The development of the population of the French was very slow and low and because people weren't really fond of going to a place that's practically life threatening. Some of the dangers included crossing the Atlantic, winter's harsh cold, or the harassment of the Iroquois. There weren't really any forms of attraction to the desolate place. Many of the immigrants that traveled to New France were just men who came mainly for business or to aid in the battles with the Iroquois. Some of the men came with their spouses to aid in the population growth. Even the religious societies made young girls marry men by the hundreds. But it wasn't enough for New France to make it grow. New France had more than 3,000 people, but about 1,850 people were immigrants while the rest were natives.
So the king of France, out of the advice of his finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert, started to make a plan to cause a huge multiplication in the colonies in New France. the king sets up intendants in this new project he is in the process of making. Jean Talon, the first intendant, put his focus on making the women, craftsmen, merchants, farmers, many other beneficial people to be more attracted to New France and making it more populated. So he made three parts in the project of making New France population vast: indentured servants or engagés, soldiers, and Les Filles du Roy.
The engagés were people who were apprentices in occupations like woodworking, building, ship transporting, clothing and textile crafting, and working on the blacksmith art. They were very inexperienced so they would usually be hired by employers and be given a deal to be under their rule for thirty-six months. Then when it's done, they'll be in the degree of a "master craftsmen." Since it was hard to find a job in the French region at the state, so they would be sent to New France with a large amount of money and the state of a seigneury.
The soldiers were in charge of containing the Iroquois from destroying the settlements. They are given much respect and power in what they do. They were paid to an extreme amount. They had many possessions of land. The higher ranking soldiers were given a seigneury. They were given high values from the people because they were the one that protected the colony when needed.
The Filles du Roy who were women who the king encouraged to get married and go to New France. They were mostly orphans and other young single women that the king chose. The king would gave them a dowry and fifty livres to help in her stay in New France. Since was a numerous amount of men, they could choose any one they so desire. They preferred men who had an employment with a nice house. Because of the immigration of all those women there was 4,450 children already born.
Because of those plans people started to become more attracted to New France. The land was affordable with the economy being more stable. The fur trade became more profitable. Many people even in the military retired for the commercial business. It was truly a huge breakthrough at that time.
Seeing how the people were slacking off with producing more people, Jean Talon started to make laws. He lowered taxes for new families with babies. The more babies they had, the lesser the taxes they were. If anybody didn't have babies at a period of times, they'd receive really expensive fines. They helped with the payment of houses and land. He made sure that people got married and impregnated. There would be for just as a minimum nine children in a family. Because of that the birthrate was risen up to a high level. It was recorded as one of the most highest birthrate in the world. The population of New France raised up to the thousands in just one century.
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