THE COLONIAL EXPANSION OF FRANCE 



B}^ Professor Jean C. Bracq, 



0/ Vassar College 



It was not till the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the 

 sixteenth century that France attained anything corresponding to 

 her present extent on the European continent and began seriously 

 her extraterritorial expansion. The establishments made by French 

 traders upon the Gold Coast and the Ivory Coast, in the fourteenth 

 century, and the conquest and conversion of the people of the Canary 

 Islands, in 1402, by Jean de Bethencourt, had foreshadowed what 

 was to come. But the beginning of real expansion rose upon the 

 west coast of France. Basqut and Breton fishermen went earl}' to 

 the distant north, to Iceland and Labrador. It is probable that 

 they visited Newfoundland before Cabot, for they fished there at an 

 earlier {)eriod than the English. Later following the examples of the 

 kings of Spain and England, the King of France became interested 

 in the exploration of the new world. Verrazano, in the service of 

 France, visited the Atlantic Coast of North America in 1523, and 

 eleven years later Jacques Cartier, ascending the St Lawrence, opened 

 boundless i)ossibilities of expansion for France in the new w'orld. 



MOTIVES ANIMATING THE FIRST FRENCH COLONIES 



Religious considerations predominated over secular ones in many 

 ventures made at this time. In view of the precarious situation of 

 Protestants, Admiral Coligny wished to establish on the American 

 Continent colonies which, in case of need, would be possible i)laces of 

 refuge for French religious dissenters. Sixty-five years before the 

 sailing of the Mayflower he endeavored to found a colony in South 

 America, and six years later one in Florida. The first failed because 

 of the inexperience of the colonists, and the second was destro3'ed b}' 

 the Spaniards because of its Protestant character. 



There are many who are fond of explaining most of the determina- 

 tions of F'rencli history by racial factors, and erroneous ones at that. 

 It is well to remember that though the Frencli are Lntins by their 

 language and by much of their culture, they are, like the liritisli, 

 pretloniinantiy Celto-Germanic in blood. Tliey liave an ethno- 

 17 ■>-ir, 



