174 • '^^^ Atlantic 



and their ways of life contributed a pattern to the fabric of American 

 civiHzation. Churches, schools and missions have survived from the 

 time of early Spanish occupation in each of these territories. The laws 

 of Florida, Texas, New Mexico, California and a number of other 

 states have been influenced strongly by Spanish law and custom. 

 This, of course, is particularly true with respect to the laws govern- 

 ing the ownership and use of land and the matter of water rights. 

 The methods of organizing labor and of working on plantations and 

 ranches was strongly influenced by Mexican customs and this was 

 particularly true of the organization of the early cattle ranchers. The 

 clothing, equipment, method and even language of the American 

 cowboy were in many ways based on Spanish models. The Spaniards 

 began the cultivation in these areas of many agricultural crops and 

 they are responsible for the founding of the citrus fruit industries in 

 both Florida and California. 



What the Spanish settlers had to contend with was not only the de- 

 velopment of the land and the struggles with the Indians but also the 

 wars with English and French colonists. There was a period when 

 the greatest dread was the French. We have had an example of the 

 character of this hostility in the case of Fort Caroline but similar 

 battles developed in many other parts of the continent. 



As we have seen already, Champlain, following Cartier, moved 

 into America through the St. Lawrence Valley. By 1613 he had pene- 

 trated 100 miles beyond Ottawa and by 1615 he had reached Geor- 

 gian Bay, thus opening up the route into the American interior 

 country that the fur traders were to use so consistently. From this 

 date on the French explorers and missionaries began their systematic 

 penetration of the American West. 



While these northern developments were going on, the French 

 were not by any means ignoring the southern approaches to the con- 

 tinent. By 1660 the French were well established in the West Indies 

 and had occupied Martinique, Guadeloupe, Tortuga, Grenada and a 

 whole chain of other islands. 



In 1627 Richelieu well expressed the range and extent of French 

 ambition in America when he organized the Company of the Hun- 

 dred Associates. The purpose of this company was to colonize New 

 France. It was given control of all the lands between Florida and the 

 Arctic Circle. To show that they were ready to test Richelieu's exten- 

 sive claims, the British captured Acadia and Quebec in 1628, but 

 these were restored under a treaty of 1632. 



The French methods of exploration and of dealing with the Indi- 



