History chapter 3 Declan

Picture of King Louis the 14th. Also known as the Sun King.

Page # 's 70-77 The New France Colony was mainly populated along the St. Lawrence river. The reason that the St. Lawrence was heavily populated was because it was the main transportation route of New France. Many settlments were built beside lakes and rivers, the people depended on these bodies of water for transportation. The St. Lawrence River was largest and most important river in New France. Lots of people lived on the bank of the St. Lawrence because the land was split in to seigneuries. The St. Lawrence river roads were another sourse of transportation. All the land was owned by the king, but hegranted people land to settle on it. These people mainly built farms, but they could also build mills, to grind flower, and churches. These people were called seighneuries, and this system was called the Seignerial systam. The segneurial systems in France and New France had some differences. The differences were that the seighneuries in France were given profits and cheap labour. While in New France it was a sign of your position in life, that you were a inhabitant of that land. In France the seighneuries made more money than the ones in New France. The seighneuries position of Military Commander was taken by the Captain of the nearby Militia. Another source of employment besides Farming was the Fur Trade. Unlike the legal system in some European countries ,women could hold land. The women in New France were encouraged to marry before or by the age of 16. Madeleine d'Allonne was one of the first women to hold a large seigneury. Many of the teqniques the New France people used to preserve food was learned from the first people. The food that they used included farm animals such as cattle and pigs, which had been brought over on ships, or from the wild life around them, such as birds, fish, moose, deer, rabbits, porcupines, and even eals. Vegetables included corn, beans, peas, asparagus, cabbage, and cucumbers. There were fruit and nut trees. Plus berry bushes were numerous. Two of the most used were tourtiere (meat pie) and sipaille (wild game pie). The people also made whole wheat bread from the wheat crpos. In the years of early New France clothing material was animal hides. Linen and Hemp clothing was not warm enough, so it was lined with fur. When finaly people started to raise sheep, they used the wool coats for clothing. The women wore long dresses, and sometimes they wore aprons over their dresses. Most houses had stone foundations. Houses during the time period of the 1600's, had wooden walls, spaces inbetween the wooden beams were filled in with mortar. Houses during the time period of the 1700's Had walls of stone instead of wood, mortar was still used. Also in the 1700's the floors were usually wood, with homemade carpets on the floor. Roofs were made of thatch or boards that were laid over each other. Roofs were quite steeply sloped so most snow would fall off, and not leak through the roof. Greased papre or parchment were used to make windows. Most houses were built with one room on the ground floor and the attic was used for sleeping in. Furniture was usually hand made. The furniture made would be very, like a table, chairs, benches, and if there was a baby, a cradle. The wood that was used to make the furniture came from either Birch or Pine. Paint was homemade, red was a favourite colour. Fireplaces were the most important part of the house. The fireplace kept you warm, and lit up romms with its fiery glow. Wealthy would also have an iron stove.

Summary of a story On a page in this history text book is a story about New France. I will write a summary of this story. (The story starts in France.) The main character in this story is a girl called Genevieve. She is an orphan, and was raised by her aunt and uncle. Her uncle was a shoe maker, and had 6 children of his own. For a shomaker, it is hard to support 7 children. With absolutely no money or goods, Genevieve would probably noy find a husband. When Genevieve was 12 she started to work in the kitchen of a house belonging to a nobleman and his wife, but the nobleman were very old, and a rumour went around the servants that soon the nobleman would not need so many servants. Another servant called Francoise told Genevieve that the king was looking for young women to go to New France. These young women were called the King's Daughters. Just before Genevieve turned 14, she and Francoise took a wagon to a ship that was leaving for New France. After 6 long week of travelling by boat to New France, Genevieve and Francoise arrived in Quebec City. The girls that came over to New France were looked after by the nuns in the covent in Quebec City. Francois married within one month of the girls landing in New France. Some of the King's Daughters from the years before told Genevieve some of the rules of New France, and what life was like with a husband. Some even said that Jean Talon (the first intendant of New France) came and visited their own homes. Genevieve could not decide to marry so soon, and helped the nuns teach the young Huron and French girls hoow to read and write. Genevieve also helped the nuns look after the sick and injured people. The next spring Genevieve realised that she was not a new comer to New France, and that soon she would be helping the next King's Daughters. Genevieve then thought if she would marry and have children or stay with the nuns and help the people of New France, but she thought, I came to New France to make choices, not take what is given to me.