How was French settlement of North America different from the British colonies?
French Exploration and Trade-France also established extensive settlements in North America. The first French settlements in present-day Canada began in 1608. French explorers, traders, and Catholic missionaries spread rapidly along the Great Lakes, rivers, and other waterways. By 1682, French explorer Sieur de la Salle had explored the entire Mississippi River south to New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. Although the number of French traders, missionaries, and other settlers was small, France laid claim to the vast interior of North America, including the Great Lakes region and the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
Unlike the English, the French were less eager to gain Indians' land, and so generally enjoyed better relations with Indian peoples. The French population in North America remained small, consisting mainly of fur traders, who exchanged tools, cloth, alcohol, and other goods with Indians for beaver pelts, which fetched a high price in Europe. Ultimately, trade worked to Europeans' advantage and Indians' disadvantage. Before the Europeans' arrival, Indians generally hunted and trapped no more animals than they needed for their own survival. Now that they could exchange beaver pelts for tools, alcohol, and other European goods, Indians quickly depleted the beaver population. Battles between different Indian peoples erupted as a result of the competition for scarce beavers. And the French, not the Indians, controlled the fur trade to a great extent, since they kept the records and contracts and benefited most from the exchange. So, the market, like disease, enabled Europeans to gain the upper hand in North America.