France By Amira

France in the 1600’s
Amira Kazeminy

Agreeing on a Religion
During the mid 16th century the French people fought eight civil wars, all because of Religion. Some French people wanted to be Protestant, and some Catholic, but they couldn’t live in peace together

Sending a Sailor…
The Italians were such good sailors that other nations started hiring them to sail and explore for them. The French started to dream of territory and riches, so they found an Italian to sail for them. His name was Giovanni da Verrazano. The king of France sent him off to find a river passage through the American continent to Asia. The people were sure that one existed; they called it the “northwest passage” Giovanni da Verrazano sailed up the North American Coast and into what would years later become New York City’s Harbor. There was no passage way there so he kept sailing farther north to Newfoundland in Canada


Not Ready to Give Up.
He never found a passage because there wasn’t one. When he told the king, the king wouldn’t listen and wasn’t ready to give up.

French Men Sailing and Fool’s Gold

The king sent another man. A French man this time, named Jacques Cartier to the New World. Jacques Cartier made it through three voyages, explored the North Country, New Brunswick, and the Newfoundland. He brought back a few samples of stone that he thought was gold. It was really fool’s gold or iron pyrites. The French weren’t any good at finding real gold.


Life as a Part of a Peasant Family
Being a peasant family in France was a hard life. A man or father’s job was to run a shop or do plowing. After seven years of age, children would become laborers. 25% of the babies die before the age of one. 55% died before the age of ten. A mother had to give her dowry. Dowry means money given by a bride to her husband upon marriage. Most women worked ten years to build their dowry. A lot of women worked as prostitutes or “wet nurses”.
“Rule of Thumb”
Have you ever heard the term “rule of thumb”? That term comes from early France. The rule was that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick if the stick was no thicker than the width of his thumb.
A Little More About Peasents
About 75% of Europe’s population was peasants. Peasants borrowed or rented land from nobles. Peasants could be bought, sold and traded.
Taxes
Nobles and Clergy did not have to pay taxes. Those who had the least money paid the most taxes. Peasants worked for 12-15 days on unpaid labor per year for the state.