What were the main social groups in the New France settlement?

In this article on social groups, Arnaud Bessière answers these questions and many others. The author paints a portrait of the colony’s population at different points in time and covers each social category: seigneurs, merchants, artisans, peasants and servants.

What were the three social classes in New France?

Coming from different regions of France, settlers were divided in three social classes: nobility, middle class, and commoners. In fact, almost all were commoners. When arriving in New France, settlers worked in seigneuries (large estates owned by the church or wealthy people).

Who were the seigneurs in New France?

The seigneurs were nobles, merchants or religious congregations, who had been granted a fief by the French crown, with all its associated rights over person and property. The seigneurie, or seigniory, (a large piece of land) was granted by the Governor and the Intendant.

Who was involved in the seigneurial system?

A person who owned a seigneury was called a seigneur. The seigneur divided his seigneury into smaller strips of land and rented them out to farmers. These farmers were known as habitants. One end of a habitant’s strip of land usually ended at a river.

Which of the following groups was most important in bringing settlers to New Netherland in the 1600s?

Answer: The West India Company turned to a group known as “Walloons,” French- speaking people who had fled their homeland in what is now Belgium and came to the Dutch Republic. These “Walloons” became the first permanent settlers in New Netherland.

How many types of society groups found in France explain?

France under the Ancien Régime (before the French Revolution) divided society into three estates: the First Estate (clergy); the Second Estate (nobility); and the Third Estate (commoners).

What are the different social classes in France?

Feudal France was neatly divided into three social classes, or Estates, with different jobs and privileges. The clergy was the First Estate, the nobles were the Second Estate, and the peasants were the Third Estate. The Third Estate was the largest but had few rights at all.

Who were the seigneurs and the habitants?

Habitants were free individuals; seigneurs simply owned a “bundle of specific and limited rights over productive activity within that territory”. The seigneur – habitant relationship was one where both parties were owners of the land who split the attributes of ownership between them.

What did the seigneurs do?

The seigneur was obliged to build and maintain a mill for grinding the grain. He was also responsible for settling disputes and acting as local magistrate upholding French civil law. French civil law is written down, or statute law, as opposed to common law..

Who controlled resource distribution in New France?

In New France, 80 per cent of the population lived in rural areas governed by this system of land distribution and occupation. In principle, the seigneur granted a piece of land to a family under a royalty system….Seigneurial System.