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
Christian (given name) name for females, without any feminising word endings. Today the name is popular in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, and Estonia. Today in Europe — though not the United States — it is almost exclusively used as a male name, but in the 17th and 18th centuries it was a popular female first name in Scotland. Female variants of the name include "Christine", "Cristina", "Christiane", "Cristiane", "Kristen", "Kristin", and "Kirsten". Holders of the name "Cristana" may go by