BP GEOGRAPHIC

France sent out an explorer named Giovanni da Verrazano as early as 1524 to locate a northwest passage around North America to find a way to India. Jaques Cartier followed in 1534 and explored the St Lawrence River. In 1562 the St Johns River area in Florida was explored by Jean Ribault. But the Spanish didn’t like that approach and pushed the French out of Florida, which prompted them to direct their efforts more northwards. That included Canada, as expected, but also the area which is nowadays the Midwest of the United States.

So in 1608 a fort was built at Quebec by Samuel de Champlain, and he also went to explore the area northwards to Port Royal, Nova Scotia, and southwards to Cape Cod.

A difference to Spain was that they were not looking for gold but instead trading with Indian tribes for furs, and they did fishing at the coast. At first France encouraged colonisation by supporting fur-trading companies, but later the government-sponsored Company of New France was founded. Because the company was not successful the kind took over control in 1663. At the end the French colonies were not as successful as New Spain and their neighbours, the colonies of England.

It actually began already in 1497 with an expedition sponsored by King Henry VII, during which John Cabot explored a part of Newfoundland and noticed an abundance of fish. But there were no real advances towards colonisation until the reign of Queen Elizabeth. By that time England had recognised the advantages of trade with the east and establishing colonies in the New World. In 1560 Martin Frobisher was enlisted with searching for a northwest passage to India, and he as well as John Davis explored the Atlantic coast between 1576 and 1578.