The French Arrival and Settlers

In 1604, the first European colonization north of Florida was established by French arrivals Pierre de Monts and Samuel de Champlain, first on St. Croix Island (in present-day Maine), then at Port-Royal, in Acadia (present-day Nova Scotia).

In 1608 Champlain built a fortress at what is now Quebec City. The colonists struggled in the harsh climate.

Champlain built the colony using the Algonquin, Montagnais and Huron peoples, which were the historic enemies of the Iroquois: a confederation of five (later six) First Nations who battled with the French colonization and its collaborators for a century.

The Iroquois were finally overcome into making peace in 1701.

The French, using Aboriginal people, engaged in the vast fur-trade economy, driven by the demand for beaver pelts in Europe.

French imperial leaders and settlers like Jean Talon, Bishop Laval and Count Frontenac imposed and built a French Empire in North America that reached from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico.
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