I forgot to mention this in the update itself, but France seized Spanish Florida in the Franco-Spanish War, and San Agustín is now Saint-Augustin.
English Canada/French Carolina: A Timeline
- Thread starter Gabingston
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Part 6: I can't come up with a good title
Part 6: I can’t come up with a good title
While the French colonies in the Southeast were getting off the ground, the English and Scottish colonies were flourishing in the Northeast. As the stream of settlers continued into Nova Scotia, the Scottish settlers founded new towns like Saint John, New Falkirk, Pesacid, Riversbend and Naymche. By 1700 the population of Nova Scotia had grown to nearly 40,000 people, fueled by large emigration during the troubled times of the 1690s. Canada was also surging in population, growing from 25,000 in 1675 to 52,000 in 1700. With cold winters and abundant pastures, Nova Scotia and Canada were perfect for sheep farming, and soon wool was the primary export from those two colonies. The cold also killed any disease that would limit population growth, so fertility rates were sky-high and mortality rates were lower than back in Europe. Scottish colonists were spreading around the Bay of Fundy and south shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, while English colonists were flooding the St. Lawrence river valley, with new settlements such as Williamstown, Chauenigan, Cheltenham and Riverbend. I can’t come up with anything to write next, so I’ll just stop it right here.
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How much immigration/settlement should the French colony of La Floride (Carolinas + Georgia + Florida as of now) receive? Would it receive more settlers than the paltry amount French Canada received (about 10,000 in total)? France, being the most populous country in Europe sure has the manpower and resources, but IOTL it didn't invest a lot in settler colonies like the English did, which is why only Quebec speaks French in North America today. However, with a greater profitability motive in the cash-crop growing south, maybe that alone would draw more French settlers to the new world than IOTL.
If the colony is actually profitable it should get more people than Quebec did and if France bothers to ship people over they will get boatloads of colonists assuming good things are said about the colony in France.
The question is whether France will actually bother to ship people over, unlike OTL.
Also I have questions about the sheep-producing capabilities of Canada and Nova Scotia. What exactly is the source of the "abundant pastures"? I was under the impression that, at the time of contact, the area was pretty heavily forested. Certainly there would be some grassy areas, but they would probably mostly be marshland, which is not quite as good for herds of animals as firm-surface grassland would be.
The settlers could be clearing land for pasture, but the amount of land you'd have to clear to support a flock of sheep would be too much for a single shepherd to do on his own..... Clearing land with slash-and-burn farming, and then switching to pasture once the soil loses fertility seems more feasible, but would be unsustainable and was not something English or Scottish settlers would have experience with.
Or, what seems more likely in my mind is that the "abundant pasture" is actually abandoned farmland. In the upper St Lawrence Valley and lower Great Lakes, thr Native people at the time of Cartier were farmers and had cleared fairly extensive areas of land. By the time of Champlain, these people were gone, but I'm not sure how long it took for the farms to get reforested...
One other interesting point I'd like to make about sheep is that you'd probably see the Iroquois (or other Natives in the areas depending on the alliance systems) capture herds of sheep in their raids, and in doing so learn how to take care of them. Sheep herding (and using their wool for cloth) is actually something that would be a great economic benefit to all the agrocultural Natives of the eastern woodlands as they were dependent on hides for their clothing, and often times had to migrate when hunting grounds were depleted. This could allow the transformation of some of those hunting grounds into pasture and could create a transformation of Native culture as great as that caused by the introduction of the horse farther West.
The settlers could be clearing land for pasture, but the amount of land you'd have to clear to support a flock of sheep would be too much for a single shepherd to do on his own..... Clearing land with slash-and-burn farming, and then switching to pasture once the soil loses fertility seems more feasible, but would be unsustainable and was not something English or Scottish settlers would have experience with.
Or, what seems more likely in my mind is that the "abundant pasture" is actually abandoned farmland. In the upper St Lawrence Valley and lower Great Lakes, thr Native people at the time of Cartier were farmers and had cleared fairly extensive areas of land. By the time of Champlain, these people were gone, but I'm not sure how long it took for the farms to get reforested...
One other interesting point I'd like to make about sheep is that you'd probably see the Iroquois (or other Natives in the areas depending on the alliance systems) capture herds of sheep in their raids, and in doing so learn how to take care of them. Sheep herding (and using their wool for cloth) is actually something that would be a great economic benefit to all the agrocultural Natives of the eastern woodlands as they were dependent on hides for their clothing, and often times had to migrate when hunting grounds were depleted. This could allow the transformation of some of those hunting grounds into pasture and could create a transformation of Native culture as great as that caused by the introduction of the horse farther West.
I was thinking land clearings, insert joke about the Scottish being sheep shaggers.
Any suggestions for how the mouth of the Mississippi will be discovered ITTL? IRL it was discovered from French explorers coming down from Canada, but Canada isn't French ITTL, so how it is discovered? The mouth of the Mississippi is surrounded by swamps, so it's hard to tell where it is (hence why a French settlement party missed it by 300 miles and landed in Texas IOTL).
Part 7: Missions
Part 7: Missions
After losing their colony in Canada, France now had a colony up and running along the Florida Coast. By 1670, the colony had grown to over 11,000 French settlers (and presumably thousands of African slaves). They’d seized San Agustin from the Spanish and were founding new settlements like Marennes (named for a town in Saintonge, where many of the settlers came from), Baie-des-Crevettes (named for the abundant shrimp in the bay), Île-Saint-Simon (which secured the coast between Nouvelle-Charlesfort and Saint-Augustin), Fort Caroline (which had been a French Huguenot colony in the 1560’s, but was destroyed by the Spanish) and Port Saint-Lucie (the furthest south the French would settle for quite a while). French settlers lived off of growing tobacco (using African slaves, of course
) and growing Corn for food, although as previously malaria and yellow fever were constant challenges, as well as English and Spanish piracy. In the meantime, the King gave another order: convert the natives. Ville-Marie had been founded as a religious mission, and many of the natives had been converted in the area, but make disciples of all nations, right? Thus, missionaries went off into the interior to make disciples of the natives, but also exploring as a side effect. The first mission of Saint-Denis was founded in 1662, being the first major inland settlement in La Floride. Aside from missionaries, a small garrison was brought there for defense, as well as farmers to grow wheat and grapes for the communion. A second mission, Saint-Pierre-des-Chutes was founded to the north near the unofficial border with the English colonies, which made the English just slightly uncomfortable. Priest Jacques Marquette explored further inland up the Rivière Saint-Jean, eventually reaching a large mountain range and making contacts with a tribe called the Salaguis.
In the meantime, the French had heard of a great river leading to the Gulf of Mexico, so what else to do but search for the mouth of the river? The French did reach a great river leading to the Gulf, founding an outpost called Fort Saint-Esprit at the mouth, which was the first French colony on the Gulf of Mexico. However, after further exploration it was determined that the Rivière Saint-Esprit musn’t be the great river, and more expeditions were sent out in the following years.
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Part 8: 1700
Part 8: 1700
Alas, a new century had dawned upon the world. It was now the 18th century, and both the English, Scottish and French had been in North America for almost a hundred years. The English were thriving in Virginia, New England and Canada, the Scottish had their colony of Nova Scotia, while the French were growing wealthy off of the cash crops of La Floride. The French level of colonization dropped off after 1675, but a ship or two of colonists arrived each year (except for a few years of the 1690’s when France was struck by famine). Meanwhile, the English colonization continued at a steady clip, with the largest amount heading to Virginia, but the fastest population growth occurred in New England and Canada due to the lower mortality rates. The English were expanding down to Lake Pibago, with Fort Ticonderoga being a supply center between the Hudson River and St. Lawrence River.
Fur trappers continued to explore the Great Lakes, hearing from the natives about a quick passage from Lake Michigan to the Great River from a place called Chicago. British traders explored OTL’s Midwest, founding forts and trading posts along the way, while the French expanded more along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, establishing settlements such as Fort Bilocci, Baye Sainte-Rose and Saint-Germain. The French discovered the mouth of the great river, which they found was called the Mississippi, and they founded the fort of La Balize at the mouth. Despite repeated hurricanes, the fort was needed to control the mouth of what was discovered to be the longest river in North America. Anyway, border disputes between France and England continued, and each side attempted to secure alliances and partnerships with the natives and build forts and trading posts across the center of this vast continent.
Part 9: Exploration of the Interior
Part 9: Exploration of the Interior
In the 18th century, both the British and the French were exploring the interior of North America. The British influence over the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley was being secured, as the British established forts such as Fort Michilimackinac, Fort Bawitigong, Fort Lakesend, Fort Sandusty and Fort Gaminstigwea in the Great Lakes, and Fort Cumberland and Fort Kensington on the Ohio River. Explorer John Lawson played a big role in mapping the Ohio River valley, as well as finding passes across the Appalachians. Meanwhile, France continued to explore the southern part of North America, founding forts across the hinterland like Fort Jolliet, Fort Frontenac, Fort Ocmulqui, Fort Palluau and Fort Toulouse. Meanwhile, with the mouth of the Mississippi being under French control, they could explore up the river for places to settle. Further up the river along a large coastal lake, the French found a perfect place to found a trade center, and thus La Nouvelle-Orléans was founded. A series of outposts were constructed upstream along the Mississippi and rivers feeding into it, such as Baton Rouge, Natchitoches, Fort Rosalie and Fort De L’Assomption. The French forts generally had a small garrison (a few dozen men), a few priests and missionaries, and merchants to trade with the natives. In general, the British had more influence north of the 36th parallel, while the French had more influence south.