New France the 16th and early 17th centuries New France's economy was heavily centered on its Atlantic fisheries. This would change in the later half of the 17th and 18th centuries as French settlement penetrated further into the continental interior. Here French economic interests would shift and concentrate itself on the development of the North American fur trade. It would soon become the new staple good that would strengthen and drive New France's economy, in particular that of Montreal, for the next century. The trading post of Ville-Marie, established on the current island of Montreal, quickly became the economic hub for the
The People of New France The People of New France The People of New France ("Brève histoire des peuples de la Nouvelle-France" in French) is a book of Canadian history during the 17th and 18th Centuries written by Allan Greer and published by the University of Toronto Press in 1997 and by Boréal in 1998 for the French version, as part of the "Themes in Canadian History" series. Unlike works of history that focus on the political histories of government officials and the clergy, Greer focuses on the day-to-day reality of living in French colonial Canada. One 2007 review of the book describes the treatment