Carignan-Salières Regiment "Canada," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 99

With royal support, the defenses of New France were improved. A veteran military force of 1200, the Carignan-Salières regiment, arrived in 1665 and waged a campaign against the Iroquois. After the regiment devastated their villages and cornfields, the Iroquois negotiated a peace settlement.

About 400 members of the Carignan-Salières regiment stayed on in Canada as settlers. During the first decade of royal rule, the crown also subsidized immigration from France, notably of some 700 unmarried women, who were called filles du roi (daughters of the king) because the king paid for their transportation and dowries. Their arrival helped balance the male-female ratio, which was overwhelmingly male.

Thereafter immigration from France was slight; the 10,000 settlers reported on the 1681 census became, by natural increase, the ancestors of almost all the 6.3 million French-speaking Canadians of the late 20th century.