Maps like this one or this one say that New France had a lot of territory along the Mississippi River. Does this map just show the areas where other European powers recognized the french has a claim to or would native people living in that area understand that they were living under french rule? What power was New France able to exert over this territory, did it just monopolize trade or did they collect taxes and administer the area? Outside of Louisiana and Canada where did they Settle?
If you don't want to write up a full response and just want to direct me to relevant resources that would be great. If anyone knows good resources for maps and demographics of North America in the 18th century that would be great.
I do hope my source holds up.
The short answer is the Frwnch didn't actually control much. It had been claimed, but as far as exploitation, there was little beyond the St Lawrence. This was for a couple of reasons.
Much of the interest was commercial, and most of that centred on the fur trade. The was complacency in this as the French tended to let the native trappers come to them. The Hudson's Bay Company succeeded, in part, because they were able to intercept the trappers en route to Montreal and to offer closer trading posts.
What settlement there was, was almost mediaeval in nature. Colonists were in the country because they were sent there by the lord, the Seigneur. He operated an estate, with, for example sole right to grind grain. The settlement pattern, along the river, fields stretching back from the river, permitted this. This land pattern is still visible.
There was real incentive to quit, slip away to the woods and become a bush runner, a Courier de Bois. So much so that laws were enacted to prevent that. They didn't work so well.
Any work in the interior was mostly Missionary in nature, and almost exclusively Jesuit, who actively discouraged other involvement.
There were eventually outposts further inland, Detroit, Toronto, etc, but these were generally in response to trade pressure from the HBC and the now-American seaboard. Down the street from me in Toronto, for example, are the remains of Fort Rouille. It's tiny.
The French never really settled Louisianna. The Cajun presence stems from Acadians. These were exiles, forcibly deported by the British after New France was conquered by them.
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