The origins of New France are rooted in the 16th century. During his second voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, in 1535, Jacques Cartier discovered the existence of, "the St. Lawrence, the river of Canada" (Cafe and Lower, 1948. pg. 27). This river was to become the heart and main transportation system of the New France colony. Despite the fact that Cartier's discovery of the St. Lawrence area occurred in 1535, the first permanent French colony in New France was not established until 1608 when Samuel de Champlain and De Monts founded a colony on what is now the city of Quebec. It should be noted that the small French colony of Port Royal, located in what once was called L'Acadie (now part of the modern maritime provinces) was founded before Quebec, in 1605. However, it was Quebec City, located on the banks of the St. Lawrence Rive

The French settlement of northeastern part of North America continued slowly over the next 50 years. Fur trading companies controlled much of the colonial administration. These fur traders were concerned solely with the acquisition of furs from the Native people living in the area. They thwarted many of Champlain's efforts to attract settlers. Wars with England in Europe and the Iroquois in Canada also prevented many potential colonists from settling in New France.

The war with the Iroquois would prove to be too costly for the fur trading companies to properly defend the colony. Despite this the colonial administration remained in the hands the Compagnie des Cent-Associes from 1627 until 1645 when this group turned colonial affairs over to the Communaute des Habitants (National Archives, 2001). This latter group was composed of leading members of the colony.

This seigneurial system had the basic purpose of recruiting settlers, but, oddly enough, the Seigniors did not generally become wealthy men in New France. The Seigniors were not permitted to partake in the fur trade. Due to low rents and a small population, the service charges garnered by the landlord were low (National Archives, 2001). This system also proved to be fairly poor at recruiting settlers. With little promotion from France, and little market for colonial products, other than fur, few people were willing to make the journey from France. By the time of the conquest of New France by the British the population of the New England colonies was nearly 13 times greater than that of New France (Chafe and Lower, 1948).

The influence of the Church was not only felt by French settlers, but also by the aboriginal population. In the early years of the colony French Missionaries helped to forge the strong ties between the Huron tribe and the French people that proved to be so crucial to the colonies well being (Henretta, Brownlee, Brody and Ware, 1993, p. 37). The Church was also in charge of hospitals and schooling. Further to this, " Once parishes were established, parish priests were important figures in the community. They took part in the most important moments in an individual's life: birth, marriage and death" (National Archives, 2001, http://www.archiv

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1505
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)