AHC: Reverse English and French spheres of colonial control in North America

raharris1973

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Is there a way to plausibly end up with a French Atlantic Seaboard and an English St. Lawrence and Mississippi valley?
 
If the Huguenots had founded Fort Caroline further north than in Florida, perhaps it could have survived.
 

raharris1973

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Hmm, well they did have Charlesfort in South Carolina as well. The Spanish set up a parallel shortlived settlement in that region.

If the French had tried in the Chesapeake instead, could they have survived?
 
Is there a way to plausibly end up with a French Atlantic Seaboard and an English St. Lawrence and Mississippi valley?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't one of the main problems with this idea the different situations within England and France at the time? France was still recovering from the 50 plus years of religious warfare, and wasn't able to focus on colonies at this time and by the time they were England (and the Netherlands) had well-established colonies along the eastern seaboard. So the only thing I can think of is either someone have the wars of religion end sooner or cause enough problems in England that it is impossible to focus resources on colonial ventures.
 

raharris1973

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Interestingly enough, during its 16th century religious wars phase, France at least *tried* to plant colonies. (in the 1560s). It also sent Verrazano and Cartier in the first half of the 1500s.

To my knowledge, supposedly more stable England under Henry the VIII and for the first half of Elizabeth's reign did not even try to plant any colonies until Newfoundland in 1583, and sent no explorers whatsoever to the Americas between 1516 and 1583.

Meanwhile, the successful Port Royal and Quebec colonies were set up with about the same decade as Jamestown.
 
Interestingly enough, during its 16th century religious wars phase, France at least *tried* to plant colonies. (in the 1560s). It also sent Verrazano and Cartier in the first half of the 1500s.

To my knowledge, supposedly more stable England under Henry the VIII and for the first half of Elizabeth's reign did not even try to plant any colonies until Newfoundland in 1583, and sent no explorers whatsoever to the Americas between 1516 and 1583.

Meanwhile, the successful Port Royal and Quebec colonies were set up with about the same decade as Jamestown.

What's more, Newfoundland was not actually settled (just claimed) in 1583, and England's one attempt at colonizing (Roanoake Island) under Elizabeth was an complete failure - none of the settlers were even found three years later. No area north of Florida had any European settlers in 1600. France established Tadoussac that year and Port Royal in 1605.

The English founded Jamestown in 1607 and the Dutch, Fort Nassau in 1614. So there was a window of opportunity for the French, but they elected to stay further north. I wonder if it was the experience of the Spanish attacks in the 1560s that convinced them to do so.
 
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raharris1973

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Possible PODs -

1) Jacques Cartier, rather than operating in the north and exploring upriver in the St. Lawrence, instead revisits the areas that Verrazano went past, and does an exploration of the Chesapeake or Delaware Bays or the Hudson. He may well not, and probably does not, found a successful colony. But, the area between Florida and Maine becomes the focus of later French exploration attempts. The English are deterred from operating there, and sooner or later, probably the early 1600s, a French Atlantic seaboard colony succeeds. Meanwhile, around the same time, the English finally gain traction in Newfoundland and then Nova Scotia in the early 1600s, and explore and ultimately settle in the St. Lawrence.

2) Less likely IMHO: Swap of colonies in the 1629-1632 era. At this time the Scottish Kirke brothers captured Quebec and Nova Scotia. In OTL, King Charles had to agree to return them to the French in order to collect his dowry from the King of France, and was in desperate need of money. He compensated the Kirkes with other royal favors and perks.

In the ATL, the French King successfully bargains harder, allowing the English to keep Quebec and Nova Scotia, but insisting that Britain cede profitable Virginia to France. French administrators and colonists begin to arrive in Virginia, and the biggest Virginia proprietors are compensated with grants in Canada.

There is not a wholesale population exchange though, and the white population of Virginia remains majority English for a time. However, when the Puritans win the English Civil War, Virginia's ties to the French Crown strengthen, as both Royalist English refugees, and an increasing number of Frenchmen attracted by profits to be had in tobacco, emigrate into Virginia. Although there are many English, with the perceived profitability and temperateness of Virginia, a lot more French are attracted to the French North American colonies compared with OTL, cementing the dominant culture in the tidewater at least as French by the late 1600s.
 
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