Habitants et marchands de Montréal au XVIIe siècle

by Louise Dechêne

Louise Dechêne (1928-2000) est une historienne québécoise de renom. Professeure à l’Université de Montréal et à l’Université d’Ottawa puis, pendant près de deux décennies, à l’Université McGill, elle est l’auteur de plusieurs études historiques marquantes.

La parution, à Paris en 1974, de son premier livre Habitants et marchands de Montréal au XVIIe siècle (Boréal compact no 5) constitue une date charnière dans l’historiographie canadienne. Cet ouvrage signale en effet l’arrivée de l’école historique française des Annales sur les rives du Saint-Laurent. Il a remporté le Prix du Gouverneur général et le prix François-Xavier-Garneau.

Genres: Canada, History

532 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

All the data-driven, social history you ever wanted about colonial Montreal. Lot of stuff here too about capitalism and relations of production and the frontier versus the metropole. Basically, Dechene argues that the fur economy and the agriculture economy of colonial Montreal were pretty distinct from each other, and there wasn't a lot of capital moving from one to the other. The merchants (furs) did their thing, and they were pretty well connected to Atlantic circles, especially to networks out of places like La Rochelle back in France. The habitant farmers weren't connected to anyone. They couldn't produce grain for any market - France didn't need it, the Caribbean got grain from France, and anyway where were they going to get ships to send grain from Montreal anywhere? What would they bring back from the Caribbean? Molasses? The French state even exported grain to Quebec to feed troops, even when this made no sense because there was plenty of local grain already there. Stubbornly awkward state priorities. Anyway, this helps explain how small-scale agricultural Quebecois society developed.
Lots of interesting things I didn't know here. The mobility of women around New France was surprising to me. I did not realize the extensive merchant family connections that linked Quebec and New Rochelle. I didn't think about the weird labor needs - basically habitant farmers only needed labor for one generation, and then they had lots of kids who could do the labor. So there's no market for labor either. Similar to Massachusetts at the time - why emigrate to this place where there is no market for labor?
Valuable book for the shelf of someone interested in Quebec history.

[Patti Pjerrou-Paynter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Filled with information on the history of Montreal, Quebec, and New France. Who was selling what, to whom, how much, and when.