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French colonization of the Americas

The French established colonies across the New World in the 17th century. They were developed to export sugar and furs among other products.

Table of contents

1 North America

2 Caribbean Islands

3 South America

4 Reference

North America Explorers and settlers from France settled in what is now Canada, the Mississippi Valley and along the Gulf coast in what is now Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana founding the cities of Quebec, Montreal, St. Louis, Missouri, Mobile, Alabama, Biloxi, Mississippi, and New Orleans, Louisiana.

The French were very interested in the fur trade and purchased fur from and formed alliances with Native American tribes such as the Huron and Ottawa[?]. They actively engaged in warfare with the traditional enemies of the Hurons and Ottawas, the Iroquois.

France once held vast possessions in North America including the Mississippi and St. Lawrence river valleys. However, as a result of the French and Indian War, all French territory on the North American continent was divided between the British and the Spanish. The French were able to briefly regain some of the Spanish possessions in North America during the Napoleonic Era. However, because France did not have the navy to resupply its North American holdings and because France did not want its possessions to fall into the hands of the British, Napoleon sold Louisiana to the United States, a sale referred to as the Louisiana Purchase. The only remaining French possession in North America is Saint Pierre and Miquelon, a group of islands off the Canadian coast.

Caribbean Islands Martinique first settled by French in July 1635 by Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc, a noble from Normandy. It remains French overseas department.

Guadeloupe including the islands of St. Barthélemy, St. Martin, Les Saintes, La Désirade, Marie-Galante and Guadeloupe was settled by the French about 1635 after an unsuccessful Spanish attempt at colonization. It remains a French overseas department. Guadeloupe and Martinique were captured by the British during the French and Indian War from 1759 to 1763. The French regained the islands at the end of the war in exchange for giving Great Britain rights to its Canadian lands.

Haiti, called Saint Dominique by the French, was first settled in 1625 with french rights confirmed by the spanish in the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697. It became independent of France in 1804.

South America French Guiana was first settled by the French in 1604. It remains an overseas department of France.