History Browser

Eventually war erupted in North America between competing English and French colonies during the 17th century. In 1713, France ceded much of Acadia (now New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island) to Britain and abandoned its claims to Newfoundland. They retained control of Cape Breton, where they built the fortress of Louisburg to protect their fishing and shipping interests.

During the 16th century, European fishermen, whalers, traders, adventurers, and explorers visited the eastern seaboard of North America and established a lucrative fur trade by the early 1600s. While fishermen and whalers had generally co-operated with First Peoples in exchanging goods, permanent European settlement and involvement in the fur trade with Hurons and Algonkians soon led the French to join these nations in their war with the Iroquois Confederacy.

Samuel de Champlain shot and killed two Iroquois chiefs in 1609 at Ticonderoga. This set off a long, bitter war between the French colonists and the Iroquois Confederacy.

From 1650 to 1760, French settlements in Québec City, Montréal, and Trois-Rivières created a society organized for war. Under the order of Louis XIV, King of France, every man underwent mandatory military training. Supported by allies of the First Peoples and a small garrison of professional soldiers, the Canadien militia formed the backbone of the colony’s military forces until the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763).