Only one third of the 30'000 men and women that left France to populate the new world stayed in new France. in 1627, the king of France hired the company of 100 associates to populate the new colony that only contained 100 inhabitants. the company had projected 4000 inhabitants however they only attracted several hundred new inhabitants. by 1663 new France had more than 3000 inhabitants, about 1850 of them were new from France and the rest were born there. at that time he appointed Jean-Baptiste Colbert to the position of intendant of new France who was effectively the leader of the settlement and who was also in charge of managing and developing the land surrounding the settlement.
the majority of immigrants who came to new France were soldiers, "les filles du roi" and tradesmen. all of these different people are the reason that we are where we are today , due to their trading ,defense and population of the settlement is the first and most important aspects of creating a prosperous and self-sufficient colony. the creation of a colony that was self sustaining was the key to the french invasion of Canada.
in order to increase the population of the settlement even further the king of France created several birth incentives: for example men who married at the age of 20 or less were allotted an amount of 20 pounds
for women the age was 16 or less. due to these incentives, by the year 1720, the fertility rate in new France was at an average of 9 children per woman. women who married young had longer life expetancies because they ate better and had more children to help around the house and they were responsible for the house while the fathers were either fighting the iroquois or hunting.
Don't forget the capitals at the beginning of your sentences.
ReplyDelete