ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts that are discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book looks at the initial encounter between colonists and land. Coming to America, many travelers had longstanding beliefs in what they would find, beliefs which were essential to the possibility of creating a New France. It explores the language, conversion, and identity. The French initially sought to convert the Amerindians to Catholicism using native tongues and had clearly optimistic expectations concerning the ease with which this could be carried out, fueled by a belief in a universal language of God. The book describes threefold look at how the New World challenged notions of Frenchness, through an examination of the past, the present, and the future. It focuses on association of two major notions: Christianity and mercantilism. The book studies Lescarbot and Champlain in relation to the merchants.
