Apart from the relationship with natives it would also be interesting to think about what would have happened during the French Revolution. Would a French America have been royalist or republican? Would it have made a difference on the mainland? (I assume it wouldn’t have been independent by then, of course).
Speaking of royalists and parliamentarians, I just realized I have no idea what, back in the real world, the American colonies’ relationship to the (English) Civil War was.
That may be. The system of trade created by Champlain and his descendants cultivated native alliances in a way like no other colonial power in America. The French sent ‘courier de bois’ like Etienne Brule to live among the native tribes and learn their languages, even encouraging them to marry outside the Catholic church! That was because, for much of its’ history Quebec was a private fur trading enterprise uninterested in encouraging French immigration. But you said “refused to trade with them” which is another thing entirely, and historically incorrect. The British for their part were longtime allies of the Iroquois Confederacy, perhaps the most powerful North American nation on the eastern seaboard. You couldn’t make allies of indigenous people without trade; it went with the territory. But Samuel de Champlain was indeed truly ahead of his time. His story deserves to be more widely known beyond scholars of Canadian colonial history.
That might not be far off the mark. The Norse sagas recording voyages to ‘Vinland’ record violent
And one theory is that the outpost at L’Anse aux Meadows was abandoned as a result. After all, the Vikings may have had germs (they were pastoralists after all), but possessed neither guns nor steel. From a military standpoint therefore they were on a much more even playing field as compared to the Europeans that arrived some five centuries later. It may have been a technical ‘first’, but the Norse adventure in North America resulted in very little else.
Oh no, they had steel. They even worked iron at L’Anse aux Meadows and had access to good steel through trade.
There were very few English people in the Americas during that period. According to Wikipedia, the English Civil War was 1642–1651, and in 1650 the headcount of English folks was:
They may have had nominal Royal Charters, etc, but I don’t think they had much actual government at all.
I would go as far as saying that Columbus never ever was in North America at all.
Bog iron, but that was common. (I didn’t know that you could harvest bog iron once a generation. Makes sense from its biological origin.)
http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/bog_iron.htm
Alright, in my haste to create a general picture, I misspoke.
They continued to trade, but the trade was less favorable. And there were times they wouldn’t trade for guns or gun powder.
But the large point was that the British just did not have nearly as good of an attitude when dealing with Native Americans in general. Again, not that the French were saints either, and I concede this opinion centers around the Great Lakes area.
Really? That’s interesting to know. I always assumed my ancestor was a free spirit who went looking for adventure and found it. I did do some more digging on Pierre Navarre and a cabin he built in Indiana is still standing. I plan to make a pilgrimage there some day. I wonder if he was a ‘courier de bois’?
Here is some oversharing I did several years ago you may find interesting.
They smelted iron but did not possess steel in any quantify AFAIK. Different animal entirely.
That’s really cool to be able trace your family history like that! As for your Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather he was not likely a ‘courier de bois’ since that system was long gone by mid 18th century. But a quick Google search tells me Navarre was a common surname in Quebec. With a little digging it should be no problem to trace that side of your family much further, possibly even discover the date of their arrival in New France since the Church kept impeccable records. It wouldn’t be surprising if some of your ancestors worked in the fur trade given that it was the economic engine of the colony for more than a century. And still important economically well into the mid-19th century. The story of the founding of Quebec really needs to be better known. It is a splendid city alive with tradition and history today. And the food culture in the entire province is to die for! Highly recommend. ‘Black Robe’ is a great film about the contact period that you also might be interested in:
Black Robe (film) - Wikipedia
Highlighted for your convenience.
Many Viking Age swords have blades that were imported from Western/Central Europe, especially the bladesmithing region in the Rhineland that is still known for its Solingen blades. Those would have been various qualities of steel.
Unlikely the Norse voyagers to the New World circa 1000AD possessed steel in any quantity to make a difference militarily, which was my original point. Steel swords only made their way into the hands of a few Viking elite, and were largely decorative.
You misunderstood these articles. What the researchers are saying is that the three swords they analysed were pattern welded locally and possibly mostly for show. However, other blades would have been available for battle, both locally made and imported. (I actually don’t happen to agree with their assessment but that’s another story).
The point being that steel was very well available to late Iron Age Scandinavians, both in the form of steel bars for local pattern welding and as finished, imported blades.
“Pattern welding fell out of use in the 9th century, as higher quality steel became available. Better steel also allowed the production of narrower blades, and the swords of the 9th century have more pronounced tapering than their 8th-century predecessors, shifting the point of balance towards the hilt.”
So by the 11th century the Vikings had had sophisticated steel for hundreds of years, and not just for swords. Axes were made with a steel cutting edge forge-welded to the iron head, a practise that continued for centuries after that.
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