Frenchmen into Peasants：Modernity and Tradition in the Peopling of French Canada (Harvard Historical Studies)

LeslieChoquettenarratesthepeoplingofFrenchCanadaacrosstheseventeenthandeighteenthcenturies,thelesserknowncolonialphaseofFrenchmigration.DrawingonFrenchandCanadianarchives,shecarefullytracesthepreciseoriginsofindividualimmigrants,describingthembygender,class,occupation,region,religion,age,anddateofdeparture.Herarchivalworkisimpressive:ofthemorethan30,000emigrantswhoembarkedforQuebecandtheMaritimesduringtheFrenchRegime,nearly16,000arechronicledhere.Inconsideringthepatternofemigrationinthecontextofmigrationhistory,Choquetteshowsthat,inmanyways,themovementtowardCanadaoccurredasaby-productofother,perennialmovements,suchastheruralexodusorinterurbanlabormigrations.Overall,emigrantstoCanadabelongedtoanoutwardlyturnedandmobilesectorofFrenchsociety,andtheirmigrationtookplaceduringaphaseofvigorousAtlanticexpansion.Theycrossedtheoceantoestablishasubsistenceeconomyandpeasantsociety,tracesofwhichlingeredonintothetwentiethcentury.