Norman, Breton, and Basque sailors establish cod fisheries on banks of Newfoundland.

Reign of François I.

Voyage of Giovanni da Verrazano along the North American coast (Carolina, New York, Narragansett Bay, and Nova Scotia).

Battle of Pavie; François I taken prisoner.

First voyage of Jacques Cartier to Canada.

Second voyage of Jacques Cartier to Canada.

Voyages of Jacques Cartier and Jean-François de La Roque de Roberval to Canada.

Cartier and Roberval’s attempted settlement on the St. Lawrence River.

Attempted French settlement in Bay of Guanabara (Rio de Janeiro) under direction of Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon fails.

Reign of Charles IX; Wars of Religion begin (1562).

Jean Ribault et de Goulaine de Laudonnière leads three expeditions to South Carolina and Florida.

Spanish massacre of French in Florida, 1565.

Dominique de Gourgues leads reprisal expedition against the Spanish.

Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre.

First mention of a French ship equipped for the fur trade.

Reign of Henri IV.

Pierre Chauvin founds first fur trading post in North America, at Tadoussac.

Edict of Nantes.

Expedition of François Gravé du Pont to Canada, accompanied by Samuel de Champlain.

Feast of Tadoussac--Alliance between the French, the Algonquins, and the Montagnais begins.

Expedition of Pierre Du Gua de Monts to Acadia, accompanied by Samuel de Champlain and Jean de Biencourt de Pourtrincourt.

Pierre Du Gua de Monts winters at Ile Sainte Croix, near border of present-day New Brunswick and Maine.

Pierre Du Gua de Monts founds Port-Royal in Acadia.

Samuel de Champlain founds Quebec.

French-Huron alliance begins.

Assassination of Henri IV; reign of Louis XIII.

Thirty Years War begins.

Richelieu becomes head, King’s Council.

First Jesuit missionaries arrive in Canada.

Canadian commercial monopoly granted to Company of the One Hundred Associates.

Kirke brothers occupy Quebec for England.

Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye: France recovers Canada.

Founding of Trois-Rivières.

Thirty Years War: France officially enters war against Spain.

Founding of first réduction (reservation) at Sillery on the St. Lawrence River.

Society of Our lady of Montreal founded for “conversion of the savages.”

Franco-Iroquois War.

Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve founds Ville-Marie, which becomes Montreal.

Reign of Louis XIV.

Peace of Trois-Rivières between the Mohawks, the French, and their Indian allies.

The Fronde.

Destruction of Huron lands by the Iroquois.

Franco-Iroquois War.

Peace between the French and the Iroquois.

British expedition seizes Acadia.

British occupation of Acadia.

Peace of the Pyrenees with Spain.

Franco-Iroquois War.

Chouart des Groseilliers and Pierre-Esprit Radisson reach western end of Lake Superior.

Personal rule of Louis XIV (1661-1715) begins; Colbert appointed to King’s Council.

Founding of colony of Plaisance at Newfoundland.

Retrocession of Canada to French royal authority; Seigneurie of Montreal entrusted to Company of Saint-Sulpice.

France begins to subsidize emigration to the Americas; arrival of Intendant Jean Talon; first Jesuit mission in the Pays d’en Haut.

Expeditions of Carignan-Salières regiment against the Mohawks.

General Peace of Quebec between the French, their allies, and the Five Nations; Iroquois migrations toward Montreal begin.

Franco-British struggle for control of Hudson Bay begins.

French reoccupation of Acadia.

At Sault Sainte Marie, French claim possession of Pays d’en Haut.

General alliance with the Indians in the Pays d’en Haut.

Count Frontenac named Governor of New France.

“Discovery” of the Mississippi by Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette.

Founding of Fort Frontenac.

French-Illinois alliance begins.

René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle founds trading post at Niagara.

Establishment of Fort Crèvecoeur on the Illinois River.

Permit system implemented for fur traders in the Pays d’en Haut.

Expedition of René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle to mouth of the Mississippi.

French claim possession of the Mississippi Valley, under name of Louisiana; building of Fort Saint-Louis in Illinois Country.

Resumption of war between the French and the Iroquois; expedition of Joseph-Antoine Le Febvre de La Barre against the Senecas.

Revocation of Edict of Nantes.

René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle leads expedition by sea to Louisiana, which fails to locate mouth of the Mississippi.

Expedition of Jacques-René de Brisay de Denonville against the Senecas.

War of the League of Augsburg (War of the Grand Alliance).

Iroquois raid on Lachine, near Montreal.

Franco-Indian raids at Corlar, Salmon Falls, and Casco; Admiral Phips sacks Port Royal, but fails to take Quebec.

Expeditions of Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville to Hudson Bay and Newfoundland.

Suspension of trade in the Pays d’en Haut .

Expedition of Louis Buade de Frontenac against the Onondagas and the Oneidas.

Treaty of Ryswick--Spain recognizes French authority in Saint-Domingue (Haiti).

Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville founds Louisiana; establishment of Mission of Sainte-Famille at Cahokia by Seminary of Foreign Missions.

Antoine Laumet Lamothe Cadillac founds Detroit.

Great Peace of Montreal between the French, their Indian allies, and the Iroquois.

War of the Spanish Succession.

Founding of Mobile.

French–Choctaw alliance begins.

Fort Saint-Louis (Illinois Country) abandoned; Jesuits set up Mission of the Immaculate Conception near the Kaskaskia River.

French and their Indian allies attack Deerfield.

British seize Port-Royal, which becomes Annapolis-Royal.

Aborted attack on Quebec by Sir Hovenden Walker.

Louisiana commercial monopoly granted to Antoine Crozat.

War against the Fox begins.

Reopening of the Pays d’en Haut. 

Treaty of Utrecht: France cedes Hudson Bay, Newfoundland, and Acadia, but retains Ile Royale (present-day Cape Breton Island) and Ile Saint-Jean to England.

Reign of Louis XV.

Regency of Philippe, duc d’Orléans.

John Law founds Banque générale.

Founding of Fort Rosalie (Natchez) and Fort Saint-Jean-Baptiste (Natchitoches).

Creation of Company of the West by John Law.

Louisiana commercial monopoly granted to Company of the West, renamed Company of the Indies in 1719; administrative reattachment of the Illinois Country to Louisiana; founding of Fort Toulouse (Alibamons).

French migration to Louisiana.

Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville founds New Orleans.

Founding of Fort Chartres and village of Prairie du Rocher in the Illinois Country.

War against Spain; French capture Pensacola.

Collapse of John Law’s system.

Founding of Louisbourg (Ile Royale); exploitation of Ile Saint-Jean begins; reorganization of Company of the Indies.

Founding of village of Saint-Philippe in the Illinois Country.

Pensacola reverts to Spanish authority.

Promulgation of Code noir (slave code) in Louisiana.

Natchez uprising.

Expeditions against the Natchez and the Fox.

Retrocession of Louisiana to French royal authority; virtual cessation of African slave trade to Louisiana .

Second expedition against the Natchez.

Explorations of La Vérendrye brothers in the Plains.

First campaign of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville against the Chickasaws.

Signing of durable peace accord with the Fox.

Second campaign of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville against the Chickasaws.

War of the Austrian Succession.

British capture of Louisbourg.

British occupation of Ile Royale.

Crisis of French and Indian alliance in the Pays d’en Haut.

Village of Ste. Geneviève founded in the Illinois Country.

French and British diplomats fail to resolve dispute over Ohio Valley.

Jumonville Affair launches Seven Years War in America.

Deportation of Acadians begins.

French and Indian victory over the British at the Monongahela River, near present-day Pittsburgh.

Official beginning of the Seven Years War in Europe.

Marquis de Montcalm leads French operations in North America.

French and Indian victory at Fort William Henry.

Fall of Louisbourg.

Fall of Quebec; death of Louis-Joseph de Montcalm.

Fall of Montreal.

Secret Treaty of Fontainebleau cedes western Louisiana to Spain.

End of the Seven Years War.

By Treaty of Paris, France cedes to Britain all territory east of the Mississippi (eastern Louisiana), as well as all Canadian possessions; France retains fishing rights on Newfoundland coast as well as islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon; Pontiac’s War begins.

Pierre Laclède and Auguste Chouteau found St. Louis.

British garrison reaches Fort de Chartres in the Illinois Country; Acadian immigration in lower Louisiana begins.

Anti-Spanish revolt at New Orleans.

Effective establishment of Spanish regime in Louisiana.

Reign of Louis XVI.

Quebec Act.

American Declaration of Independence; Louis XVI decides to help “rebel” American colonists.

Marquis de La Fayette in America.

France commits itself officially on side of “rebels.” Treaty of Amity and Commerce and Treaty of Alliance signed with United States; France enters war against Britain.

Expeditionary corps sent under leadership of Count Rochambeau.

French and American forces defeat British at Yorktown.

Treaty of Versailles.

Expedition of La Pérouse.

French Revolution.

Haitian Revolution.

Slave revolt in Saint-Domingue (Haiti).

French émigrés in the United States.

Reign of Terror.

Emigration of the Saint-Domingue refugees to the United States, France, and circum-Caribbean; United States grants assistance to French refugees (1794).

Secret French expedition to map Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

XYZ Affair.

Napoleon Bonaparte becomes first consul.

Quasi-war between France and United States.

Treaty of San Ildefonso--secret treaty by which Spain cedes western Louisiana to France; Convention of 1800 between France and United States.

Leclerc Expedition fails to reoccupy Saint-Domingue.

Effective retrocession of Louisiana from Spain to France; France sells Louisiana to the United States.

Lewis and Clark Expedition begins.

Americans take possession of St. Louis.

Haitian independence declared.