2009/11/30 by Christopher Hodson, Brett Rushforth · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis #Colonialism, slavery, and trade #Historical Economic and Social Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1478-0542.2009.00635.x
openalex publication_date 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/23
Abstract Although it remains, in Allan Potofsky’s words, the “poorer cousin” of scholarship on the British and Iberian Atlantics, research on France’s early modern empire has expanded in recent years. This article examines that growing body of literature, focusing on works that deal with the complex relationships among indigenous peoples, French colonists, and the French state. We argue that these books, articles, and dissertations point toward a new vision of the early modern French Atlantic. Rejecting older notions of a static, moribund monarchy opposed by dynamic colonial societies that flouted the crown’s designs, recent studies instead examine points of connection between a multi‐faceted state and the peoples it engaged, creating a more nuanced portrait of early modern French colonialism.