France Antarctique
France Antarctique (formerly also spelled France antartique) was a
Colonization attempt
Europeans first arrived in Brazil in April 1500, when a fleet commanded by
Early French involvement with Brazil
Early expeditions of French
France continued to trade with Portugal, especially loading
Colonization
On 1 November 1555 French vice-admiral
To the still largely undeveloped mainland village, Villegaignon gave the name of Henriville, in honour of
1557 Calvinist arrival
Unchallenged by the Portuguese, who initially took little notice of his landing, Villegaignon endeavoured to expand the colony by calling for more colonists in 1556. He sent one of his ships, the Grande Roberge, to Honfleur, entrusted with letters to King Henry II, Gaspard de Coligny, and according to some accounts, the Protestant leader John Calvin.
After one ship was sent to France to ask for additional support, three ships were financed and prepared by the king of France and put under the command of Sieur De Bois le Comte, a nephew of Villegaignon.
- The Petite Roberge, with 80 soldiers and sailors was led by Vice Admiral Sieur De Bois le Comte.[5]
- The Grande Roberge, with about 120 on board, captained by Sieur de Sainte-Marie dit l'Espine.[5]
- The Rosée, with about 90 people, led by Captain Rosée.[5]
Doctrinal disputes arose between Villegaignon and the Calvinists, especially in relation to the Eucharist, and in October 1557 the Calvinists were banished from Coligny island as a result.[3] They settled among the Tupinamba until January 1558, when some of them managed to return to France by ship together with Jean de Léry, and five others chose to return to Coligny island where three of them were drowned by Villegaignon for refusing to recant.[3]
Portuguese intervention
In 1560 Mem de Sá, the new Governor-General of Brazil, received from the Portuguese government the command to expel the French. With a fleet of 26 warships and 2,000 soldiers, on 15 March 1560, he attacked and destroyed Fort Coligny within three days, but was unable to drive off their inhabitants and defenders, because they escaped to the mainland with the help of the Tupi Indians, where they continued to live and to work.[6] Admiral Villegaignon had returned to France in 1558, disgusted with the religious tension that existed between French Protestants and Catholics, who had come also with the second group (see French Wars of Religion).
Urged by two influential
Largely in response to the two attempts of France to conquer territory in Brazil (the other one was named France Équinoxiale and occupied present-day São Luís, State of Maranhão), between 1612 and 1615, the Portuguese crown decided to expand its colonization efforts in Brazil.
Other French in Brazil
In 1502,
In 1555 the French tried to settle in what is now Rio de Janeiro (above). They were driven out in 1567.
In the 1530s the 900-man João de Barros/Aires da Cunha expedition was sent to colonize the northern coast. It was wrecked on the shore and almost everyone died. After this disaster the Portuguese neglected the north coast and the French moved in, trading along the north coast and as far south as the mouth of the São Francisco River. They allied with the local Potiguar. In 1582 a Portuguese expedition destroyed five French ships on the Paraíba do Norte River but was driven off by the Potiguar. In 1612 the French tried to settle France Équinoxiale at what is now São Luís but they were driven out two years later. After a few decades the French were gone, except for French Guiana.
See also
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History of Brazil |
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- Colonial Brazil
- Dutch Brazil
- Equinoctial France
- French colonization of the Americas
- Jean de Cointac
- List of French possessions and colonies
- French invasions in Brazil
- Battle of the Canoes
Notes
- ^ a b A savage mirror: power, identity, and knowledge in early modern France Michael Wintroub p.21 [1]
- ISBN 978-1-84520-374-0
- ^ a b c d e f France and the Americas: culture, politics, and history Volume 3, By Bill Marshall, Cristina Johnston p.185ff
- ^ Parkman, Francis (1983). France and England in North America Vol 1. New York, New York: Library of America. pp. 33–41.
- ^ a b c d e History of a voyage to the land of Brazil, otherwise called America by Jean de Léry, p.5ff
- ISBN 978-1-59884-100-8. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
- ^ For this section see John Hemming, Red Gold, 1995, pages in index
References
- Francis Parkman, Pioneers of France in the New World, University of Nebraska Press, 1996.
- André Thevet, Les singularités de la France antartique, 1558, new ed. (Paul Gaffarel, ed.) 1878.
External links