There's the whole Delaware River to consider as well, and crossing it may not be that easy.
La Floride: A French Huguenot Colony in North America
- Thread starter PGSBHurricane
- Start date
Alright, I should expect to post this new chapter by tomorrow or Wednesday. All I have to do is make some necessary edits and revisions.
Chapter Nine: The English, the Dutch, and The Fight for Henry Hudson
Chapter Nine: The English, the Dutch, and The Fight for Henry Hudson
When the Separatists decided to leave La Floride in 1617, they immediately recognized their options. The two that immediately came to mind were the Caribbean islands or somewhere in Virginia, with the latter being preferred because of its nearby location, greater security and trade opportunity, and far fewer tropical diseases. William Bradford soon sent Robert Cushman and John Carver were sent to England to solicit a land patent to settle near the North Bay region, with a plan allaying their concerns of social, political, and religious conflicts, but still having the benefits of being close to an established colony. Negotiations were delayed because of internal conflict within the London Company, but a patent was secured in June 1619. A charter was granted in exchange for the Separatists giving up the right for their religion to receive official recognition. Operations stalled for some time because of the London Company’s continued ongoing problems. English merchant Thomas Weston proposed to resolve these delays by suggesting a settlement north of Virginia proper, in New Plymouth (what he called New England) but this was rejected as both the Separatists negotiators and London Company came to the understanding that it was intended for the area explored by Henry Hudson to be claimed before the Dutch could establish themselves. Amid all this, William Brewster was in Scotland entangled in religious unrest caused by the promulgation of the Five Articles of Perth.
Of course, not everyone in the congregation could depart due to the long travel and limited supply budget. It was decided that the initial settlers primarily be the younger and stronger members of the congregation, with the remainder agreeing to follow later if possible. John Robinson would remain in La Floride with the larger portion of the congregation, and William Brewster was to lead the rest to Virginia. Membership would be automatically granted for members who moved between either the Floride or Virginia locations. Two ships were procured, one for bringing some number of passengers over to North Bay (plus for fishing and support services) and another for transport and exploration services. With everything settled, the ships embarked in July 1620 with 120 passengers and sighted land on August 15. After believing they reached the mouth of the North River, they learned this was not their intended landing spot though, as turbulent winds shifted their path to the east. However, they confirmed that the area they landed at was a small island near a much bigger island (which was later determined to be Lange Eylant), also within the boundaries of Virginia. After surveying the area, they attempted to sail towards the North River but the ship was anchored at the island on September 6, 1620. They named the small island they landed on Plymouth Island. They soon moved to the larger island and named their area Plymouth. With help from the Natives, the Pilgrims survived the winter but a third of them did not.
The English were far from the only ones vying for control over the mouth of the North River. The Dutch had been on the radar since 1609 with the voyage of the Halve Maen to the area headed by Henry Hudson. Hudson named the River the Mauritius River (later renamed the North River). Instead of finding the Northwest Passage for the Dutch East Indian Company as originally intended, he brought back intrigue about the possibility of Dutch beaver exploitation in the region. In Europe, beaver pelts were highly prized because they were used to make waterproof hats. An additional byproduct of beaver pelts trade in beaver pelts was the castoreum gland which was used for medicine and perfumes. Between 1611 and 1614, another set of expeditions by Dutch Navigator Adriaen Block resulted in the surveying and charting of the region between the 38th and 45th parallels. On the map created in 1614, the newly discovered and mapped territory was named New Netherland. The year 1614 was significant because the Dutch set up their first year-round trading post in New Netherland at Fort Nassau, almost 150 miles from the Mouth of North Bay, along with the Block being the first European to navigate the Hellegat and to enter The Devil’s Belt. From there, he entered the River of Red Hills and the Fresh River, reaching the eventual location of Huys de Hoop. He went on to charter Block Island and reached the Narragansett Bay, where it is speculated named the area "Roode Eylandt" after the red clay soil color on its beaches.
The heart of New Netherland, of course, was New Amsterdam. New Netherland was a private, profiteering enterprise aimed at cementing trade alliances with various Native American ethnic groups. This would be no different for what would soon become New Amsterdam. After months of surveying and exploration of the region, the mouth of the North River was selected as the most optimal place settlement as it had easy access to the ocean while also being ice-free. In 1621, After the Dutch West India Company was founded in 1621, orders were given for private traders to vacate in order to open up the territory for the Dutch and for the law of Holland to apply. In May 1624, thirty families of settlers bound for New Netherland arrived on Noten Eylandt on the ship New Netherland commanded by Cornelius Jacobsen May, some dispersed to other nearby areas but most stayed within the vicinity. A fort and sawmill were constructed at Noten Eylandt. By the end of 1625, a site had been staked out for the Dutch at the lower end of Manhattan Island for a more permanent settlement at the discretion of New Netherland director Willem Verhulst. This would be named Fort Amsterdam or New Amsterdam. Tribal warfare in the North River Valley led the Dutch West India Company to relocate even more settlers to Fort Amsterdam. Ultimately, colonization was so expensive that it led to a scaling back of the original plans by 1628 and the Dutch realized they had to step up their colonization game soon.
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Here is a quick list of TTL equivalents
Plymouth Island = Gardiner's Island, NY
Plymouth = East Hampton, NY
North Bay = Hudson Bay
North River = Hudson River
Lange Eylant = Long Island
Fort Nassau = Albany, NY
Hellegat = Hell Gate
The Devil’s Belt = Long Island Sound
River of Red Hills = Housatonic River
Fresh River = Connecticut River
Noten Eylandt = Governer's Island
Plymouth Island = Gardiner's Island, NY
Plymouth = East Hampton, NY
North Bay = Hudson Bay
North River = Hudson River
Lange Eylant = Long Island
Fort Nassau = Albany, NY
Hellegat = Hell Gate
The Devil’s Belt = Long Island Sound
River of Red Hills = Housatonic River
Fresh River = Connecticut River
Noten Eylandt = Governer's Island
Perhaps the Dutch could decide to be more competitive than IOTL since the English are already in southern New Jersey and Eastern Long Island.
Map of La Floride Circa 1630
Ahead of the new update, here is a map of La Florida circa 1630 or so. It's far from perfect so I apologize.
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La Caroline = Green
Nouvelle-Normandie = Light Blue
Nouvelle-Bourgogne = Brown
I changed the borders somewhat from their original incarnation so to make it appear more natural to me. Though I might make a couple additional adjustments based on feedback from myself as well as others.
The border is at the St. Mary's River like OTL Florida and Georgia. The border between Nouvelle-Normandie and Nouvelle-Bourgogne is now at the Chechesee River (see my revised map above).
I just revised the map because ultimately I wasn't a fan of the original since it had less regard for non-OTL boundaries and the capital.
Chapter Eleven: Great Migration, Great Growth, and Great Progress
Chapter Eleven: Great Migration, Great Growth, and Great Progress
The 1620s and 1630s was a period of key development in the European colonization of North America, particularly for European powers outside the Iberian Peninsula. Up until then, colonization was seen as experimental in nature and a huge risk considering the nervousness from a high likelihood of failure. For all Europeans, the primary goals of colonization were finding gold and glory in the form of profit, trying to discover a passage to the Pacific Ocean to reach the East Indies, and converting the indigenous peoples to Christianity. There were also additional motives for each European power. For the English at Little Egg Harbor and the colony of Upper Virginia as a whole to the tip of Cape May, the settlements were established with the goal to harass Spanish shipping. In the Outer Banks and Lower Chesapeake Bay region (which took over as the most important area of Lower Virginia by 1619), there was an additional emphasis on what essentially amounted to the thrill of adventure and simply starting a new life from nothing in the Old World. For the Separatist Puritans at Plymouth and Plymouth Island, it was a matter of avoiding religious persecution. This was likewise true for the French Huguenots who had initially escaped to Charlesfort and have continued since 1562. For the Catholic French, their motives were creating trade posts for the lucrative fur trade and trade with the natives while some French Missionaries came along to help conversion to Catholicism.
Following the success of the Virginia and Plymouth Colonies, several more English groups established colonies in the region that became known as New England. In 1622, the new Council of New England (the de facto successor of the Plymouth Company) created a new charter to allow the creation of fishing colonies near Plymouth. The first was 35 km west of Plymouth on the southern shores of the Devil’s Belt. A second project, called Fishers Island (or Vischer’s Island), was founded with backing from the Dorchester Company about 40 kilometers away. While there was success with fishing, it was not conducive for farming so it was relocated in 1626 to the northern side of The Devil’s Belt and was named Nameaug or “Fish country.” A third colony was founded on Block Island, which was arguably the most successful. Soon, a new wave of colonists came to the area, most of whom were Puritans who believed they needed to purify the Church of England away from England. In 1628, the Council for New England (which included investors from the former Dorchester Company) issued a land grant for territory within 3 miles of the Pequot and Quinebaug Rivers to the west and Narragansett Bay in the east. A new charter issued by Charles I superseded the land grant and established a legal basis for the new English colony. Under the governorship of John Winthrop, a flotilla set sail from England in April 1630 with 700 colonists and landed their ship on the waters of Narragansett Bay in Roode Eylandt.
The 1620s were a tumultuous time in France for the Huguenots, as the three Huguenot rebellions, sometimes called the Rohan War, were raging at this period. The first Huguenot rebellion was triggered in 1620 by the re-establishment of Catholic rights and the military annexation of Béarn to France in 1620 and replacing the government with one where only Catholics could sit. Huguenots gathered at La Rochelle on December 25, 1620, where a decision was taken to defy the Crown wherever they could. In 1621, Louis XIII moved to eradicate the rebellion, climaxing in the Siege of Nègrepelisse in 1622 where all its population was massacred. The Treaty of Montpelier put an end to those hostilities, but a second rebellion broke out in February 1625 when Fort Louis (near La Rochelle) was fortified. The city of La Rochelle voted to support this in August, but it was soon crushed. The Treaty of Paris (1626) preserved Huguenot religious freedom but imposed restrictions such as the prohibition of a naval fleet in La Rochelle. The third rebellion was sparked by English intervention which encouraged upheaval against the French Monarchy. The English, led by George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, landed on Île de Ré in June 1627 before unsuccessfully sieging Saint-Martin-de-Ré. The English retreated and the French Royalists sieged La Rochelle where residents resisted for over a year before an unconditional surrender. With the Peace of Alais, the Huguenots were left to the mercy of the monarchy.
The 1620s and 1630s marked a great migration for both French Huguenots and English colonists (particularly Puritans). With the Puritans, more than 20,000 came to present-day New England, with most arriving in southern New England. The Huguenots saw a similar level of migration to La Floride in response to the Huguenot rebellions of the 1620s and the aftermath of the Peace of Alais. In 1631, there were approximately 18,000 Huguenots in La Floride, matching the Huguenot population of La Rochelle. In 1628, 33 families established the town of La Nouvelle-Rochelle over 80 km away from Charlesfort. As more Huguenots arrived, Dutch and German farmers emigrated either back to Europe or to New Netherland. Unfortunately, a growing number of African slaves took their place in not only La Floride, but the North American colonies as a whole. This was particularly notorious in the Caribbean after the 1630s when the Dutch brought sugarcane from their South American colonies to the Caribbean Sea. In 1623, the English began colonizing the West Indies in earnest with St. Christopher (Saint Kitts) followed by Barbados in 1627 (which would be used as a base for English colonization). That in turn was followed by Nevis in 1628, Antigua and Montserrat in 1632, and this would just be the beginning. Meanwhile, the French too colonized St. Kitts and split the island with the English in 1625, using their part as a base to colonize the larger Guadalupe and Martinique in 1635 and eventually other Caribbean possessions.
Author's Note:
1) Even though OTL Long Island is technically part of Virginia, it will gravitate towards New England over time. The dissolution of the Virginia Company in 1624 and the new boundaries set under the charter by Charles I (much like OTL) certainly help this.
2) Once the London Company dissolved, La Floride and Virginia soon settled their border dispute, which will be followed up on soon.
1) Even though OTL Long Island is technically part of Virginia, it will gravitate towards New England over time. The dissolution of the Virginia Company in 1624 and the new boundaries set under the charter by Charles I (much like OTL) certainly help this.
2) Once the London Company dissolved, La Floride and Virginia soon settled their border dispute, which will be followed up on soon.
If the Huguenots were anything like their Catholic counterparts, their treatment of the North American indigenous peoples will be better than they would under British rule, that's for sure. I will expand upon this in the future, though.
I imagine so. After all, the British’s treatment and interaction with the natives seem to be also based on British island culture and the mentality there.
Huguenots I think would do better than even the French Catholics out of a sense of feel targeted by the same sort of foes and I imagine a bit of indigenous beliefs or influences may bleed into Huguenot Protestantism over time, especially if they establish a state church like Denmark or Norway did.