How far did the French Empire in North America reach?
- From Boston to Florida
- From Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico
- From Newfoundland to Lake Ontario only
- From Québec City to the Pacific Ocean
Answer: From Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico
Leaders such as Jean Talon, Bishop Laval and Count Frontenac built a French Empire in North America. It reached from Hudson Bay in the north to the Gulf of Mexico in the south. The British victory at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759 marked the end of France’s empire in America.
Learn more: Royal New France
- In 1604 Pierre de Monts and Samuel de Champlain founded the first European settlement north of Florida, first on St. Croix Island (now in Maine), then at Port-Royal in Acadia (now Nova Scotia).
- In 1608 Champlain built a fortress at what is now Québec City.
- Champlain allied the colony with the Algonquin, Montagnais and Huron, who were historic enemies of the Iroquois.
- The Iroquois were a confederation of five (later six) First Nations. They fought the French for about 100 years. The French and the Iroquois made peace in 1701.
- The French and Aboriginal peoples worked together in the fur trade, driven by European demand for beaver pelts.
- Jean Talon, Bishop Laval and Count Frontenac built a French empire in North America from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico.
- In 1690 Count Frontenac refused to surrender Quebec to the English: “My only reply will be from the mouths of my cannons!”
- Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville, was a hero of New France who won many victories over the English, from James Bay to Nevis in the Caribbean.