Canada, French in

   The first European presence in Canada occurred during the ninth and 10th centuries (Vinland, Leif Eriksson), followed by initial exploration in the 15th (John Cabot). In the 16th century, King Francis i of France sent Giovanni de Verrazano (1524) then jacques cartier (1534-36), who reached the Indian village of Hochelaga. The colonization of Canada, then named Nouvelle-France, began, however, only under King henri IV with samuel de champlain, the founder of Quebec (1608), who encouraged the coming of French settlers. In Acadia, the settlements reached to the St. Lawrence River. Then in 1627, under the impetus of Cardinal Richelieu, the Compagnie de la Nouvelle-France, or the Cent-Associés, was created. Paul de Chomedey, sieur de Maison-ville founded Ville-Marie (Montreal) in 1642, and the first public and religious institutions were established. The conquest of various indigenous peoples (Algonquin, Assiniboine, Huron, Micmac, Montag-nai, outaouai, sioux, and above all the iroquois of the Five Nations) was undertaken simultaneously with their proselytization. The initial colonizations encouraged colbert in 1663 to establish in Nouvelle-France the royal administration that governed the region like a French province. At the same time, the exploration of the interior was undertaken by various French missionaries.

   Meanwhile, the English, through the Hudson's Bay Company, claimed the Canadian territories that became objects of continuous contention between the two countries (the city of Quebec was occupied from 1629 to 1632, then Acadia from 1654 to 1667). Under king louis XIV, by the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), Acadia (Nova Scotia), Newfoundland, and the Hudson Bay were ceded to the English. There then followed a period of peace during which the French pursued the development of their remaining possessions and the exploration of the hinterland. But the seven years' war would renew the armed conflict between France and Great Britain, and after the French defeat on the Plains of Abraham followed the British taking of Quebec (1759) and Montreal (1760) and the brutal displacement and exile of thousands of Acadians to places as far away as Louisiana. By the terms of the subsequent Treaty of Paris (1763), all of Nouvelle-France (New France) was ceded to Great Britain, ending French domination in Canada. French language and culture, however, still dominate in the province of Quebec and other areas, especially in Lower Canada, and the French political presence still exists on the small islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, off the coast of Newfoundland, which form a department of the Republic of France.