Canada, New France
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Canada was the name of the French colony that once stretched along the St. Lawrence River; the other colonies of New France were Acadia, Louisiana and Newfoundland. Canada, the most developed colony of New France, was divided in three districts named Québec, Trois-Rivières, and Montréal. Each section of the colony had its own government. The governor of Québec was also the governor general of Canada and all of New France.
Because the capital of Canada (Quebec City) was also the capital of New France, and because of the level of development of Canada compared to the other colonies, the terms "Canada" and "New France" were often used interchangeably. After the Treaty of Paris of 1763, when France ceded Canada to Great Britain, the colony was renamed the Province of Quebec.
In 1740, a survey of the population of the St. Lawrence River valley counted about 44,000 colonists, the majority born in Canada. Of those, 18,000 lived under the government of Québec, 4,000 under the government of Trois-Rivières and 22,000 under the government of Montréal. The population was mostly rural, cities having populations of 4600 for Québec, 378 for Trois-Rivières and 4200 for Montréal.
Dependent upon Canada were the Pays d'en Haut (upper countries), a vast territory north and west of Montreal, covering the whole of the Great Lakes and stretching as far into the North American continent as the French had explored. North of the Great Lakes, a mission, Sainte-Marie among the Hurons, was established in 1639. Following the destruction of the Huron homeland in 1649, the French destroyed the mission themselves and left the area. In what are today Ontario and the western prairies, various trading posts and forts were built such as Fort Kaministiquia (1679), Fort Frontenac (1673), Fort St. Pierre (1731), Fort St. Charles (1732) and Fort Rouillé (1750).
The only French settlements in the Pays d'en Haut were located south of the Great Lakes, around the Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit (1701), Fort Michilimackinac (1715), Fort de Chartres (1720) and Fort Ticonderoga (1755). That part of the Pays d'en Haut, named the Pays des Illinois (Illinois countries), was eventually annexed to Louisiana around 1717.
Today, the Les Pays-d'en-Haut is a regional county municipality in the Laurentides region of Quebec.
In ways such as law, customs and the cultural aspects of the population, the modern successor of Canada is the province of Quebec, which can create confusion with the current Canadian federation of the same name, or the historical Province of Canada. Also, distinction from English Canada has been historically important for Quebecers, notably since the advent of contemporary Quebec nationalism in the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s. For these reason, nowadays, Quebecers often use the term "New France" when referring to Canada, New France.
[edit] See also
- Name of Canada
- Quebec
- New France
- Timeline of Quebec history
- History of Quebec
- History of New France
- Monarchs of Canadian territories
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