Location
The location of New France was North America. North America was an area colonized by France which stretched from New Foundland to Hudson Bay to the Rocky Mountains all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. All the territory was divided into 5 different colonies and those colonies were: Canada, Acadia, Hudson Bay, New Foundland(Plaisance), and Louisiana.
Why Did Settlers Come to New France?
Some settlers came for jobs and others came because either the king was going to give them money. For example “ les Filles du Roi”. “Les files du roi” were approximately 800-900 young french single woman aged 15-30 who came by themselves or were recruited by the king because there were barely any woman and the king wanted to keep populating New France. The woman themselves would find a man and see if she would get along, if so they would get married and the king would pay them to have large families. Another example some settlers also came because of their interests in North America such as wanting to trade for spices, skills, and jewels. Settlers that were men also came because they needed a job or needed to make a living off of something. In the 1400`s European countries tried to find new water routs to Asia which led them to the finding of the Americans.
Housing and Shelter
The homes in New France were commonly built of felled timber or rough-hewn stone, solid, stocky buildings, usually about twenty by forty feet or there about in size with only one doorway. The rooves were steeped pitched with a dormer window or two on either side. Also the eaves were well projecting over the walls, and behind each house there was a storage room. Most inhabitants had their own bake ovens set a good distance behind the house rising about 4 or 5 ft. From the ground. A lot of the time the inhabitant would close off a small area of land surrounding the house or the shed, barn, or storage room(etc.) with a fence of piled stones or split rails and in a corner he would plant his kitchen garden. In the house on the main floor there were usually one or two rooms but never more then three. When the door was first opened it led to a huge room of the house. It opened to the parlor, dinning room, and kitchen combined, but the room was split up, with the kitchen separated from the rest. The upstairs was reached by a ladder which led to a soft loft. A woolen rug of bright colors or several of them covered most of the floor. The floor was made of timber, the dinner table was made of hewn pine, the chair frames were made from pine saplings, while the seats were made of rushes or woven under bark. A lot of the times a couch that was in a corner was good for an extra bed. At one end of the room was a fire place and it was usually used for cooking and heating the house up. All around it hung pots and pans. Mainly the houses weren't at all like they today.
Social Organization
Men, woman, and also kids had jobs to do. Since most men in New France were farmers they were in charge of producing the food, and that was a hard job. Woman also had to work hard to take of the house, also to take care and cook for her family. When kids were old enough, the girls helped their mom and the boys helped their dad. The girls who were older like around the age of 12 or 13 helped their mom to cook, make clothes, and clean the house. The boys who were older just like the girls age 12 or 13 was able to do a mans work. They cut wood, carried stones from the field, built fences, plowed, mowed the hay, and collected the crops. The children who more older like the age of 14 and 15 would look after the garden, it was practice for when they were adults and had their own farm.
Food
The food that couldn't be grown in New France took quite a while be shipped from France to New France and shipping food was really expensive. The only way to get food was to fish it, hunt it, grow it or collect it wildly. The animals that were hunted were ducks, geese, partridge, passenger pigeons, and turkey. The fish that were caught were eel, pickerel, crab, smelt, stargeon, herring, cod, salmon, and trout. Some of the wild food that was collected was blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, curants, and plums. Any other food they needed they grew or raised on the family farm like cattle, pigs, birds, fish, moose, deer, rabbits, porcupines, corn, beans, peas, asparagus, fruits, nuts, berries, bread, wheat, fruit and vegetables, turnips, cabbages, onions, leeks, and beets. The dairy products they had were cream, butter, and cheese. Two of their favorite dishes were either, tourtiere or meat pie as one of them and for the second one sipaille or wild game pie for the second dish.
Values and Religions
In New France religion played a major role of an everyday life. The christianity of New France was Roman Catholic. The Catholic clergy were very influential, and the church alone was very powerful and wealthy. Protestants weren't allowed to get married in New France or bring their families to the colony. The church ran the schools, hospitals, took care of the poor, sick, and homeless. Not many people in the colony were educated. A few amongst the educated were the priests. The priests cared for people from marriage to baptism and even to death. The priests made announcements that all had a religious message in them. All catholics had to give some of their income that they got or some or their food that they grew every year, that was called a tithe and it was to support the church. The church also tried to make sure that everyone lived a pure, decent, respectable, sinless life, which controlled everything basically to what clothes they wore to what language they used.
Clothing
The clothing that people wore in New France was all made at home. Also most of the footwear was homemade and was usually made from deer hides. In some years beaver skins were cheap, so they used that for clothes, caps, and mittns. In the winter furs were used for men and woman, also boys and girls of all ages. Everyone also wore the “ bottles seavages” or oiled moccasins laced half way up or more to the knees. They were warm against the cold weather and able to work with snowshoes. Underneath them the inhabitant wore at least two pairs of heavy woolen socks if not he would wear more pairs of socks. In cold weather people wore tuqes that were bright colored. To get through the harsh winters a man would wear mittens, moose leather boots lined with beaver fur and also a fur coat. In the summers woman and children went bare foot out side. Men would sometimes do the same thing, but mostly in the fields. In the forests the men would wear clogs made of cowhide. In the summers woman and children went bare foot outside, men would sometimes do the same thing , but mostly in the fields, and in the forests the men would wear clogs made of cowhides. On a hot summers week days everyone wore straw hats and the children wore one piece of clothes, it was sleeveless, but it went down to the knees just good enough to cover what was need to be covered. On Sundays a man would wear better textured clothes and high beaver hats, while a woman would wear brightly colored feathered dress with ribbons and laces. Also on regular days woman would wear shirts and skirts made of linen, cotton, and hemp, while on the other hand men would wear pants tied at the knee and jackets, they also wore wide brimmed hats and hats with earflaps.
Government
The government back then was a feudal system here is how it went.
The highest ranking person in authority was the king.The King: The King was the most important person of all. He owned the land and was in charge of everything and everyone in New France.
The second highest person was the Intendant.
The Intendant: The Intendant was responsible for daily economic affairs of the colony, trade, justice, finance, settlement, and seigneuralism.
The third highest person was the Governor.
The Governor: The Governor represented the king in the colony. He was responsible for the defense of New France and the relations with the english and aboriginals.
The fourth highest person was the Bishop.
The Bishop: The Bishop was in charge of the church which in turn was responsible for the spiritual and social needs of the colony through its church, school, charities, hospitals, and for the conversion of the natives.
The Sovereign Council was the most powerful actually in the colony considering it had the intendand, governor, and bishop in it.
The Sovereign Council: The Sovereign Council consisted of a dozen officials including the intendant, governor and the bishop. It acted as a legislative, administrative, and judicial body, and it was the sole of governing authority in the colony responsible to the king.
The Captains of Militia were military leaders in times of emergency.
The Captains of Militia: The Captains of Militia reported to The Intendant about the concerns of the inhabitants about the Intendant's plans. They were also like an army or police for the colony.
The settlers were the citizens of the colony.
The Settlers: The Settlers supported all of these people. They also had to pay a certain amount of money each year with the income that they got or give some of their crops they had grew to the seigner every year.
What Challenges Did They Face?
They had to face a lot of challenges while living in New France. For example in the summer drought and insects were a problem because crops would fail and people would start to starve. Diseases like scurvy, chicken pox, small pox, whooping cough, cartarrah, cholera, tuberculosis, ague, mumps, scarlet fever, diphtheria, measles, and poliomyelitis(ect.) were a problem because there weren't any cures or medicine for them and people would die from them. Cold winters were also hard because there was no power in the 1800`s and if they couldn't find a way to keep warm then they would freeze to death. The French would feel insecure when the men went out to hunt because the Iroquois might have been in the area and they didn't know, so they could`ve attacked and nobody would have been there to protect. It was also the interactions with the wildlife that was also a challenge because here may have been wolves and things like that around and they may have attacked the French. Trying to build a good strong and warm house in the wild was a challenge because they had to clear the trees and cut them so then they could build a house before winter came or else they would freeze. Trying to keep up with paying all their taxes was a problem because sometimes they wouldn't have enough money and if they didn't have enough money they would get kicked out of their house, then they wouldn't have a house to live in. Trying to find a job or make a living off of something was also hard because not all the time there would be jobs for people who needed them. There was also a lot of presure from the seigneur about the getting the population to grow, pay fines getting water(etc.). Some challenges that were fairly difficult were having to speak a different language, having to learn about a new culture, and having to meet new people.
Interactions With Native Peoples
The finding of the Americans was by exploration trips that were from Portugal, Spain, France and England. Since the British and French were enemies the French decided to become allies with the Algonquin, Huron, and Montagnais tribes, because the Irouquois was the enemy of all three tribes the. The first interaction with the native peoples was with Samuel de Champlain celebrating the victory over the Iroquis tribe. After becoming allies with the aboriginals, the aboriginals taught the french forced germination, how to make and use snowshoes, and toboggans. Also the French started to marry the natives and also started to take part in “Aboriginal Sweating Rituals.” It was where hot stones were laid in a low round tent and in the tent the men would sit in a circle drinking lots of water so they could sweat a lot. After sweating so much they would throw themselves in the river or wash themselves in cold water. It was basically to clean or refresh themselves. The Huron traded goods for metal things like knives, axes, awls(etc.) and because of that the Huron Tribe called the French “Agnonha” and the translation for that is “iron people”. The French encouraged the development of the Huron culture, and the natives adopted french foods like beans, peas, prunes, figs, and bread. They also started to like the European hats, so they started to wear them as a sign of social status.
Technology
Back in the 1600`s in New France there was no power, cars, cell phones, or e-mailing. So people had to use their surroundings for tools, transportation, and all that kind of stuff. For transportation people used horses, canoes, walked by foot or used a wagon(with a horse or two). For writing they used pencils and paper, they also used ink and a feather pen. They used tools like spears, guns, arrows, sling shots, knives(etc.). For each job people used different tools. For example a blacksmith`s tools were anvil, vise, tongs and a water trough. A carpenters tools were a saw, chisle, and molding tool. A farmers tools were a scythe, cultivator, grain shovel, wooden corn planters, the harrow and square harrow, pitchfork, rakes, pulleys, and flail. Last but not lesat a hunters tools were a hatchet, hammer, axe, gun, and knife.
