4. The Development of Society in New France ✅ Flashcards
What was the seigneurial system?
Dividing land
How did it work?
The company of 100 Associates granted parts of their land to seigneurs. This land was called a seigneury. It was divided into smaller lots called censives which were given by seigneurs to new comers to New France who were called censitaires.
Why were churches placed on every Seigneury in New France?
To evangelize the people to Christianity.
What was the use of gran mills?
The censitaires payed their taxes by making flour from grains.
Why were seigneuries typically situated next to the St Lawrence river or moving bodies of water?
For trading and transporting goods, and communicating with other colonies.
What type of people were Seigneurs?
They were wealthy or influential individuals like nobles, members of the bourgeoisie, administrators (responsible for seeing how things run) and military officers (they knew how to keep order and organize people).
What were the responsibilities of the Seigneurs?
To remain loyal to the king, give a censive to someone who agreed to the requirements, reserve any precious metal, ore or oaks (strong wood used to build ships), build and upkeep a mill for the censitaires, give one fifth of the value to the king if they sold their seigneury, keep with the state of affairs and inform authorities (keep track of population, money collected etc.)
What were the Censitaires referred to as?
Les Habitants
Why were Habitants attracted to the idea of living in New France?
To earn a living that was slightly more profitable than in France, escape poverty from France, have larger farms, have a peasant/lord relationship, carve a family legacy in New France by starting a new life.
Was was the responsibilities of the Censitaires?
To work the land, pay annual rent to the seigneur in money or goods, mill grains only in the seigneurs mill and give a portion of the milled grain, provide an average of three days labour annually to maintain the seigneury and maintain roads.
What was a censitaire expected to do when receiving a censive?
Clear land of the forest so that they were able to farm.
What did they dedicate their summers to?
Farm work and clearing land.
What did the Censitaires do during the winter?
They were allowed to have some leisure time which included crafts and get togethers to have supper, drink and organize a society.
