French colonization of the Americas French colonization processes began in the early seventeenth century. During the previous century, the French had tried unsuccessfully to settle in U.S. territory and, despite the difficulties, during the sixteenth century the French fishing vessels regularly visiting the Atlantic coast of North Africa. This came primarily due to the demand for fur in the European markets and, therefore, French merchants began a lucrative trade with Native Americans. In the early seventeenth century, Samuel de Chaplain founded trading posts in Nova Scotia, Annapolis and Quebec (first French colony, founded as part of a fur factory) in the current Canada. Champlain did not hesitate to support their allies, the Hurons in their wars with other indigenous peoples of eastern North America. Another French colony was founded in Montreal, where he began the exploration of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River by Ren Robert Cavalier.Unlike the first English settlers who stayed on the coast and used intermediaries to trade with the Indians, the French moved deeper into the woods with the intention of expanding trade and religious boundaries with the natives. Therefore, for the first half of the eighteenth century were French settlements at Detroit, Niagara, Kaskaskia and Dominica Cahokia, in the territories of Illinois and New Orleans in the present United States of America. These posts will give France control of a territory stretching from Canada to Louisiana. The French government also encouraged the establishment of colonies in the Caribbean during the seventeenth century, conquered the islands of Saint Christopher, Saint Croix, Saint Bartholomew, Grenada, Saint Martin, Tortuga, Marie Galante and the western part of the Spanish who called Saint Domingue (Haiti). The importance of the French colonies was primarily economic and military.They were close to the main Spanish shipping routes, allowing intercept their ships and establish trade. The French islands had an economy known as “plantation”, based on production and export of sugar, cotton, cocoa and snuff. On the other hand the slave labor also generated huge profits. Eventually the French colonies had more slaves than white people, one of the factors that favored its economic prosperity.