You and a couple of others may have helped me choose the outcome.
La Floride: A French Huguenot Colony in North America
- Thread starter PGSBHurricane
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Chapter Four: Continuous Endeavors
Chapter Four: Continuous Endeavors
In 1572, there were only 2,000 white settlers in La Floride, with the majority concentrated at either Garrone, Charlesfort, or Isle de Royal. The St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre would forever change the landscape of France as the Huguenot population would continuously decline for centuries after. By 1600, there were approximately 9,000 white colonists over in La Floride, most of them French Huguenots with a small sprinkling of German and Dutch Calvinists. This was due to a natural replicating population as entire families came over en masse. Although some settlers arrived in the fall of 1572, the first real inflow of Huguenots and Calvinists began in 1573. Having been killed during the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, his son, Francois de Coligny, stepped in to take his place as the primary financial sponsor and the overall leader of the operations in the colony. A small stream of funds also came from Queen Elizabeth of England, as had been the case in the Wars of Religion. By 1585, areas as far South as Cap Roselière and as far north as what is now Cape Lookout were explored by the Huguenots and claimed for future settlement. Also by then, the colony of La Floride had grown to the point of there being three separate colonies under the umbrella of La Floride: one each in the north, south, and central parts of the colony. The South was named La Caroline after Fort Caroline, the central colony was named Nouvelle-Normandie for the homeland of Jeanne Ribault, and the north was referred to as Nouvelle-Bourgogne (the homeland of Gaspard de Coligny) and it was anchored at Wineau.
Of course, by this time, not only were the French and Spanish colonizing North America but England was on its way as well, exploring and looking at much of the Atlantic Coast of the continent. This meant the Huguenots had to be careful not to be swallowed up by the English despite being nominally allied. The first known permanent English settler in North America was Robert Tossey of Dartmouth, England who settled at Harbour Grace in Newfoundland in 1583, the same year Humphrey Gilbert claimed it for the English crown. The town, founded by Francis I of France in 1517, is thought to have its name derived from Harve de Grace, the name used for LeHarve, France. Newfoundland would be a long-time source of tension between the English and French. Back in England, Queen Elizabeth had divided the charter granted to Humprey Gilbert in 1578 between his brother Adrian Gilbert, and his half-brother Sir Walter Raleigh. Adrian's charter gave him Newfoundland and all points north, while Raleigh was awarded the lands to the south, with large portions already claimed by the Spanish and Huguenots. Raleigh needed to establish a colony within seven years or else he would lose his right to colonization. He was to, via delegated missions, discover lands and territories to occupy and utilize on behalf of the Crown. This would become a reality sooner than one would have anticipated at the time.
Setting sail from England in 1584, two barques captained by Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe headed south to catch the easterly trade winds that would carry them to the West Indies where they collected freshwater. The two ships then sailed northward until early July (July 4) when they sighted land at modern-day Cap Rochelle. They made landfall thirteen days later at an inlet which they named Litte Egg Harbor because of the eggs found in nearby seagull nests after they moved up the Atlantic Coast following a similar route that Giovanni da Verrazzano took 60 years earlier. After establishing friendly relations, they returned to England in the autumn of 1584 where they spoke highly of the tribes' hospitality, with two natives being brought with them as physical evidence, and the strategic location of the area. The expedition's reports described the region as pleasant and bountiful as the Garden of Eden. An impressed Queen Elizabeth granted Raleigh the territory of Virginia, referring to the area along the Atlantic Ocean between La Floride and New France, and proclaimed him the Knight Lord and Governor of Virginia. Raleigh sought investors for the colony, which was planned largely as a military operation focused on exploring and evaluating natural resources. Ralph Lane was appointed as the governor of the colony, Philip Amadas as the admiral, and Sir Richard Grenville as the overall leader of operations.
Approximately six hundred men were sent to Virginia on the initial voyage. The fleet sailing over to the New World consisted of seven ships): the Tiger (Grenville's flagship), Roebuck Red Lion, Elizabeth, Dorothy (Raleigh's personal ship), and two pinnaces. The fleet departed from Plymouth, England on April 9, 1585, traveling south through the Bay of Biscay. One pinnace sank due to a severe storm off the coast of Portugal. The remaining ships met up on the South Coast of Puerto Rico in May. The next month, all but one of the remaining ships (the other pinnace) arrived at LIttle Egg Harbor. Half of the original 600 men were planned to stay behind with Ralph Lane as part of this new colony. Meanwhile, a second fleet was scheduled to leave England that same month so it could deliver a second wave of colonists and supplies. After that arrived, the ship was redirected to Newfoundland on its journey home, to alert fishing fleets that the Spanish had begun seizing English commercial vessels in retaliation for attacks by English privateers. Once the second round of supplies ran out, the colony would be dependent on the generosity of the local tribes. They named their settlement after the correspondingly named harbor. Grenville left for England on August 25 to arrange for more supplies. The colonists spent the autumn acquiring corn, fish, oysters, and venison from the Lenape tribe to sustain themselves through the winter in case supplies ran out, but the easy part for the English colonists was over.
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Author's Note: Thank you readers for helping me decide where the location of the first permanent English settlement in North America. In our timeline, it was in Virginia more than 20 years later, but with the Huguenots making a serious effort, I assumed there would be more drive for the Roanoke analogue to be more successful. So this will be the first permanent settlement. Now, I had a tough time deciding where within New Jersey to create it. I didn't want to intervene too much with the future New Netherland and New Sweden colonies so it led me to decide on the southern and eastern coast of the state. I went with Little Egg Harbor because it was the southernmost point of the Quintipartite Deed that split OTL Province of New Jersey into East Jersey and West Jersey in 1674, and because, much like Roanoke Island, it's located within a set of coastal barrier islands. I might not update this again for a couple more weeks because of my internship plus a redux of an old TL I'm developing: https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/southern-less-usa-2-0-a-nation-torn-apart.517312/
Anyway, here are some TTL names for OTL Locations:
Cap Roselière = Cape Fear
Cap Rochelle = Cape Fear
La Caroline = Northeastern Florida
Nouvelle-Normandie = Coastal Georgia and South Carolina south of the Ashley River
Nouvelle-Bourgogne = Southeastern North Carolina and South Carolina north of the Ashley River
Wineau = Georgetown, South Carolina
Anyway, here are some TTL names for OTL Locations:
Cap Roselière = Cape Fear
Cap Rochelle = Cape Fear
La Caroline = Northeastern Florida
Nouvelle-Normandie = Coastal Georgia and South Carolina south of the Ashley River
Nouvelle-Bourgogne = Southeastern North Carolina and South Carolina north of the Ashley River
Wineau = Georgetown, South Carolina
Just to nitpick : Floride and Caroline are indeed feminine nouns in French, but it's unlikely that the definite article would become part of their actual name (it is not part of their names IOTL).
There are a handful of places where the article is part of its name (La Réunion, La Rochelle, Le Havre) but it's uncommon.
There are a handful of places where the article is part of its name (La Réunion, La Rochelle, Le Havre) but it's uncommon.
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I wonder, wouldn't it be in English Queen's interest to have as much as possible protestants in France (to foment as more troubles as they can), but not so much in New World, to avoid competition?
At this point, they see the Catholics as their biggest competitors. The Spanish Armada hasn’t happened yet after all. And Queen Elizabeth also has funded the Huguenots in the wars of Religion, as well as their colonies to a lesser extent (which almost happened IOTL too).
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New France is used to emphasize the Catholic French colonies, including Canada.
Chapter Five: A Struggle Of a Place for Protestants
Chapter Five: A Struggle Of a Place for Protestants
As previously mentioned, 1572 marked a turning point for the Huguenots, as a wave of immigration to La Floride began following the St. Bartholomew Day’s Massacre. While this significantly heightened the likelihood for the survival of the colony, this did not stop much in the way of turmoil. First, there was the looming threat of two neighbors: the English to the North and especially Spanish to the West. The Spanish and their colonies represented what the Huguenots hated and feared: oppressive Catholocism and their attempts (along with the Portuguese, whom the Huguenots faced directly at Fort Coligny) to eliminate the Protestant presence in North America, even if it meant killing off Protestants. Not long before the first settlement in La Floride outside of Charlesfort, the governor of Spanish Florida, Menedez de Aviles placed soldiers under Francisco de Reinoso on an island at what is now called Bahía del Estero (Estero Bay). Juan Rogel began his missionary duties in March 1567 while Aviles built a fort and houses for the missionaries. This, along with San Marcos, began the rise of a Spanish sphere of influence along the western coast of Florida. There was an attempt at Tequesta along the Miami River on the southeast coast but that was abandoned by 1570 in order to focus on San San Antón de Carlos on the West Coast. A second mission, Santa Ana, was established in 1587 to more easily connect the previous two established posts.
To the north, the English looked like they were having some of their challenges as well. Initially, many English colonists came aboard to the New World in order to find gold or silver. When it soon became obvious that there were no traceable sources for these riches within a nearby distance, some of the men became despondent and gave up on the entire operation. Noticing copper among the Native American tribes in the area (mostly in the form of rings) and while the English did some inquiring about how they abstained it, they could never track the copper to its point of origin. Little information survives, however, about the winter months between September 1585 and March 1586, although the colonists most likely exhausted their provisions by October, just a month before new resupply ships came in for the winter. At the same time, Spanish Amadas spent time exploring the region, impressed with its climate and soil quality. There was also a small but deadly epidemic of either influenza or smallpox that winter at Little Egg Harbor. By spring relations between the colonists and the Lenni Lenape were not as positive as when the colony was set up due to a high degree (but not over-reliance) on the food the Natives shared with them. With the risk of war between the Natives and colonists rising along with general tension, things would temporarily ease upon the arrival of fresh supplies by Easter as Grenville promised.
The French Huguenots themselves may have had the worst go so far. Aside from two rivaling neighbors, it had plenty of internal challenges to deal with. First, who would be responsible for agricultural production? Unlike the Spanish colonies which were settled by Conquistadores, soldiers, and missionaries, largely depending on the Natives and farmers came later, and the English colonies which were dominated by poor colonists and criminals who were undesired at home (many of whom were farmers), the majority of the colonists in La Floride were upper-middle-class merchants. This meant that no one was overtly skilled at large-scale farming. Some small-scale farming was conducted in La Floride, but that was before the large wave of migration began in 1572. As a solution, they recruited German and Dutch-speaking farmers to accompany them. On top of that, there were some problems within the government. With the primary areas of settlement fairly distant and spread out from each other, communication was often days apart and often on different pages. Some government officials within the colony spend much of their money on trying to find gold and silver, and many people were angry when it turned out there was little to none available as they assumed their money was being wasted. Tropical diseases like malaria were present, thanks to the colony being located in low-lying marshland, causing a notable death toll. But there was a much bigger challenge they had to face.
At this point, the Spanish and Portuguese Catholics were dominating the New World. King Philip of Spain was so appalled at the spread of Protestantism into England he developed an idea to conquer the British Isle to bring it back into the Catholic fold. Tensions rose in the 1580s between Spain and England after Elizabeth greenlit privateers like Sir Francis Drake to conduct raids on Spanish fleets. England and Spain entered a state of war in 1585 when England signed a treaty supporting Dutch rebels in the Spanish Netherlands and Philip formulated a plan to remove Elizabeth from the English throne. This would be done with the Spanish Armada (a naval force of 130 ships, 8,000 seamen 18,000 soldiers). The Armanda met the English fleet for the first time on July 31 off the coast of Plymouth. For the next several days, the English harassed the Spanish Armada as it charged towards the English channel. On August 8, the English set eight empty vessels ablaze and they drifted towards the Armada, causing a wave of panic and forcing them to flee and while out of formation. The English were able to launch a naval offensive the same day, the Battle of Gravelines. Shortly after, strong winds carried the Armada into the North Sea, reducing supplies and enabling the spread of disease. Invasion plans were called off and by the time it reached Spain again that autumn, 60 of its 130 ships were lost and 15,000 men died. England became a European naval powerhouse and Protestants could stay in North America.
Believe it or not, this didn't take long as I thought it would. Thus, I'm not sure if it's as good as the other chapters so far. What do you guys think of it?
Will the Dutch and German peasants become Frenchified or they will keep their own cultures?
As long as they stay less than 10% of the population, I don’t think they will become too Frenchified, only enough to better understand what they are doing.
Deleted member 147978
I would like to see a map of the New World.
And I'm going to throw this prediction:
Le Floride, Canada, and whatever colonies England claim in North America would eventually become republics in the 18th century if the Enlightenment happens to be like IOTL.
And I'm going to throw this prediction:
Le Floride, Canada, and whatever colonies England claim in North America would eventually become republics in the 18th century if the Enlightenment happens to be like IOTL.
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You should be getting a map of the New World (or North America at least) pretty soon. I just need to find a good map of North America circa 1590 or 1600 to use as a guide.
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