New France

New France Nouvelle-France (French)
1534–1763
Flag[b] Coat of arms[a]
Motto:  "Montjoie Saint Denis!" (French) "Mountjoy Saint Denis!"
New France’s territory at its height in 1712, before the Treaty of Utrecht.
Status	Viceroyalty of the Kingdom of France
Capital	Quebec
Common languages	French
Religion	Catholicism
King of France
• 1534–1547	Francis I (first)
• 1715–1763	Louis XV (last)
Viceroy of New France
• 1534–1541	Jacques Cartier (first; as Governor of New France)
• 1755–1760	Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil (last)
Legislature	Superior Council
Historical era	Colonial/French and Indian War
• Exploration of Canada begins with Jacques Cartier	24 July 1534
• Louis XIV integrated New France into the royal domain, endowed it with a new administration and founded the French West India Company	18 September 1663
• By the Treaty of Utrecht, France ceded most of Acadia to the Kingdom of Great Britain as well as its claims on Newfoundland and Hudson's Bay.	11 April 1713
• By the Treaty of Paris, Louis XV cedes New France to Great Britain	10 February 1763
Area
[6]	8,000,000 km2 (3,100,000 sq mi)
Currency	Livre tournois
Today part of	Canada United States Saint Pierre and Miquelon[c]

New France (French: Nouvelle-France) was the territory colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spain in 1763 under the Treaty of Paris.

A vast viceroyalty, New France consisted of five colonies at its peak in 1712, each with its own administration: Canada, the most developed colony, which was divided into the districts of Québec, Trois-Rivières, and Montréal; Hudson Bay; Acadie in the northeast; Terre-Neuve (Plaisance) on the island of Newfoundland; and Louisiane.^[7][8] It extended from Newfoundland to the Canadian Prairies and from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, including all the Great Lakes of North America.

In the 16th century, the lands were used primarily to draw from the wealth of natural resources such as furs through trade with the various indigenous peoples. In the seventeenth century, successful settlements began in Acadia and in Quebec. In the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, France ceded to Great Britain its claims over mainland Acadia, Hudson Bay, and Newfoundland. France established the colony of Île Royale on Cape Breton Island, where they built the Fortress of Louisbourg.^[9][10]

The population rose slowly but steadily. In 1754, New France's population consisted of 10,000 Acadians, 55,000 Canadiens, and about 4,000 settlers in upper and lower Louisiana; 69,000 in total.^[11] The British expelled the Acadians in the Great Upheaval from 1755 to 1764, which has been remembered on July 28 each year since 2003. Their descendants are dispersed in the Maritime provinces of Canada and in Maine and Louisiana, with small populations in Chéticamp, Nova Scotia, and the Magdalen Islands. Some also went to France.

After the Seven Years' War (which included the French and Indian War in America), France ceded the rest of New France to Great Britain and Spain in the Treaty of Paris of 1763 (except the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon). Britain acquired Canada, Acadia, and French Louisiana east of the Mississippi River, except for the Île d'Orléans, which was granted to Spain with the territory to the west. In 1800, Spain returned its portion of Louisiana to France under the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso, and Napoleon Bonaparte sold it to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, permanently ending French colonial efforts on the American mainland.

New France eventually became absorbed within the United States and Canada, with the only vestige of French rule being the tiny islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, an overseas collectivity of France, although Quebec remains predominately French-speaking. In the United States, the legacy of New France includes numerous place names as well as small pockets of French-speaking communities.

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