The French in Acadia
At the beginning of the seventeenth century, writes Patricia McCollom, the French made a resolute attempt to seize the rich Canadian fur-lands.
The colonization of Canada had long been neglected. Fortune-hunters driven by greed ventured into the land where Columbus’ ‘Indians’ held tenure over a legacy of valuable furs, but not since Cartier had anyone given serious thought to the immense northern wilderness as a place where European culture might thrive. That was about to change.
By late 1590, King Henry VI of France decided that the time was ripe for planting French settlers in North America ahead of England. New France would attract entrepreneurs who would bring to the homeland a wealth of furs and help to replenish a nearly exhausted treasury. A simple official plan was put together offering exclusive fur trade monopolies to companies and individuals who agreed to establish a new colony each year at their own expense.
Optimistic Frenchmen, expecting a fast profit, launched numerous small companies and accepted the grants enthusiastically. Colonists, however, were not standing in line to be rushed off to poorly charted northern climes from which several previous adventurers had not returned.
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