On 31 May - 3 June 1995, more than 200 participants gathered in Sydney and at Fortress Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, for the 21st annual conference of the French Colonial Historical Society. Essays in French Colonial History contains seventeen of the best articles presented at this meeting. It is a wide-ranging collection that explores many new and innovative facets of the French experience outre mer. The contributors, a mix of established experts and younger scholars, examine French activity in North America, the West Indies, Africa, and South America and focus on issues military, social, cultural, native, and political history.
Among the subject areas explored are: the 16th century French colonies in Brazil and Florida; Victor Hugues and the Reign of Terror on Guadeloupe; commerce and the distinctiveness of Louisbourg; the importance of letter-writing and compagnonnage; unresolved territory of the Creek Nation; case studies in the area of transition patrimonial; French colonial interests and policies in Atlantic Canada, Africa, and South America; attitudes among African Americans in post-French St. Louis; and a research report on the Historical Atlas of Quebec.
