What did the French contribute to the age of exploration?

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France grew jealous of the success of Spain, and soon sent her navigators and explorers to spy out and claim portions of the land on the other side of the Atlantic. The first French expedition was undertaken in the reign of Francis I. by John Verrazzano, a native of Italy, which country, it will have been seen, furnished the chief navigators and explorers connected with the New World. Verrazzano sailed from the Madeiras in January, 1524, in command of three ships; but two were disabled by a severe storm, and he continued his voyage with only one. Two months later, he reached the American coast along which he cruised for several months. Verrazzano seems to have pushed his voyage northward as far as the coast of Maine, touching at various points, such as New York and Narragansett Bay, and assiduously seeking for the shorter passage to India, which had been sought by Columbus and the Cabots. He named the country New France, and returning home, vanishes from the pages of history.

France waited ten years before showing any further interest in the New World. On April 20, 1534, Jacques Cartier a skillful navigator, sailed from St. Malo, in command of two ships, of sixty tons each, with a crew of one hundred and twenty men. Some weeks later he reached the coast of Newfoundland, and sailed through the straits of Belle Isle into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Cartier spent several weeks in further explorations, but soon returned to France, where his report so pleased the King that he sent him on a second expedition in the following spring. On this voyage, Cartier had three ships, the largest of which was of one hundred and twenty tons. These entered the Straits of Belle Isle, July 26, 1535. His hope of finding the shorter route to India was overthrown by observing, as he ascended the St. Lawrence, that its width narrowed and its waters became fresh.

France was prevented from making an early entry into the commercial and colonial scramble through the religious divisions that led to the civil wars of the latter part of the 16th century. Even when she did make some systematic attempt to contend as a first-class commercial and colonizing power, her strength was sapped by the suicidal policy of Louis XIV, who at the critical moment wasted the national energy of France in a futile attempt to extend the eastern boundary of that country.

The strife between the Protestants and Roman Catholics had become bitter and prolonged. The Reformation, as it was called, made slight progress in France. The French Protestants were called Huguenots, and among the principal leaders was Lord Admiral Coligny. He was a brave and honorable man, respected by all parties, and he persuaded the Queen to try to reconcile the opposing factions. The effort was a failure, and the persecutions which followed became so fierce that Coligny determined to find a refuge for the Huguenots in America. While doing this, the brave admiral was anxious to add to the glory of his beloved France. In the month of February, 1562, Coligny sent out two ships from Havre, in charge of Captain John Ribault. The Huguenots sailed, inspecting the numerous islands and inlets which they saw, until the latter part of the month they dropped anchor in the fine harbor of Port Royal. After examining the surrounding country, Ribault was convinced that no more favorable spot could be found for a settlement.

The late date at which France entered into competition for the Indian trade placed it at some disadvantage. The French East India Company endeavored to acquire a footing in India when Cafon founded a factory at Surat (1668). The French seized St. Thome' in 1672, but they were attacked and driven out by the Dutch in 1674. Francois Martin founded Pondicherry, the future capital of French India, in 1674. He warded off an attack by Sivaji. Pondicherry was taken by the Dutch in 1693, but restored to France in 1698.

France was immensely more rich and powerful than England in the 17th and 18th centuries, but lost out in the final conflict because of a corrupt administration, the failure to devote her resources to the strengthening of her colonies, and the adoption of a fatally weak colonial policy — that of scattered military occupation. Aside from the fact that England took her colonial enterprise seriously and France looked upon it as a "side issue" as compared with the dynastic struggle on the continent of Europe, the chief significance of this centurylong contest was that it represented a struggle between two different colonial systems — the intensive occupation and exploitation of a limited area versus the extremely meagre occupation of a vast territory by a few soldiers and traders. In 1688 there were about 300,000 English colonists in the narrow Piedmont region of the Atlantic Coast, while there were scarcely 20,000 Frenchmen in the vast regions of Canada and the Mississippi Valley. With the French handicapped by futile dissipation of energy elsewhere and infinitely weaker in colonial policy, there could be only one issue to the conflict, and by the Treaty of Paris of 1763 Great Britain took over the possession of the great majority of the French colonies in America.

France established colonies in North America, the Caribbean, and India in the 17th century, and while it lost most of its American holdings to Spain and Great Britain before the end of the 18th century, it eventually expanded its Asian and African territories in the 19th century.

Describe some of the discoveries made by French explorers

Key Points

• Competing with Spain, Portugal, the Dutch Republic, and later Britain, France began to establish colonies in North America, the Caribbean, and India in the 17th century. Major French exploration of North America began under the rule of Francis I of France. In 1524, he sent Italian-born Giovanni da Verrazzano to explore the region between Florida and Newfoundland for a route to the Pacific Ocean.
• In 1534, Francis sent Jacques Cartier on the first of three voyages to explore the coast of Newfoundland and the St. Lawrence River. Cartier founded New France and was the first European to travel inland in North America.
• Cartier attempted to create the first permanent European settlement in North America at Cap-Rouge (Quebec City) in 1541,  but the settlement was abandoned the next year. A number of other failed attempts to establish French settlements in North America followed throughout the rest of the 16th century.
• Prior to the establishment of the 1663 Sovereign Council, the territories of New France were developed as mercantile colonies. It was only after 1665 that France gave its American colonies the proper means to develop population colonies comparable to that of the British. By the first decades of the 18th century, the French created and controlled a number of settlement colonies in North America.
• As the French empire in North America grew, the French also began to build a smaller but more profitable empire in the West Indies.
• While the French quite rapidly lost nearly all of its colonial gains in the Americas, their colonial expansion also covered territories in Africa and Asia where France grew to be a major colonial power in the 19th century.

New France The area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534, and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763. At its peak in 1712, the territory extended from Newfoundland to the Rocky Mountains, and from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, including all the Great Lakes of North America. Sovereign Council A governing body in New France. It acted as both Supreme Court for the colony of New France and as a policy making body, although, its policy role diminished over time. Though officially established in 1663 by King Louis XIV, it was not created whole cloth, but rather evolved from earlier governing bodies. mercantile colonies Colonies that sought to derive the maximum material benefit from the colony, for the homeland, with a minimum of imperial investment in the colony itself. The mercantilist ideology at its foundations was embodied in New France through the establishment under Royal Charter of a number of corporate trading monopolies. Carib Expulsion The French-led ethnic cleansing that terminated most of the Carib population in 1660 from present-day Martinique. This followed the French invasion in 1635 and its conquest of the people on the Caribbean island, which made it part of the French colonial empire.

The French in the New World: New France

Competing with Spain, Portugal, the United Provinces (the Dutch Republic), and later Britain, France began to establish colonies in North America, the Caribbean, and India in the 17th century. The French first came to the New World as explorers, seeking a route to the Pacific Ocean and wealth. Major French exploration of North America began under the rule of Francis I of France. In 1524, Francis sent Italian-born Giovanni da Verrazzano to explore the region between Florida and Newfoundland for a route to the Pacific Ocean. Verrazzano gave the names Francesca and Nova Gallia to the land between New Spain and English Newfoundland, thus promoting French interests.

In 1534, Francis sent Jacques Cartier on the first of three voyages to explore the coast of Newfoundland and the St. Lawrence River. Cartier founded New France by planting a cross on the shore of the Gaspé Peninsula. He is believed to have accompanied Verrazzano to Nova Scotia and Brazil, and was the first European to travel inland in North America, describing the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, which he named “The Country of Canadas” after Iroquois names, and claiming what is now Canada for France.He attempted to create the first permanent European settlement in North America at Cap-Rouge (Quebec City) in 1541 with 400 settlers, but the settlement was abandoned the next year. A number of other failed attempts to establish French settlement in North America followed throughout the rest of the 16th century.

Portrait of Jacques Cartier by Théophile Hamel (1844), Library and Archives Canada (there are no known paintings of Cartier that were created during his lifetime) In 1534, Jacques Cartier planted a cross in the Gaspé Peninsula and claimed the land in the name of King Francis I. It was the first province of New France. However, initial French attempts at settling the region met with failure. 

Although, through alliances with various Native American tribes, the French were able to exert a loose control over much of the North American continent, areas of French settlement were generally limited to the St. Lawrence River Valley. Prior to the establishment of the 1663 Sovereign Council, the territories of New France were developed as mercantile colonies. It was only after 1665 that France gave its American colonies the proper means to develop population colonies comparable to that of the British. By the first decades of the 18th century, the French created and controlled such colonies as Quebec, La Baye des Puants (present-day Green Bay), Ville-Marie (Montreal), Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit (modern-day Detroit), or La Nouvelle Orléans (New Orleans) and Baton Rouge. However, there was relatively little interest in colonialism in France, which concentrated on dominance within Europe, and for most of its history, New France was far behind the British North American colonies in both population and economic development. Acadia itself was lost to the British in 1713.

In 1699, French territorial claims in North America expanded still further, with the foundation of Louisiana in the basin of the Mississippi River. The extensive trading network throughout the region connected to Canada through the Great Lakes, was maintained through a vast system of fortifications, many of them centered in the Illinois Country and in present-day Arkansas.

Map of North America (1750): France (blue), Britain (pink), and Spain (orange)

New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534, and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763. At its peak in 1712, the territory of New France extended from Newfoundland to the Rocky Mountains, and from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, including all the Great Lakes of North America.

As the French empire in North America grew, the French also began to build a smaller but more profitable empire in the West Indies. Settlement along the South American coast in what is today French Guiana began in 1624, and a colony was founded on Saint Kitts in 1625. Colonies in Guadeloupe and Martinique were founded in 1635 and on Saint Lucia in 1650. The food-producing plantations of these colonies were built and sustained through slavery, with the supply of slaves dependent on the African slave trade. Local resistance by the indigenous peoples resulted in the Carib Expulsion of 1660.

France’s most important Caribbean colonial possession was established in 1664, when the colony of Saint-Domingue (today’s Haiti) was founded on the western half of the Spanish island of Hispaniola. In the 18th century, Saint-Domingue grew to be the richest sugar colony in the Caribbean. The eastern half of Hispaniola (today’s Dominican Republic) also came under French rule for a short period, after being given to France by Spain in 1795.

In the middle of the 18th century, a series of colonial conflicts began between France and Britain, which ultimately resulted in the destruction of most of the first French colonial empire and the near complete expulsion of France from the Americas.

French colonial expansion wasn’t limited to the New World. In Senegal in West Africa, the French began to establish trading posts along the coast in 1624. In 1664, the French East India Company was established to compete for trade in the east. With the decay of the Ottoman Empire, in 1830 the French seized Algiers, thus beginning the colonization of French North Africa. Colonies were also established in India in Chandernagore (1673) and Pondichéry in the south east (1674), and later at Yanam (1723), Mahe (1725), and Karikal (1739). Finally, colonies were founded in the Indian Ocean, on the Île de Bourbon (Réunion, 1664), Isle de France (Mauritius, 1718), and the Seychelles (1756).

While the French never rebuilt its American gains, their influence in Africa and Asia expanded significantly over the course of the 19th century.

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