Hugenot and New France

I don't know if it is a realistic scenario but WI hugenot had been allowed to settle in New France (or sent to it) by the Royalty?
 

Hendryk

Banned
There could be a way. In OTL, Henry II had granted Admiral Nicolas de Villegagnon the right to establish a Protestant colony in the New World in 1555. The chosen location was in southern Brazil, but for various reasons the attempt failed.

Now, Jacques Cartier had claimed what would become Lower Canada on behalf of the French Crown in 1534, and the latter began looking for ways to send settlers to the colony from 1540. The POD could be that Villegagnon is sent to settle New France rather than Brazil. If the colony holds, it could become a place of refuge for the Huguenots during the Wars of Religion, a development facilitated by the fact that La Rochelle, one of the main French ports on the Atlantic, was a Protestant stronghold.
 

Tellus

Banned
It seems realistic to me; the British after all allowed all their religious minorities to settle in America, and it got them a larger territory and a greater population...

The french kings' decisions to allow only catholics to go to the colonies is probably one of their greatest mistakes. IIRC, British policy actually encouraged those with unorthodox religious practices to migrate to the new world; is that not a large part of why the American South is largely "ultra-religious" nowadays, still?

If France adopts a similar policy, her sprawling north American colonies won't be outnumbered 15 to 1 come the Seven Years War, and she may hold on more easily to more coastal territories. (I seem to recall a few southern French colonies failed due to lack of colonists...) The butterflies are nearly endless, really.

You could end up with a larger, entirely French Canada.
 
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