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Around 1523, the Florentine navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano convinced the king, Francis I, to commission an expedition to find a western route to Cathay (China).[4] Late that year, Verrazzano set sail in Dieppe, crossing the Atlantic on a small caravel with 50 men.
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Italian navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano sets sail for the west on a mission of discovery for king François the 1st
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In 1534, Jacques Cartier planted a cross in the Gaspé Peninsula and claimed the land in the name of King Francis I.
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French attempt at settlement in North America was Fort Caroline, established in what is now Jacksonville, Florida, in 1564. Intended as a haven for Huguenots, Caroline was founded under the leadership of René Goulaine de Laudonnière and Jean Ribault.
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Early attempts at establishing permanent settlements were failures. In 1598, a trading post was established on Sable Island, off the coast of Acadia, but was unsuccessful.
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In 1608, sponsored by Henry IV, Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons and Samuel de Champlain founded the city of Quebec with 28 men, the second permanent French settlement in the colony of Canada.
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At the same time the English colonies to the south began to raid the St. Lawrence valley, and, in 1629, Quebec itself was captured and held by the English until 1632.[15] Champlain returned to Canada that year, and requested that Sieur de Laviolette found another trading post at Trois-Rivières, which he did in 1634. Champlain died in 1635.
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In 1630, there were only 103 colonists living in the settlement, but by 1640, the population had reached 355.
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The King's Daughters found husbands among the male settlers within a year or two, as well as a new life for themselves.
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After the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, New France began to prosper. Industries, such as fishing and farming, which had failed under Talon, began to flourish.
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The founding of the Compagnie des Indes in 1718 once again highlighted the economic importance of the fur trade.
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By the end of French rule in New France in 1763, the fur trade had significantly lost its importance as the key stable good that supported much of New France’s economy for more than the last century
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Thousands of Natives, still loyal to France, swear vengeance and declare war on the English. The red coats are forced back from the Great Lakes region by chief Pontiac and his allies. The same year, France signs the Traité de Paris, and prefers to abandon Canada in order to keep the sugar of Guadeloupe. Abandonned by the Mother country, the Canadiens will now have to learn to coexist with the invaders.
