Expanding the Territory of New

France

17
th
to middle of the 18
th

century
In 1665, NF was already a large
territory
The fur trade, evangelization, French
conflict with the British, and peace
with Iroquois in 1667 caused the
territory to expand further

New France 1645
Huronia became weakened by diseases they
caught from the French
The Iroquois destroyed Horonia
The destruction of the Hurons in 1650 by the
Iroquois caused merchants to organized
expeditions to expand their trade network to
other Aboriginal nations
Missionaries used these expeditions to go
and try to convert other nations

New France 1756
France also benefited as it rushed to take
possession of the territory before the
British who were settled in the Thirteen
Colonies to the East.
The Territory expanded due to many
expeditions between 1671 and 1743 (See
page 88)

Lasalle Expeditions
French Territory before Expansion
The territory included Acadia founded in
1604, the St. Lawrence Valley (Canada) the
most highly developed and populated area
which was divided into 3 distinct
governmentQuebec City, Trois-Rivires and
Montreal
Late 17
th
century, Louisiana and the Illinois
Country became part of NF (See Page 92)


The voyageurs: adventurers

Voyageurs: Colonists/Merchants who
travelled to Pays d`en Haut (The Great Lakes
Regions) to get the fur directly from the
Aboriginals. They would settle for the winter
and some even started families with
Aboriginal women. As such, they learned the
Aboriginal languages and even adapted some
of their habits.

Voyageur
The large number of Voyageur forced the
government to put in place a license fee
Only people with a license were allowed
to go and get fur directly from the
Aboriginals
The coureur de bois: People who
engaged in the fur trade without a
license

Coureur de bois
The Franco-Aboriginal alliance

The explorations of the Illinois Country
and Louisiana gave rise to new alliance
with the Aboriginal nations in the area
The French tried to convince these
nations to only trade with them so keep
out the English from the Thirteen
Colonies

The Iroquois Confederacy with the
support of the English opposed the
French ambitions
The Iroquois wanted the Nations from
the Great Lakes (GL) to bring the fur to
them so they could sell it to the English.
This led to confrontations

Plus, not all the French allies in GL were
friendly with each other which was not
good for NF security
The French intensified their effort to
established peace between them and
their allies
The French and the allies fought the
Iroquois

1701 The Iroquois agreed to peace and
signed the Great Peace of Montreal
The Iroquois recognized the French as
the middle man in the fur trade with
the Nations of the GL
They also committed to remain neutral
in the conflict between the French and
English (See page 90- peace treaty
document)

Great Peace Treaty of Montreal 1701
Montreal Peace Treaty Document