Fiche du document
1990
Copyright PERSEE 2003-2023. Works reproduced on the PERSEE website are protected by the general rules of the Code of Intellectual Property. For strictly private, scientific or teaching purposes excluding all commercial use, reproduction and communication to the public of this document is permitted on condition that its origin and copyright are clearly mentionned.
Sujets proches
Frenchmen (French people)Citer ce document
Philippe Jacquin, « A la recherche de la Mer de l'Ouest : l'exploration française en Amérique du Nord », Dix-Huitième Siècle, ID : 10.3406/dhs.1990.1748
Métriques
Partage / Export
Résumé
Philippe Jacquin : The search for the Western Sea : French exploration in North America. In the first half of the 18th Century, French backwoodsmen criss-crossed the Great Lakes region and reached the Western Plains. Attempts at exploration, such as the La Verendrye family's search for the Western Sea must be seen in the context of the backwoodsmen's policy and the Indian tribes' strategies which exploited the presence of the French. When the La Vérendrye family arrived in the Great Plains, the way of life of the Indians in these great spaces was being transformed by the arrival of horses and European products. French westward advance had to take account of the new environment and was hindered by the Indians' warlike attitude and also by their disappointment at finding regions where the fur trade was unlikely to prosper.