WI: An early New France

That is certainly a possibility, but only if New Angoulesme has remained a French colony. IOTL, the English took Québec in 1628/1629, at a time Louis XIII and Richelieu had laid siege to La Rochelle, the last bastion of Protestants in France. That political and religious meaning could potentially cause more politically sensible New Angoulesme colony to defect.
 
That's adopting a very protestant-centric approach. New Angouleme-New York would not necessarily at all have been settled by huguenots if the french had founded a colony there as early as Verazzano, that is as early as the 1520's.

French king Francis I was quite tolerant on religious matters, before the affair of the placards. It was quite undestandable since his sister Margareth was protestant friendly, that her religiosity was at least very close to calvinist protestantism and that her daughter Joan and her grandson, future king Henry IV, were protestant.
 
Verrazano did only discover and explore the area. The POD about him wintering here to repair damages to his ships is just to make the site known when Coligny has to decide where to set his planned colony. New Angoulesme is founded as an independent Huguenot venture and would likely remain mostly protestant with refugees of civil war.

But settlers of other colonies, Acadia and Saint Laurent valley is made more of Catholics and loyalists to the crown. After Champlain would explore the Great Lakes and Mississippi valley, there would be settlement in the Ohio valley initiated by Richelieu to grow cash crops such as tobacco, with a port created in the delta named Richelieu after the Cardinal, on the OTL site of New Orleans.

Aside of that, Henri IV will promote settlement, but without preference; still, since Catholics are much less to emigrate, Catholics are likely to be the most lobbied.
 
It seems that most of the threads which concern a bigger/earlier New France are focusing on the same recurrent idea: Protestants fleeing persecution.
I beleive that it's more related to the mental blockage that no one can conceive a Catholic North America. It's stuck in our mental conscience that only protestants could and would colonize that land, no mater from were they come...

Yes, protestants founding initial colonies could create a good start. But those colonies remains Protestant... :confused:

Had the 13 Colonies and USA become Puritan/s state/s?
 
It seems that most of the threads which concern a bigger/earlier New France are focusing on the same recurrent idea: Protestants fleeing persecution.
I beleive that it's more related to the mental blockage that no one can conceive a Catholic North America. It's stuck in our mental conscience that only protestants could and would colonize that land, no mater from were they

For France it's more that protestant did flee the country and Richelieu banned them from going to New France. Instead they went, with their money and know-how, in the UK, Netherland and Germany.

So, it's a rather easy PoD
 
It might look as protestan biased, but it was a consequence of making Cartier colony being successfull, leading to Coligny being more likely to select a safe spot as New Angoulesme, which in turn boosts settlement of St Laurent valley.

In fact, my idea of having New Angoulesme defecting to the English in 1628/1629 was to avoid the New France being too affected by it. The main thing is that the headstart given to French Canada and Lousiana is providing for a demographic help against English colonies.
 
For France it's more that protestant did flee the country and Richelieu banned them from going to New France. Instead they went, with their money and know-how, in the UK, Netherland and Germany.

So, it's a rather easy PoD

I think this is pure extrapolation and syllogism to believe that the french protestants wanted to leave France because that's what happened with many british protestants (although Maryland was settled by catholics).



In the 16th century, the protestants did not want to leave France. They wanted to gain power and some way convert by force the rest of the country to their version of christianism. Many of them were no less intolerant fanatics than many of the catholics. It's only when they lost the political struggle for domination in France that some of them began having an interest for settling other territories. But the fact is that they much more prefered going to the United Provinces or to England or to Switzerland or to a protestant german State than going to America.

And in fact, it is much later that a large share of french protestants left their country. It was in the years following 1685 when Louis XIV cancelled many of the rights and protections that his grandfather had guaranteed to protestants and that he began some kind of persecution. What is less known is that most of these persecutions were stopped after Louis XIV's death, that a large share of protestants never left France and that a significant share of those who had left came back.
 
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