Why didn’t France do anything related to the Americas till Verrazano in the 1520s?

Why did France hold off so much longer than England?

  • Distracted by the Italian wars

    Votes: 14 82.4%
  • The French court had less money to burn than the English in the 1490s

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Because the English quit right after Cabot, if English played more, France might have moved earlier

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • The French had a smaller merchant fleet enterprise than English or Iberians

    Votes: 2 11.8%
  • The French had more geographical skepticism about westward trade routes

    Votes: 1 5.9%

  • Total voters
    17

raharris1973

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Within a decade of Columbus’s discoveries and return, Portugal and England got into the American exploration game. The Dutch did not get into the game in the 1500s, but I will give them a pass because they were not an independent country yet. Yet France did not make a move until the 1520s with its sponsorship of the Verrazano voyage. It’s been said that the French wars of religion distracted France from external expansion big time in the 1500s, but the French wars or religion were not a thing I think until the latter half of the 1500s.



Poll - Why did France hold off so much longer than England?



a) Distracted by the Italian wars

b) The French court had less money to burn than the English in the 1490s

c) Because the English quit right after Cabot, had the English played more, France might have felt more like competing.

d) The French had a smaller merchant fleet enterprise than English or Iberians

e) The French had more geographical skepticism about westward trade routes
 
Because chartering ships is expensive and before 1519 nobody had found anything super worth France's time and money. In retrospect it lacks vision but I suppose it's kind of like asking why France didn't start a space program in the 50's. Because it's not terribly useful and it costs a lot of money.

England already had to sail everywhere so what the hell, send a couple west.

At least that sounds about as reasonable to me as any other reason.
 
France is a continental power.
The Iberian started it and are protected by the Pyrenees. The English are an island.

The French have to protect their land.

Plus, François Ier wasn't that good and was quite derisive about the Iberians, calling the Portuguese king the grocer king for example
 
The Italian Wars were massive undertakings, and were also part of a much broader Habsburg-Valois conflict. On the other hand, Henry VII was not particularly warlike (unlike his son), and was very focused on improving the English treasury; supporting a group of English merchants in a few of their own ventures (which they were helping pay for) was much more reasonable. England was more or less a bit player in continental affairs at this point (they sent a few armies across the Channel, but never in particularly large numbers, and were easy to buy off), so France wasn't concerned about English exploration. Meanwhile, Spanish exploration didn't really become massively profitable until the conquest of Mexico in 1521 (Portugal had started making money somewhat earlier, but that's less concerning)...at which point Francis I sent out Verrazzano within a few years.
 
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