The story of French settlements in the Americas is largely confined to Québec and New Orleans, but this volume demonstrates that there is much more to be told. Thirteen authors examine the French presence in North America, the Caribbean, and French Guiana, regardless if they were under French political control or that of American, British, or Spanish regimes. French-speaking communities of ethnic French, French-African American, and French-Native American (Métis) are examined. Even after they no longer had regular contact with France, these communities maintained a French identity for generations.
By the mid-1750s French settlements stretched in a far-flung arc from Canada, through the Great Lakes and Mississippi Valley, to the Gulf Coast, and Caribbean. They tended to be thinly populated with French settlers, but cohesive and linked together by trade along the rivers and lakes. Fur traders and voyageurs moved goods and produce between settlements and kept up contact with France. At the end of the French and Indian War in 1763, France lost all its North American colonies, and thousands of French Acadians from present-day New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island were dispersed to France, Spanish Louisiana, and the English colonies.
In this volume, the authors examine these far-flung French settlements, using the latest in archaeological techniques to discover and analyze the material culture. They find that be it in Sainte Genevieve, Missouri, or Fort Saint Joseph, Michigan, Francophone communities maintained a continuity of cultural traditions including diet, personal possessions, and home construction styles. During and after the upheavals of the French Revolution, more French settlers came to the new World and tended to maintain their French identity.
The authors of this volume are on the cutting edge of a growing sub-field of French-American archaeology. They combine archaeological research with a rich body of historical records to illuminate a colorful part of the American experience that complements the more familiar legacy of British and Spanish colonists.
