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| The Struggle between France and Britain for North America Introduction The competition between France and Britain for colonies in North America would take three wars and fifty years to settle. In the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), which settled the War of Spanish Succession, New France had to give up the provinces of Newfoundland and Acadia, the rich cod fishing lands at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, to Britain. France could keep two islands as fishing stations. On one of them, Ile Royale, the French built a massive stone fortress. New forts were also built in the Mississippi region. In the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1745), which followed the War of the Austrian Succession, France did not lose any territory, but the war had inflamed bitter feelings between the French and New England settlers, both of whom had used native Indians to attack each other. In general, the native Indians were more sympathetic towards the French settlers, since the New England farmers were determined to clear and farm native Indian lands. After the War of the Austrian Succession, the British planted 3000 of their own settlers in Acadia, now called Nova Scotia. When the next war began, 6000 French Acadians, despite their protests of neutrality, were forced to leave the land of their ancestors and were shipped off to other parts of America. Many eventually settled at the mouth of the Mississippi, where their French-speaking descendants in modern-day Louisiana, are still called Arcadians. .....
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© Shirley Burchill, Nigel Hughes, Richard Gale, Peter Price and Keith Woodall 2007 |
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