The colony of Canada was a French colony within the larger territory of New France. It was claimed by France in 1535 during the second voyage of Jacques Cartier, in the name of the French king, Francis I. The colony remained a French territory until 1763, when it became a British colony known as the Province of Quebec.[5][6][7][8]
In the 16th century the word "Canada" could refer to the territory along the Saint Lawrence River[9] (then known as the Canada River) from Grosse Isle to a point between Québec and Trois-Rivières.[10] The terms "Canada" and "New France" were also used interchangeably.[11] French explorations continued west "unto the Countreys of Canada, Hochelaga, and Saguenay"[12] before any permanent settlements were established. In 1600 a permanent trading post and habitation was established at Tadoussac at the confluence of the Saguenay and Saint Lawrence rivers. However, because this trading post was under a trade monopoly, it was not constituted as an official French colonial settlement.
The Seven Years' War of 1756–1763 saw Great Britain defeat the French and their allies, and take possession of Canada. In the Treaty of Paris of 1763, which formally ended the Seven Years' War, France ceded Canada in exchange for other colonies, with a large portion of Canada becoming the British colony of the Province of Quebec.[17]
Territorial evolution
In the 240 years between Verrazano's voyage of exploration in 1524 and the Conquest of New France in 1763, the French marked the North American continent in many ways. Whether it was through by land distribution and clearing, the establishment of villages and towns, deploying a network of roads and paths or developing the territory with various constructions, the French colonists transformed and adapted the environments according to their needs.
A population survey was done in 1740 to estimate Canada's population. The survey of the Saint Lawrence River valley counted about 44,000 colonists in total. The majority of them were born in Canada and lived in a rural environment. Of the colonists, 18,000 lived under the Government of Québec, 4,000 under the Government of Trois-Rivières and 22,000 under the Government of Montreal. As for colonists not living in the Saint Lawrence River valley, Île Royale (now Cape Breton) counted 4,000 inhabitants (of which 1,500 were in Louisbourg), and Île Saint-Jean (now Prince Edward Island) had 500 inhabitants.[20]
Successors and legacy
In 1791, the Province of Quebec was separated into Lower Canada (now Quebec) and Upper Canada (now Ontario). Lower Canada and Upper Canada were fused into the Province of Canada in 1841, before separating again into the modern-day provinces of Quebec and Ontario during the Confederation of Canada in 1867. Because of the historical and geographical continuity, as well as the continued use of the French language, civil law, customs, cultural aspects and the ruling power of the Catholic Church in government until the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, the province of Quebec is considered by many to be the modern-day continuation of the Canada colony of New France.[21][22][23][24] Still today, the majority of the Quebec population is descended from the original French-speaking Canadien of Canada, and the cultural distinctiveness of Quebec from the rest of the country has led to the emergence of a Québécois identity and the Quebec sovereignty movement.[25] Descendants of the original Canadien of Canada (New France) living outside of Quebec are now often referred to by a name which references their province of residence (ex. Franco-Ontarian). Francophone populations in the Maritime provinces, however, are more likely to be descended from the settlers of the French colony of Acadia. They are therefore called Acadians.
^ abc"Le territoire". La Nouvelle-France. Resources françaises. Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (France). 1998. Archived from the original on 17 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2008. La Nouvelle-France désignait l'ensemble des territoires de l'Amérique du Nord sous administration française, avant 1763. Dans sa plus grande dimension, avant le Traité d'Utrecht (1713), la Nouvelle-France comprenait cinq colonies possédant, chacune, une administration propre : le Canada, l'Acadie, la Baie d'Hudson, Terre-Neuve, la Louisiane.
^"His Most Christian Majesty cedes and guaranties to his said Britannick Majesty, in full right, Canada, with all its dependencies, as well as the island of Cape Breton, and all the other islands and coasts in the gulph and river of St. Lawrence, and in general, every thing that depends on the said countries, lands, islands, and coasts..." Treaty of Paris (1763) – via Wikisource.
^Michel Lavoie (2010). Le Domaine du roi 1652-1859. Septentrion.
^"New France circa 1740". The Atlas of Canada. Natural Resources Canada. 6 October 2003. Archived from the original on 10 December 2007. Retrieved 13 December 2009.
^"Quebec". The Canadian Encyclopedia. April 2021. Government and Politics.