island, and entered the straits of Belle Isle and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. He then returned to France.

In the following year he explored the St. Lawrence River and met a number of Algonquin Indians, who occupied this district and who gave the French an idea of the fur trade. It was here that Cartier located a site for a village (Mon

treal) which he called Mount Royal, and he named the district New France. Cartier decided to spend the winter in the new country, and from the first of November until the middle of the next March, he and his men were icebound in this region. The weather was intensely cold and supplies were limited. Twenty-four of his best men died. and the others were disappointed, sorely discouraged, and eager to return home.

Roberval's Colony. The reports of the fur trade, however, were still attractive to the French, and, a few years later, Francis appointed Sieur de Roberval, as Lieutenant

governor of Canada. After making vain attempts to secure settlers, Roberval finally sent out a number of convicts from the prisons of France, a class of men not trained to self-support, a company of helpless people who did not wish to come to the strange country. The colony spent a year at the little station, Quebec, and then abandoned the project.

The Merchants in Rouen. - Many years now passed before the French made another attempt to establish themselves in the New World. The next enterprise was undertaken by a number of merchants in Rouen. These men organized a company to carry on the fur trade in America. Their plan was to secure a grant from the King for this purpose, then send agents into the country districts of France, and offer certain inducements to strong working men

SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN.

to go over to New France to engage in the fur trade. Quite a number answered the call; led by Sieur de Monts and Samuel Champlain, the colony landed in the neighborhood of Nova Scotia and opened a settlement which they named Port Royal (1605). Later, Champlain urged De Monts to build a fort on the St. Lawrence. Selecting the old site used by Roberval, they built the village of Quebec in 1608. De Monts returned to France and Champlain remained with the colony.

Champlain. Among the pioneers who came to New France, there is no one more worthy of note than Samuel Champlain. For thirty years he devoted his life to the

cause of French colonization, and, through the plan of the Rouen Merchant Company, he was able to seek the growth and development of French settlements along the St. Lawrence and on the shores of the Great Lakes.

During the time that Champlain spent in the New World, he explored Lake Champlain and the district in upper New York. It was in this region that some of his Algonquin

guides quarreled with the Iroquois of that neighborhood. They drove the French back into Canada. If this feud had not existed, perhaps the French would have made the Hudson Valley their headquarters, and our country's early history would have been very different.

Champlain explored the St. Lawrence to its source, and then followed the course of Lakes Ontario, Erie, and Huron and succeeded in establishing a number of trading posts along these shores. He also brought many hardy young Frenchmen who took up the work of trapping and established themselves permanently in the new country. Champlain secured from the government the right to introduce some missionaries into this district, and these priests also