French Settlement In Canada

New France was the first major French settlement in what is now the country of Canada. Prior to French settlement in the early 17th century, various aboriginals tribes lived in the region for millenniums. The encounter between the French and the aboriginals during the establishment and development of New France affected the aboriginal population in several ways. In the following, the establishment, government, trade, and the following developments of New France will be described with specific intent to demonstrate how each of these affected aboriginal population. From this, it will be concluded that French settlement and the development of New France led to the decrease of aboriginal population due to disease and conflict, the dependence of …show more content…
Important among all of their trade partners were the Mi 'kmaq. Conrad, Finkel, and Fyson note that “if the Mi 'kmaq had become dependent on French goods, the French were as dependent upon the Mi 'kmaq for survival... the Mi 'kmaq served as an invaluable military ally against New England.” 9 Thus, both the aboriginals and the French were mutually reliant of each other. Neither group were self-sufficient given the result of the fur trade and the tensions not only between aboriginal tribes, but also between the French and the English. The primary objects traded between the Mi 'kmaq and the french were beaver and moose hides in exchange for European goods, most significant of which were weapons. Both the French and the English had ties with different aboriginal groups, and this only increased tensions between the various tribes. In addition to that, the aboriginals, in desire to acquire as much European goods as they could through the trade, diminished the natural resources which were available had they wanted to go back to their old way of life. Therefore, aboriginal life changed in that they were now, as noted above, dependent on the French for their livelihood. Yet aboriginal dependence was not merely due to trade. Europeans, as noted, had traded weapons, which led to a decrease in population of the aboriginals, but also …show more content…
The central thing determining this affect on the aboriginals was the fur-trade and results of it. It led to intermarrying between Europeans and the French, which leads to a cultural shift. Furthermore, it lead to the aboriginals relying on French goods for survival despite the ironic fact that the French, in bringing over disease to which the aboriginals were not immune, led to much death and decreased population. However, not all was for loss in this trade; the aboriginal people gained access to European technology of which they had interest and they were exposed to new beliefs and cultures to which not all were opposed. Thus, the result of French settlement in the New World had both negative and positive affects to the aboriginal people, and whether good or bad, it lead to a decisive change in how aboriginals would lead their lives in the coming decades and centuries in