1625: French settlements in the West Indies begin, exporting sugar and tobacco, and emigration to Canada is encouraged among traders and fishermen.[7][8]
1626: Peter Minuit, governor of New Netherland, buys Manhattan Island for 60 guilders(equivalent to $24 USD now) worth of trade goods from the Canarsie Indians (Dutch later have to pay Manhattan Indians, actual occupants of the island). Dutch policy is land payments to Indians, neutrality in Indian conflicts relating to French-English struggle.[12][13][14]
1627: Cardinal Richelieu, chief adviser to Louis XIII, organizes a joint-stock company, the Company of One Hundred Associates (also known as the Company of New France), to establish a French Empire in North America. It is given a fur monopoly and title to all lands claimed by New France (April 29). In exchange, they are to establish a French colony of 4000 by 1643, which they fail to do.[15][16]
1628: Olivier Le Jeune, an 8-year-old boy from Madagascar, arrives in Quebec. He is the first recorded slave purchase in New France. Le Jeune is probably the first person of African origin to live most of his life in Canada.[17][18]
