*Note-I know I've developed a habit of starting TL's and not finishing them. So be rest assured that I have an eight-page word file with this TL written out up to about 1870, and notes about how the 20th century will look. Comments and suggestions are, of course, welcome.*
1524: Giovanni da Verrazzano, an Italian navigator in the service of the French crown, discovers a large harbor (OTL New York Harbor) while exploring the east coast of North America. He names it
Nouvelle-Angouleme, in honor of King Francis I, whose ancestors had been Counts of Angouleme. In the following decades, independent French traders will begin visiting the northeastern coast, mostly looking for beaver and other fur-bearing animals
1561: Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, one of the most influential Huguenot leaders in France, has a dream-a French Huguenot colony, where his co-religionists can escape the persecution they now face in France. An
attempt to start such a colony in Brazil failed, so Coligny decided to try again. He considers Florida, but [POD] decides its too close to the Spanish, and that a colony positioned on the Saint Lawrence (
Fleuve Saint-Laurent) might be able to make money off the growing beaver trade. [IOTL, Florida became the focus of Coligny's colonization efforts, and they wound up falling victim to the Spanish]
1562: An expedition, financed by Coligny and led by Jean Ribault, navigates the
Saint-Laurent as far as their ocean-going ships can go, and lands at a spot the natives call "kebek". The colonists build a small enclosure, named "Charlesfort" after the French King Charles IX. However, Ribault is unable to arrange supplies, and the unexpectedly harsh winter takes a toll on the colony, as do problems with the local Indians. The next year, the survivors trade what little beaver pelts they've captured to a French ship for a ride back.
1564: Coligny finances another expedition of 200 Huguenot settlers, which land in the
Nouvelle Angouleme harbor in April. The settlers first order of business is to build a small wooden three-sided stockade,
Fort Angouleme, on the southern tip of the
Ile de Manata [Manhattan]. As per Coligny's instructions, the colonists don't disturb the local Lenape Indians, and in exchange for various trade items brought by the colonists (which the Lenape value far more than the French do), the Lenape are happy to give the colonists beaver pelts and food, and show them which crops to plant and how to farm. Coligny is able to arrange regular supplies, and though the first winter is rather hard for everyone, all the settlers make it through.
Etching of Fort Angouleme.
Throughout the rest of the 1560's, word spreads of the new colony, and despite the hardship involved, plenty of Huguenots are willing to sign on to escape the often precarious situations they experience in France. By 1572, the colony has a population of not quite 600, most living in small farms clustered around Fort Angouleme. The emerging settlement has come to be known as
Nouvelle Angouleme, after the fort and harbor.