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 Say, after the Edict of Nantes is repealed, might Louis XIV choose to deport Huguenots to French New York (or whatever its called) rather than simply forcing them to immigrate?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...
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 Say, after the Edict of Nantes is repealed, might Louis XIV choose to deport Huguenots to French New York (or whatever its called) rather than simply forcing them to immigrate?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...