Governor of New France

The governor of New France was appointed by the King of France to be the chief diplomat and organizer of the military, as well as the king's representative in the French territories in North America known as New France . In the years between 1534 and 1763, the area of ​​New France included the area around the Saint Lawrence River , the Mississippi Valley ( Louisiana ) and Acadia .

The army under his administration consisted of regular French soldiers, as well as militias , who were recruited in the event of a conflict with the indigenous peoples or the neighboring English colonies. His role as a diplomat covered relations with the Indians as well as with the other colonies of North America. From 1663, the King of France set up a supreme council , which, in addition to the governor, consisted of the bishop, an intendant of New France and five or twelve councilors. Initially, the governor presided over the council, from 1675 this task was transferred to the director, whose area of ​​responsibility included in particular the judiciary and finance.

Governors of New France

Term of office	Surname	title	comment
July 24, 1534 - January 15, 1541	Jacques Cartier	governor
January 15, 1541 - September 1543	Jean-François de La Rocque , Sieur de Roberval	Lieutenant General
January 12, 1598 - February 1606	Troilus de Mesgouez , Marquis de La Roche-Mesgouez	Lieutenant General
February 1606 - 1614	Jean de Biencourt , Baron de Saint-Just	Lieutenant General
August 1624 - July 1626	Émery de Caen	Governor (provisional)	1. Term of office
July 1626 - July 22, 1629	Samuel de Champlain	governor	1. Term of office
July 22, 1629 - March 4, 1632	Lewis Kirke	governor	under British rule
April 20, 1632 - March 1, 1633	Émery de Caen	Governor (provisional)	2. Term of office
March 1, 1633 - December 25, 1635	Samuel de Champlain		2. Term of office
December 25, 1635 - June 11, 1636	Marc Antoine Jacques Bras-de-fer de Chateaufort	Governor (provisional)
June 11, 1636 - August 19, 1648	Charles Jacques Huault de Montmagny	Governor General
August 20, 1648 - October 12, 1651	Louis d'Ailleboust de Coulonge	Governor General	1. Term of office
October 14, 1651 - September 12, 1657	Jean de Lauzon	Governor General
September 1656 - September 12, 1657	Charles de Lauzon de Charney		Representative of Jean de Lauzon
September 13, 1657 - July 11, 1658	Louis d'Ailleboust de Coulonge	Governor General (provisional)	2. Term of office
July 11, 1658 - August 31, 1661	Pierre de Voyer d'Argenson , Viscount d'Argenson	Governor General
August 31, 1661 - July 23, 1663	Pierre du Bois d'Avaugour , Baron d'Avaugour	Governor General
July 23, 1663 - August 15, 1663	François de Montmorency-Laval	Bishop of Québec (Provisional)	1. Term of office
August 15, 1663 - May 5, 1665	Augustin de Saffray de Mézy	Governor General
May 6, 1665 - September 12, 1665	Alexandre de Prouville , Marquis de Tracy	Lieutenant General (provisional)
September 12, 1665 - September 12, 1672	Daniel de Rémy de Courcelle	Governor General
September 12, 1672 - May 9, 1682	Louis de Buade , Comte de Frontenac	Governor General	1. Term of office
May 9, 1682 - October 9, 1682	François de Montmorency-Laval	Bishop of Québec (Provisional)	2. Term of office
October 9, 1682 - March 10, 1685	Joseph-Antoine Le Febvre de La Barre	Governor General
March 10, 1685 - August 1, 1685	Jacques de Meulles	Governor General (provisional)
August 1, 1685 - August 12, 1689	Jacques-René de Brisay , Marquis de Denonville	Governor General
August 12, 1689 - November 28, 1698	Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac	Governor General	2. Term of office
November 29, 1698 - May 26, 1703	Louis-Hector de Callière Bonnevue	Governor General	until September 14, 1699 provisional
May 27, 1703 - October 10, 1725	Philippe de Rigaud , Marquis de Vaudreuil	Governor General	until September 16, 1705 provisional
1714 - 1716	Claude de Ramezay		Representative of Philippe de Rigaud
October 10, 1725 - January 11, 1726	Charles LeMoyne de Longueuil , Baron de Longueuil	Governor General (provisional)	1. Term of office
January 11, 1726 - September 19, 1747	Charles de la Boische , Marquis de Beauharnois	Governor General
September 19, 1747 - August 15, 1749	Rolland-Michel Barrin , Comte de La Galissonière	Governor General (provisional)
August 15, 1749 - March 17, 1752	Jacques-Pierre de Taffanel de la Jonquière , Marquis de La Jonquière	Governor General
March 17, 1752 - July 1752	Charles LeMoyne de Longueuil, Baron de Longueuil	Governor General (provisional)	2. Term of office
July 1752 - July 10, 1755	Michel-Ange Duquesne de Menneville , Marquis de Duquesne	Governor General
July 10, 1755 - September 8, 1760	Pierre de Rigaud , Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal	Governor General
September 8, 1760 - February 10, 1763	Jeffrey Amherst	Governor General	under British rule

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Udo Sautter: History of Canada. CH Beck, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-406-44737-6 , pp. 14-15.

literature

• Udo Sautter : History of Canada. CH Beck, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-406-44737-6 ( Beck'sche series 2137 CH Beck Wissen ).
• Gilles Havard, Vidal Cécile: Histoire de l'Amérique française. Éditions Flammarion, Paris 2003, ISBN 2-08-210045-6 .