|
A New France |
The Iroquois |
English Invasion |
Peace |
Seigneiurial System
|
The Kings Girls |
Canadian Identity |
Society |
Government |
The Church |
Champlain |
Frontenac |
Acadia |
The Fall One
of the challenges that New France faced was that of
becoming a self sustaining society able to increase it's
population through birth as well as immigration. The
issue was lack of females. Most of the colonists were
soldiers, businessmen with charters, fur traders,
tradesmen or farmers. Danger from the Iroquois
discouraged voluntary female settlers and the rough
conditions also made it difficult for any women who
lived in New France. One of the differences between New
France and the English settlements to the south was that
the French government took a more direct interest in the development of the
colony.
From 1663 to 1673
Louis XIV supported a plan to increase the female
population of marriageable age in New France. The belief
was that the society would become more stable, grow
faster with indigenous production of babies, and hence
lead to a self sufficient colony which might contribute
to the wealth of France and not drain the King's
resources. The population of New France in 1663 was
around 2500 people which were mainly men and mainly
concentrated along the north shore of the St Lawrence
between Quebec City and Montréal.
The girls were selected in France via a
screening process which was to insure that they were
single, healthy, and of child bearing age. They were
then prepared for the crossing of the Atlantic and 1663 the first group
of 36 girls arrived in New France. The girls were housed in a
dormitory which was overseen by the church. Interviews
were arranged for interested men to come and meet the
girls. A mutual agreement between the man and the women
had to be archived in order that for a marriage to take
place.. More girls arrived the following
year but it was soon decided that girls would be
exclusively recruited from peasant stock and not from the
city population, due to the difficulty experienced by the
city girls in adapting to the rigorous conditions in New
France.
By 1671 Jean Talon,
governor of New France, declared that with the birth of
over 600 babies, the program had proven to be a great
success and by the following year with war breaking out
in Europe, France decided to end the program. |
