The Diocese of Quebec was vast and its population diverse and widespread. It included the whole of French North America, or what was called New France, divided in seven colonies: Newfoundland, Acadia, Île Royale, Louisiana, Illinois, Upper Country and Canada, inhabited by Indigenous people and the European settlers. During the tenure of Saint-Vallier, immigration from France was mostly over; the European colonists were farmers, fishermen, sailors, merchants and ‘coureurs des bois’, overseen by a small elite of aristocratic leaders, but a great demographic explosion occurred between 1685 and 1730, the white population in New France jumping from c. 12,000 inhabitants to c. 41,500.