FRANCO-AMERICA

EVOLUTION OF FRENCH AMERICA

Today, French America is more often referred to as French-speaking America, or simply, Franco-America. Even though the cultural gap between European and North American Francophones has widened thus forging new identities, it is true to say that strong ties still exist between France and its old pre-French Revolution colonies of North America!

As a UNESCO World Heritage site, Old Québec is the #1 historic district to examine many milestones of the history of Franco-America. Our Historical Walking Tour will provide an insightful picture of the personalities, places and events that shaped this fascinating history. Some of the more salient themes are:

· The European powers and their territorial claims in the New World

· Birth of Acadia (Atlantic coast), Canada (St. Lawrence River watershed), and Louisiana (Mississippi River watershed)

· Fear of French Louisiana expansion: Spanish Missions in Texas

· Continental explorations : fur trading, coureurs des bois, voyageurs, and birth of the Métis nation

· Fear of French claims over the Ohio: Washington and the Jumonville affair

· Exodus of French population and failed assimilation: Acadians and Cajuns

· Conquest and peace treaty: French Canadians become British subjects

· Québec Act: London tolerates Catholicism in recently conquered French Canada

· French Canadians refuse to join the American Revolutionary War

· France and the Americans form an alliance: the Battle of Saratoga, NY, a turning point in the American Revolutionary War

· French heroes in Yorktown, VA: Lafayette, Rochambeau and De Grasse

· Catholic French Canada: a refuge for Protestant American Loyalists

· Napoleon Bonaparte’s influence on North America’s destiny: boom in Canadian economy, U.S. expansion and Mexican independence

· French Canadians in the Lewis and Clark expedition through the Louisiana Territory

· Catholic and Protestant Canadians ally against the British: “Sons of Liberty” and “No more taxation without representation”...

· Catholic and Protestant Canadians on the road to independence: common fear of American Civil War aftermaths and haste to thwart the Manifest Destiny

· France fails to recover influence in America: 5 de Mayo and French Empire of Mexico

· Exodus of French Canadians to New England’s mills: the Franco-American culture

· Paris architecture in Mexico City: President Diaz’s dream to remodel his capital city

· French and English Canada in the 20^th century: two cultures, two political solitudes

· Québec’s Quiet Revolution reshapes French-speaking Canada

· Québec today: social and political challenges in the only French-speaking province of Canada; concerns about cultural assimilation in bilingual and multicultural Canada

QUÉBEC 1608

581-990-1600 (mobile, texto, What’s App)

quebec1608tours@gmail.com