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a) Columbus works for France in the 1490s. Let's assume he still takes a southern route and explores the west Indies before returning to Nantes.

Follow on explorers and adventures expand throughout the West Indies and in the 1st half of 1500s conquer the Aztecs.

French "Mehiqueax" would probably be a similar cash cow for France as it was for OTL Spain, with incalculable effects on the French and European economy.

As far as differences are concerned, the French may or may not take a more "academic"attitude toward at least recording and studying native cultures. I think the silver-mining focus of "Mehiqueax" and probably later "Peirou" would mean though there would be a regime of conquest and exploitation for those particular areas and we cannot assume France would use the more native-friendly style of its fur-trade focused North American colonies of OTL.

France, which always sent fewer settlers than England, would also send fewer than Spain to the Caribbean, Mesoamerica and the Andes. They would also probably be less interested in expanding beyond the core mining and plantation areas, with a higher chance of them ignoring the Riviere de la platte (Argentina/Uruguay), Orinoqueax (Venezuela) and Florida, Texas and California compared with OTL's Spanish empire.

It may be hard to seal the Americas off from Calvinist Hugenots, because "outbreaks" of reformist Protestant beliefs may happen among some French colonists in the West Indies and Mesoamerica very shortly after those ideas penetrate France, and before Paris has identified it as a threat to safeguard against.

On the other hand, a French central government swimming in silver might be in a position to crush and expel Huguenots much earlier than OTL.

b) Supposing the history of Columbus and the Conquistadors matches OTL, what if French explorers after Verrazzano stay focused on the eastern seaboard rather than get engrossed in the St. Lawrence Valley and Canada. So Cartier ends up exploring the Chesapeake, Delaware or Hudson Bays. Official French colonies on the Atlantic coast may well preempt similar english efforts and get established in the late 1500s or early 1600s.

The OTL USA east coast would develop with a much smaller European population and extensive French-Amerindian trade ties, especially in the fur trade. More temperate areas will probably somewhat attract more Frenchmen to the Atlantic coast than went to OTL Canada. Particularly in southern colonies where Frenchmen may see possibilities for wealth off of running plantations.

Meanwhile, the English may end up focused continuing on Newfoundland and be the first to penetrate the St. Lawrence, and from there, the American interior. I could picture a land grants for friends of the king in Illinois country for instance.

c) What if the Huguenot colonies in South Carolina (1560s) survived and succeeded. I have trouble determining whether they would be regarded as separate from Catholic France from their very point of origin (perhaps federating w/ Paris after the edict of Nantes, or not), or if, like Puritan and Separatist New England (Plymouth) they would be edgy, resistant but still basically loyal to France.

Huguenot predominance in France's American colonies could make Louis XIV hesitant to totally revoke the edict of Nantes, or he could deliberately encourage French Protestants to feel more welcome in the colonies than home. Even he would probably see it beyond his capabilities to suppress Protestantism totally both in France and the Americas.
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