ABSTRACT
New Amsterdam was renowned for its multi-ethnic character and commercial orientation. It played a central role in shipping furs from the interior of North America to Europe and was part of the Dutch trading network in the Atlantic World. In describing North American colonization, it is helpful to call to mind the different models followed by the Spanish and Portuguese. While there were distinctive elements to the Dutch, French, and English endeavors, each also represented a variation on practices first pursued by the Iberian powers. The French colonization of North America curiously blended Spanish and Portuguese precedents. By the early eighteenth century, the French had navigated the Mississippi and established posts in the Illinois country and Louisiana. Louis Antoine de Bougainville was an officer who served in the French army during the Seven Years’ War, the climactic struggle in the long Anglo-French rivalry for dominion in North America.
