The French explorer Jacques Cartier founded Charlesbourg-Royal, France's first New World colony, in 1541 in southern Canada. From there, French colonies spread southward and westward into the United States. In the 18th century, New France, as the New World territories were called, included all or parts of Maine, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota and North Dakota. Some of these claims overlapped with British claims, causing disputes between New France and Britain's 13 colonies.
In 1682, Rene-Robert Cavalier, Sieur de la Salle claimed the entire Mississippi River basin for France. He named this territory Louisiana, after King Louis the XIV. This vast tract of land encompassed the modern states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. This included nearly all the land west of the Mississippi except for the Spanish holdings in the south and southwest.
Upon losing the French and Indian War in 1763, France gave up all its territory east of the Mississippi River to Britain, as decreed by the Treaty of Paris. This more than doubled the size of Britain's American holdings. As part of the treaty, France also ceded the Louisiana Territory to Spain, but received it back in 1800 through the secret Treaty of Ildefonso. However, it did not remain long in French hands, for in 1803, Thomas Jefferson purchased the region from Napoleon for $15 million, effectively ending French colonization in the United States.
Unlike Britain's relatively crowded colonies, French territories were sparsely populated. Many residents were traders or trappers who came to seek their fortunes selling furs. Others were Jesuit missionaries who came to spread Christianity among the natives. In an attempt to increase the population, France paid families to go to the New World, sent the colonies large groups of marriageable women and imposed fines on any French American with an unmarried daughter over age 15. Part of the reason for the lack of immigration was due to France's religious policies. Unlike the British colonies, which were havens for people seeking religious freedom, only Catholics were allowed to settle New France.