Editing New France (section)

==Religion==
{{Main|Jesuit missions in North America}}
Before the arrival of European colonists and explorers, First Nations followed a wide array of mostly [[Native American religion|animistic religions]].<ref name="Tooker1979">{{cite book|author=Elizabeth Tooker|title=Native North American spirituality of the eastern woodlands: sacred myths, dreams, visions, speeches, healing formulas, rituals, and ceremonials|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LBKoyY455PQC&pg=PA20|year=1979|publisher=Paulist Press|isbn=978-0-8091-2256-1|page=20}}</ref> During the colonial period, the French settled along the shores of the [[Saint Lawrence River]], specifically [[Catholic Church|Catholics]], including a number of [[Jesuit missions in North America|Jesuits]] dedicated to converting the indigenous population; an effort that eventually proved successful.<ref name="FindlingThackeray2010">{{cite book|author1=John E. Findling|author2=Frank W. Thackeray|title=What Happened? An Encyclopedia of Events That Changed America Forever|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D8ZHHz7AQN8C&pg=PA52|year= 2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-622-5|page=52}}</ref>

The Catholic Church, which after Champlain's death was the dominant force in New France, wanted to establish a [[Christians|Christian]] community in the colony.<ref>{{cite book |first=Li |last=Shenwen |year=2001 |title=Stratégies missionnaires des Jésuites Français en Nouvelle-France et en Chine au XVIIieme siècle |publisher=Les Presses de l'Université Laval, L'Harmattan |page=44 |isbn=978-2-7475-1123-0}}</ref> In 1642, they sponsored a group of settlers, led by [[Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve]], who founded Ville-Marie, precursor to present-day [[Montreal]], farther up the St. Lawrence.<ref name="Miquelon">{{cite encyclopedia |first=Dale |last=Miquelon |title=Ville-Marie (Colony) |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |publisher=[[Historica Canada]] |edition=online |date=16 December 2013 |orig-year=7 February 2006 |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ville-marie-colony |access-date=14 June 2016 |archive-date=27 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227080146/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/ville-marie-colony/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Throughout the 1640s, Jesuit missionaries penetrated the Great Lakes region and converted many of the [[Wyandot people|Huron]]. The missionaries came into conflict with the [[Iroquois]], who frequently attacked Montreal.
[[File:Le Grand Voyage du Pays des Hurons 1632 Gabriel Sagard.jpg|thumb|upright|''Le Grand Voyage du Pays des [[Hurons]]'', [[Gabriel Sagard]], 1632]]

The presence of Jesuit missionaries in Huron society was nonnegotiable. The Huron relied on French goods to facilitate life and warfare. Because the French would refuse trade to all indigenous societies that denied relations with missionaries, the Huron had more of a propensity towards Christian conversion.<ref name="Seeman 2011 95">{{cite book |first=Erik R. |last=Seeman |title=The Huron-Wendat Feast of the Dead: Indian-European Encounters in Early North America |location=Baltimore |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |year=2011 |page=95 |isbn=978-0-8018-9854-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pY-4vfAXRrwC&pg=PA95 }}</ref> The Huron heavily relied on European goods to perform burial ceremonies known as [[The Huron Feast of the Dead]]. Trading with the French allowed for larger amounts of decorative goods to be buried during ceremonies as opposed to only a bare minimum.<ref name="Seeman 2011 95"/> With the growing epidemics and high number of deaths, the Huron could not afford to lose relations with the French, fearing to anger their ancestors.<ref name="Seeman 2011 95"/>

Jesuit missionaries explored the Mississippi River, including the [[Illinois Country]]. Father [[Jacques Marquette]] and explorer [[Louis Jolliet]] traveled in a small party, starting from Green Bay down the Wisconsin River to the Mississippi River, communicating with the tribes they met en route. Although Spanish trade goods had reached most of the indigenous peoples, these were the first Frenchmen to connect in the area named for the [[Illinois Confederation|Illinois]], including the [[Kaskaskia]]. They kept detailed records of what they saw and the people they met, sketching what they could, and mapped the Mississippi River in 1673.<ref name=Stelle2005>{{cite web |last1=Stelle |first1=Lenville J. |last2=Anthropology Students |first2=Parkland College |title=Inoca Ethnohistory Project: Eye Witness Descriptions of the Contact Generation, 1673–1700 |publisher=Center For Social Research, Parkland College |location=Champaign, Illinois |year=2005 |url=http://virtual.parkland.edu/lstelle1/len/center_for_social_research/inoca_ethnohistory_project/inoca_ethnohistory.htm |access-date=April 14, 2010 |display-authors=1}}</ref> Their travels were described as first contacts with the indigenous peoples, though evidence of contact with Spanish from the south was clear.<ref name=Stelle2005 />

Subsequent to the arrival of French children in Quebec in 1634, measles was also brought along with them, which quickly spread among the indigenous peoples. Jesuit priest [[Jean de Brébeuf]] described the symptoms as being severe. Brebeuf stated that the fearlessness of the indigenous peoples towards death upon this disease made them perfect candidates for conversion to Christianity.{{sfnp|Seeman|2011|page=50}} The indigenous peoples believed that if they did not convert to Christianity, they would be exposed to the evil magic of the priests that caused the illness.<ref name="Seeman 2011 95"/>

Jesuit missionaries were troubled by the absence of patriarchy in indigenous communities. Indigenous women were highly regarded within their societies and participated in political and military decisions.<ref>{{cite book |first=Andrea |last=Smith |title=Native Americans and the Christian right: the gendered politics of unlikely alliances |location=New York |publisher=Duke University Press |year=2008 |page=116 |isbn=978-0-8223-4163-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=anQgR7eAEWUC&pg=PA116}}</ref> Jesuits attempted to eliminate the matriarchy and shift the powers of men and women to accommodate those of European societies. "In France, women are to be obedient to their masters, their husbands."<ref name="Catherine Randall 2011">{{cite book |first=Catherine |last=Randall |title=Black Robes and Buckskin: A Selection from the Jesuit Relations |location=Toronto |publisher=Fordham University Press |year=2011 |page=98 |isbn=978-0-8232-3262-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r3VWu0svw7kC&pg=PA98}}</ref> Jesuits would attempt to justify this to the indigenous women in hopes to enlighten them on proper European behavior. In response, Indigenous women grew worrisome of the presence of these missionaries fearing they would lose power and freedom within their communities.<ref name="Catherine Randall 2011"/> By 1649, both the Jesuit mission and the Huron society were almost destroyed by [[French and Iroquois Wars|Iroquois invasions]] (see [[Canadian Martyrs]]). In 1653, a peace invitation was extended by the [[Iroquois|Onondaga Nation]], one of the five nations of the [[Iroquois Confederacy]], to New France, and an expedition of Jesuits, led by [[Simon Le Moyne]], established [[Sainte Marie among the Iroquois|Sainte Marie de Ganentaa]] in 1656. The Jesuits were forced to abandon the mission by 1658, as hostilities with the Iroquois resumed.<ref>{{cite book|title=Historical Atlas of Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=itsTLSnw8qgC&pg=PA84|year=1987|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-2495-4|pages=84–}}</ref>

The second article of the charter of the ''Compagnie des Cent-Associés'' stated that New France could only be [[Catholic Church|Catholic]].<ref name="Zuidema2011">{{cite book |editor-first=Jason |editor-last=Zuidema| title=French-Speaking Protestants in Canada: Historical Essays |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sRAohur4rvMC&pg=PA17 |chapter=The French Monarchy and Protestant Immigration to Canada Before 1760; The Social, Political and Religious Contexts |last=Larin |first=Robert |date=2011 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-21176-6 |page=17 }}</ref> This resulted in [[Huguenots]] facing legal restrictions to enter the colony when [[Cardinal Richelieu]] transferred the control of the colony to ''Compagnie des Cent-Associés'' in 1627. Protestantism was then outlawed in [[Kingdom of France|France]] and all its overseas possessions by the [[Edict of Fontainebleau]] in 1685.<ref name="Zuidema2011"/> In spite of that, approximately 15,000 [[Protestants]] settled in New France by using socioeconomic pretexts while at the same time concealing their religious background.<ref name="Powell2009p">{{cite book|author=John Powell|title=Encyclopedia of North American Immigration|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VNCX6UsdZYkC&pg=PA101|year=2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-1012-7|pages=101–}}</ref>

The Huguenots (a name used to designate French-Speaking Protestants) were a mercantile group, originating from the coastal cities of North-Western France, and had a significant impact on the early development of New France, especially in the regions of Quebec and Acadia,<ref>{{cite web |title=The first Canadian colony : Acadia |url=https://museeprotestant.org/en/notice/the-first-canadian-colony-acadia/ |website=Musée virtuel du protestantisme |access-date=9 November 2022}}</ref> where many people still hold Huguenot surnames to this day.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jaenen |first1=Cornelius J. |title=Huguenots |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/huguenots |website=The Canadian Encyclopedia |access-date=9 Nov 2022}}</ref> Huguenots were famous for their large and interconnected trading and communication network that spanned throughout France, and most of her colonies.<ref name="Thompson Rivers University">{{cite web |last1=Fish |first1=Malcolm |title=Huguenots and Nouvelle France: Tracing the Impact of the French Protestant Minority on Colonial Development in Canada |url=https://publishing.bceln.ca/index.php/phpdialogues/article/view/553/498 |website=PHP Dialogues |publisher=Thompson Rivers University |access-date=9 November 2022}}</ref> This network was also known for trading with the Dutch Republic, and the Kingdom of England; two of France's most important rivals, that also happened to be Protestant nations.

Initially, King Henri IV recognised Protestants as a significant minority within France, and allowed them a certain degree of freedom within their religion. After several years of various skirmishes within Metropolitan France, the Huguenots were deemed to not be "faithful servants of the king", and their mercantile powers stripped, their trading network disbanded, and widespread governmental persecutory policies were enacted both within mainland France and Nouvelle France. In 1661, Louis XIV was able to enact self-rule as his regency ended, and he instituted a variety of anti-Protestant conventions throughout the greater French Empire. Under these new rules, Protestant children were forcibly converted to Catholicism, implemented direct governmental jurisdiction over what were formerly Huguenot-controlled trade routes, and labelled the Protestant communities throughout Nouvelle France (specifically Quebec and Acadia) as significant threats to the colonies, as they might sympathise with English Protestants competing in the same areas and trades. Eventually, Protestants were banned from settling in Nouvelle France, and the existing ones were only allowed to "summer" in the colonies, not "winter" there.<ref name="Thompson Rivers University"/>