Lecture 2 HIST 382

This lecture recounts the European discovery and colonization of northern North America. This led to protracted conflict for control of the area, with eventual British victory over France. Close on the heels of that victory, however, came the American Revolution—an event of importance not only to the U.S. but also to Canada. During the years just after the American Revolution important elements in the historic identity of Canada were put into place. Prominent among these was suspicion of American aggression and American radicalism.

Introduction	European discovery and colonization are the initial themes of the lecture, and we begin with the beginning—with Norse colonization, a development that lies outside the main stream of imperial rivalries.
English & French on the Atlantic Coast	Cabot and codfish were the origins of British exploration and colonization, beginning with Newfoundland, where Sir Humphrey Gilbert eventually pinned a British claim at St. John’s. Jacque Cartier’s exploration of the St. Lawrence and Gua de Monts’s colony at Port Royal, however, established a strong French presence in the region that was to become Atlantic Canada. Acadia was the name eventually applied to this French-colonized area.
On the St. Lawrence: Canada	Samuel de Champlain’s colonization of the St. Lawrence established the second, but eventually more substantial, arm of New France: Canada. European commerce and Jesuit missionaries were the forces driving the colony, while agricultural settlement languished under the system of seigneury.
Development of New France	Royal government under Louis XIV consolidated administration in New France, established legal, religious, and military authority, and made attempts to populate the colony. There were constraints that held back economic progress. Nevertheless, the French made amazing progress in the exploration of the North American interior.
Struggle in the Wilderness	Taking its title from the classic phrase of historian Francis Parkman, this section chronicles the colonial struggle between France and Britain and the eventual triumph of Britain, resulting in British authority over a French population in Canada.
British Canada	The Quebec Act established sound, liberal government for Francophone Canada, but social changes stemming from the American Revolution were equally important in shaping the development of the colony under British rule, as Loyalists fled the infant United States. The Constitutional Act of 1791 created new institutions to deal with the changing situation: Upper Canada (English, later Ontario) and Lower Canada (French, later Quebec).
Rebellion	Economic decline and democratic ferment produced rebellions during the 1830s in both Lower Canada and Upper Canada. These movements were regarded as manifestations of dangerous American influences.

Resources for Lecture 2
WWW	L'Anse aux Meadows – Parks Canada site, Norse settlement in Newfoundland
	Lifelines: Canada’s East Coast Fisheries – Exhibition by the Canadian Museum of Civilization treating the history of fisheries, including the European rush for cod
	Scenes of Old Acadia – Exhibit of paintings, “Illustrations of Evangeline’s Acadia,” from “Records of the Deportation and Le Grand Derangement, 1714-1768,” Nova Scotia Archives 7 Records Management
	New France, New Horizons – Nifty site exploring French exploration and colonization, courtesy Library & Archives Canada
	Plains of Abraham – Parks Canada site devoted to the field of decisive battle just outside the walls of Quebec City
Film	No recommendations other than, again, Black Robe
Reading	Morison, Samuel de Champlain
	Eccles, Canada under Louis XIV
	Kurlansky, Cod
	Mahaffie, Land of Discord Always
	Moore, The Loyalists

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