1492 – 1734 Early Encounters French Colonies

Key Ideas

1. French women were vastly outnumbered by French men in New France, which meant women of all races and classes were afforded legal and social privileges they would not have had in traditional French society.

2. The labor and collaboration of Native women was critical to the survival of New France.

3. The Catholic Church played a significant role in the colonization of the Native people who inhabited the territory claimed as New France.

4. The legal status of enslaved Black women evolved over the course of the early colonial period.

Introduction

Carte de la Nouvelle France, 1700. Musée de la civilisation, fonds d’archives du Séminaire de Québec.

Women in the French Colonies, 1624-1715

The French colonies of North America were considerably less sophisticated than those of the English, Spanish, and Dutch in the 1500s and 1600s.

The kings of France wanted a colonial presence in North America to keep up with their European rivals, but they devoted fewer resources to developing and populating their holdings there, devoting their attention to the more profitable sugar plantations in the Caribbean. The French government limited the number of citizens who were allowed to migrate to the colonies, and most of those who immigrated went to the Caribbean, with the result that the vast territory of New France, which began as small settlements along the St. Lawrence River before expanding south along the Mississippi River and west along the Great Lakes, was always sparsely populated, and the survival of the colony depended on close cooperation with the Native communities who already inhabited the land.

Section Essential Questions

1. What were the rights and responsibilities of women in colonial French society?

2. How did race, class, and social differences affect the lives of the women in New France?

3. How did women contribute to the establishment of new societies in the New World?

4. What gender specific challenges did women face in the French colonies?

Resources

MARRYING INTO THE NEW WORLD
This painting depicts the women who moved to New France to marry eligible colonists in exchange for free passage and a small dowry.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
colonial society, European colonization of the Americas
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EDUCATION IN NEW FRANCE
This document reveals how Ursuline nuns approached the task of educating French and Native girls in New France.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Indigenous cultures of the Americas, colonial society, European colonization of the Americas
Go to Resource
WOMEN AND THE CODE NOIR
Excerpts from the French legal code governing enslaved people that deal specifically with enslaved women and reproduction.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
race and racism, slavery
Go to Resource
NATIVE WOMEN AND AGRICULTURAL INNOVATION
The digging stick pictured in this resource illustrates Native women’s role in the development of North American crops and agricultural practices.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Indigenous cultures of the Americas, European colonization of the Americas
Go to Resource

Life Stories

CHARLOTTE-FRANÇOISE JUCHEREAU DE SAINT-DENIS
The life story of a woman born in Quebec who became a successful businesswoman and was labeled a “dangerous woman.”
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
colonial society
Go to Resource
KATERI TEKAKWITHA
This is the story of the woman who became the first Native American person canonized as a Catholic saint.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
Indigenous cultures of the Americas, colonial society
Go to Resource
MARIE-JOSÈPHE ANGÉLIQUE
This is the story of an enslaved woman who was accused of burning down forty-five homes and businesses in Montreal in 1734.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
slavery, colonial society
Go to Resource