WI: French Huguenot American colony

Reading about Fort Caroline on WP, I started wondering...what if the little venture had succeeded. Say, instead of trying to found a colony in Florida, so close to Spanish land, the colonists had instead opted for a safer spot on the eastern seaboard (I'm thinking New York Harbor-it had been discovered by and claimed by a French expedition in 1524, but they're weren't, AFAIK, any Spanish that far north, or indeed any Europeans until the Dutch showed up in the early 17th century).

Wherever the Huguenots go, a couple things come to mind...

-How many Huguenots might concievably choose to migrate to the colony in its formative years?

-Does the presence of an American Hugeunot settlement affect French decision making regarding the Huguenots? Say, after the Edict of Nantes is repealed, might Louis XIV choose to deport Huguenots to French New York (or whatever its called) rather than simply forcing them to immigrate?

-Culturally, how would a Huguenot American colony look? Sometime ago, I had a conversation (in PMs) with another user who suggested that, due to its resident's Calvinism, it would probably be a lot like New England with a French accent. Anyone have other ideas?

-When I was reading about the French Wars of Religion some time ago, one thing that jumped out at me was that, in the latter part of the 16th century, after the Huguenots knew they would now longer install one of their own as king, their political thought and internal government started to develop along distinctly...republican lines, questioning the absolute authority of monarchs and putting more emphasis on individual freedom and the idea of elected leadership. If (some of) the Huguenots now have the Atlantic Ocean between them and the French king, this might develop in interesting ways...
 
I wonder if you'd have an American-French alliance pull of as smoothly as it did OTL, I mean sure the French and the British weren't exactly best buddies but there may have been some degree of irrational resistance on the part of the Huguenots against the monarchy that had mistreated them, or things would have come off without a hitch, I find it hard to believe though that a colony of French exiles would drastically affect US history, I still think the US would be an English colony and I still think that aside from some minor differences there would still be a Seven Years War to make Britain impose heavier taxes upon the colonists and such.
 
I think you can look to my "Vive le Canada" TL to possibly see a good picture of how it could become or how to bring it about.

If a viable Huguenot colony could get into place I think it could attract a number of Huguenots, and give the French monarchy a good place to send them over the next two centuries. In OTL they mostly went for British America or to the Netherlands and Switz with their common religious buddies. On the average many Huguenots were of the growing middle class, so if they are able to bring over their skills and continue with them they could make the colony very wealthy. Probably with a good number of trading connections with the Dutch and England.

THough all in all I think, after the Ancien Regime starts to win greater political battles against the Huguenot enclaves in France they will forcibly deport them (see: la Rochelle), which will encourage them to pick up and leave earlier.

They could become a powerful center of the Enlightenment and Republican values in the US, especially if they gain better political self-government in the Americas or if they are forced under a boothill by France and would be a drawing point for early French thinkers in exile.

Most likely though the population would not be entierly Huguenot, and their would be a Catholic minority.
 
I wonder if you'd have an American-French alliance pull of as smoothly as it did OTL, I mean sure the French and the British weren't exactly best buddies but there may have been some degree of irrational resistance on the part of the Huguenots against the monarchy that had mistreated them, or things would have come off without a hitch, I find it hard to believe though that a colony of French exiles would drastically affect US history, I still think the US would be an English colony and I still think that aside from some minor differences there would still be a Seven Years War to make Britain impose heavier taxes upon the colonists and such.

Just to be clear, the OP is not about a bunch of French Huguenots settling in other country's colonies (that's OTL), rather, its about what would happen if the French government did to the Huguenots what the English government did to the Puritans and Pilgrims-let them establish organized settlements in the Americas, where they would have free practice of their religion but still be under the French flag. Unless Britain conquers it at a later date, it probably won't even be part of the US.
 
French Huguenot settlers were in the New Amsterdam colony in some numbers, particularly on Staten Island. Being of the Reformed faith, they were quite acceptable to the Dutch community. Many of the original families still survive on S.I., with names like LaForge, Manee (Manet) and Seguine.
 
It would lead to serious conflict bewteen the French and English.

Well, the thing is, if we take Fort Caroline (which was set up in 1564) being established in New York Harbor instead of Florida as the POD, then there won't be any English in North America. Jamestown won't be founded until 1609, and Plymouth until 1620. Methinks that English colonization will be quite different with a 40 year old French colony in New York*. In particular, 40 years will probably be enough time for the French to explore, claim, and possibly even establish small settlements on the surrounding coastline (up to Maine I guess, and down the New Jersey coast), so if Plymouth still gets founded, it will likely not be in New England, and if it is, it might end with a bunch of French militia showing up and telling the Pilgrims to get lost.

One thing I'm wondering about-would the French allow non-French Calvinists (say, from the Netherlands or England) to immigrate to their Huguenot colony? And if not, would the French crown be able to do anything meaningful to stop it?

*The French would probably call the initial colony New Angouleme. Once several more settlements become established, I think France's North American possessions would collectively become known as New France.
 
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One thing I'm wondering about-would the French allow non-French Calvinists (say, from the Netherlands or England) to immigrate to their Huguenot colony? And if not, would the French crown be able to do anything meaningful to stop it?

I think their would be, I think the King of France would be delighted to crush the Huguenots and impose restrictions if they acted up. I wouldn't be surprised if it would happen anyway-if so the Huguenots could see themselves pushed inland and getting allies with the Native Americans to push out the Catholic French. If the French Huguenots can gurantee a supply of goods they want, so maybe the Huguenots will use their Dutch connections to bring them into the affair-which may lead to the English joinning in and protecting the French Huguenots and establishing a protectorate over em.
 
I think their would be, I think the King of France would be delighted to crush the Huguenots and impose restrictions if they acted up. I wouldn't be surprised if it would happen anyway-if so the Huguenots could see themselves pushed inland and getting allies with the Native Americans to push out the Catholic French. If the French Huguenots can gurantee a supply of goods they want, so maybe the Huguenots will use their Dutch connections to bring them into the affair-which may lead to the English joinning in and protecting the French Huguenots and establishing a protectorate over em.

Well, the thing is, New Angouleme is going to be rather...unimportant for the French, at least economically. Its main export product will be furs, and I don't know if it would be all that much of them, especially once all the beavers near the colony have been hunted down and they start having to look further afield. The French crown will probably see it, first and foremost, as a place to dump all those pesky Huguenots so they don't cause trouble for France and don't go work for France's enemies. It probably won't see more than a few ships from France a year, and as long as it doesn't cause any trouble and pays a little bit of tax on the fur trade, it will probably get left alone-especially outside the main settlement in New York Harbor*.

*The two OTL attempts at setting up a Huguenot colony in Florida were named Charlesfort and Fort Caroline, both after the French King Charles, so I imagine something similar ITTL...Charlesbourg, maybe?

EDIT: I might add here that IOTL, except for a brief period in the late 16th century, the French really didn't care so much about their possessions on the North American mainland-they didn't place all that many resources into building them up, didn't go out of their way to attract settlers, and a very lackadaisical colonial administration, and in the end, happily gave up every bit of their North American empire to protect their (much more pofitable) Caribbean sugar islands. I think didn't care is probably going to be the French attitude towards any Huguenot colony as well, except a Huguenot colony would have a steady stream of new arrivals wanting to get away from religious persecution in France. I imagine the colony would mostly end up running itself, at least for its first few decades.
 
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