BONDS OF MONEY, BONDS OF MATRIMONY?: FRENCH AND NATIVE INTERMARRIAGE IN 17th & 18th CENTURY NOUVELLE FRANCE AND SENEGAL

by Tesdahl, Eugene Richard

This study contributes to the burgeoning field of Atlantic history, exploring significant similarities, contrasts, and new creations that existed between the French colonies of Nouvelle France (New France or Canada) and Senegal of West Africa, 1608-1763. The beaver felt hat, the fashion icon of the day, commercially linked the fur trade of New France with Gum Senegal production of Senegal. Growing from these economic ties, Frenchmen in both colonies engaged in loose or formal marriages with native women (Algonquians in New France and Wolofs, Jolofs, and Lebous in Senegal), termed marriages a la façon de pays, or “country-style marriages.” These arrangements provided sexual, commercial, military, and cultural bonds. Native women and Frenchmen in North America and Africa used marriage à la façon du pays to construct economic ties and kinship networks that bound together French and native communities even after the colonial era.