How Do We Have France Win Out In The New World

[Ivan Lupo]

Perhaps the first son of Louis XI survives past childhood, so when marriage to Mary of Burgundy comes around, particularly if Charles the Bold does on schedule, the elder Louis' tone is more conciliatory to the Burgundians. ATL Louis the Younger and Mary leave one male heir, Charles, but both Mary and her son Charles outlive both Louis XI and Louis the Younger. Mary's son Charles becomes TTL's Charles VIII while Mary continues to rule Burgundy in her own name until she passes, leaving her entire Burgundian inheritance to a young, wealthy, ambitious, and forward-thinking alternate Charles VIII, who has little interest in Italian affairs and instead focuses all his energies on harnessing the wealth his combined lands.

Castile and Aragon can still unite into Spain and possibly still have Colombus in their own employ who still lands in the Caribbean nearly on schedule. With news of land to the west, TTL Charles VIII decides to send a much larger fleet out west. The Valois/Trastámara rivalry will come to define European politics for the next century as France and Spain jockey for advantage in the New World.

 

[Lusitania]

The only problem that no French exploration ship is going to sail to America by going along Iberian peninsula and canaries islands before going west.

remember that exploration of Atlantic was not know to France. It was known to those doing the exploration namely Portugal. Even Spain going blindly.

so any expedition of France is going west “blindly”. They would go straight west from France shipping and sailing center around Britany. You get them to get to reach Carolinas before turning north because ships were not strong and they follow currents and winds for a few days eventually reaching Long Island. Where they meet natives and sail back to France.

You can create a New France you want but do not force by making it unrealistic.

Here you get France to waiver a little about the new world until news reaches Paris of Vasco da gama expedition.

Now France more interested and claims new lands and sends out more expeditions. Within 10 years explorers go north to gulf of st Lawrence and down into carribean.

establish trade missions get colonist to the areas. Remember that Europeans die a lot in carribean and Carolinas. Iotl the southern British colonies only grew due New colonist arriving. Northern more suited to colonist.

have France slowly fight off both British and Spanish colonial and claims so that by 1600 it was the dominant power in carribean and North America with other two countries playing second to France. In the 1600s it expands into Mexico due to weakening Aztec and other tribes warring with each other.

have France continue to send colonist to North America especially northern climates that will support and grow european colonist early on. Get slaves from Africa for carribean plantation colonies.

Do not act or think like Spain. France is not Spain and cannot act like it or become Spain and have the same empire. Heck 9 out of 10 times Spain not accomplish what it did.

in Europe keep Spain weaker, have it be weakened so Spanish succession wars go differently so it not marry into Habsburg.

leave Austria and Spain under separate Kings and have France not be so involved in european wars.

therefore you need to read about French and Spanish european politics 1450-1600 to understand what was going on. You need to read about North American and carribean colonist attempts and better understanding of history.

your TL is going to be a combination of major changes in Europe with changes in American colonial exploration and settlement.

don’t kid yourself that you are in for few months of reading and learning. It took me over six months of research before I wrote my first TL. By writing i do not mean write few pages and publish no I mean write it on computer and keep writing. Write whole chapters and cover 20-50 years and then when you are writing later years and reading about a topic you realize oh crap what I wrote earlier not work and what you have to do is research more and go back and fix it. Then when you have a decent initial TL start posting 2-5 pages at time. Give people opportunity to read and critique. Don’t take offense to what they write and work it into the TL make changes as required.

Above all else have fun, enjoy what you like and keep it real.

 

[KingOnTheEdge]

I still have a while before I can really work on this but how could I have France handle the natives in a more populated new france? I doubt they'd go for total replacement like England did (because honestly why did England? They were the only ones and they only did it in America) but at the same time, would they do the actual race hierarchy in the americas that spain had?

Like obviously slavery does not bode well for Africans but how would Catholicised natives be treated?

 

[Lusitania]

I still have a while before I can really work on this but how could I have France handle the natives in a more populated new france? I doubt they'd go for total replacement like England did (because honestly why did England? They were the only ones and they only did it in America) but at the same time, would they do the actual race hierarchy in the americas that spain had?

Like obviously slavery does not bode well for Africans but how would Catholicised natives be treated?

Ok French, Spanish and English will look at Natives and Africans the exact same way.

The manner in which they are treated will depend on the economic activity of each colony. The northern colonies did not have slaves because the economy and type of colonist not warrant it.
Remember if Europeans will send indentured servants to work in the plantation and have serfs back home why would they treat others differently. Slavery of natives and sending to new world indentured servants was started from beginning in plantation type of colonies but rate in which the natives started dying due to work conditions and also European diseases soon had Europeans regardless of who they were looking for alternatives and the cheapest and closest group available was the Africans from west Africa. Every country established trading posts along the Grain, Ivory and Gold coast of West Africa to buy slaves not only for Americas but also for Europe. Also remember that natives could escape away from the European colonies, islands made that harder.

So the French will not treat the natives any differently. Another topic for you to research.