This inquiry focuses on the emergence, growth, and collapse of the New France colony in North America. French explorers, missionaries, traders, and settlers established an important presence in North America, beginning with Jacques Cartier’s explorations in 1534 and continuing through the 19th century. The development of the fur-trading industry, along with a relatively stable relationship with Native peoples in North America, peaked around 1710. At that time the French controlled territory stretching west from Newfoundland to the Rocky Mountains and south from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico