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Chapter lV
Quebec and Pondichery an urban fort city of the French
The development of a structured town in Quebec was rather
slow because of the initial problems faced by Champlain and others.
Champlain built the Lower Town 'Habitation" in 1608 because it
fulfilled his requirements as a trading post. The town was known as a
'habitation', which, according to Furetiere, meant a small colony, a
settlement in a deserted and uninhabited place." It had a natural
harbour, clean drinking water, lumber, and good land for cultivation
nearby. He saw that trade with permanent settlement was essential
in order to consolidate the power of France in America.
The occupation of the St. Lawrence area formed the key to the
vast and unknown territories from where fur supplies came. He
chose Quebec as the first settlement area on the sloping ground
between the river and the cliffs. He built a fort, which was
surrounded by a moat, and supplied with cannons placed at the
corners. He made arrangements for the severe winter by cultivation
of rye and wheat. This was the first step towards self-support to
prevent any calamity. In earlier expeditions many such as those of
" Rbmi Chmirr , Q&xc: A French alqnisl Town in America. 1880 10 169Q,
(Onawa: Minister of the Supply and Services Canada, 1991) P. 20.
119
Jacques Cartier and Sir Robewal in 1535-40 died of scurvy and lack
of proper food. From Quebec the fur trade could be controlled to a
certain extend. The sad part was that Quebec remained an outpost
as late as the 1650.
For the purpose of trade the French chose Montreal and Trois
Rivieres lower. MonMal became the hub of the colony. The
Suipician secular clergy came to take over the seigneury of Montreal
and started their missionary work. Their target was to convert the
natives and start education for them. Qudbec, the original habitation,
remained the administrative and cultural centre of the colony; a
capital city designed to demonstrate authority and order. "Walls
protected and bounded the city. Erected to afford security to the
inhabitants and to safeguard territorial integrity, they hemmed in the
city's expansion; they brought about crowding and encouraged multi-
storied construction. Fortification also influenced city layout by
requiring wide military roads for manoeuvres and other defence
needs, which affected street grid patterns as well as lot division^.'^
Quebec had a Lower Town that was essentially its commercial
port, its merchant's quarter and its warehouses. It also had a central
community space where a church was located in front of which
'' RBmi Chernier, QuBbec: A French Colonial Town in America. 1660 to 1690, P
18
120
people could gather on public occasions. In social terms, it was the
lower dass and bourgeois sector of town. The Upper Town was the
enclosed section on the heights that housed the administrative,
cultural and religious elite. It exemplified the common social
distinctions of the period that were to be found in most European
planned towns."
The town planning undertaken by the administration of New
France had a passion for visible order and symmetry." in all the
major colonial towns that the French established one sees the
attempt to plan growth and maintain control. The plan was also to
survey oficial road allowances outside the towns in the rural areas to
facilitate the transport and communication. The first known town
plan was that of the Governor Huault de Monlmagny for the 'cily" of
Qubbac in 1634.'' Though this settlement at narrowing of the St.
Lawrence River had been permanently established in 1608, the
European population of the entire colony did not exceed 250 souls in
" Bill Hiller 8 Julienne Hanscn, The Social Loaic of Space (Cambndge: Cambrlge
University Preu, 1989), Passim.
" Peter N. Moogk, puildina A House in New France: an avaunt of the ~emle~iti9S
of and w s m e n in early Canad@ (Toronto: MeCllelland and SteWrt. 19TI),
p. 13.
" ibi.,13
121
1636.'' Quebec was still a small French outpost sewing as a base
for the fur trade.
When the Unuiine and Augustinian nuns arrived in 1639, a
bishop in 1659 and the Sulpician secular priests as seigneurs of the
island of Montreal missionary work was of paramount importance.
The clergy worked with the royal officials to keep relations as
harmonious as possible in the colony and to uphold the established
order of a hierarchical society. Progress of was however lethargic
and the colony's ability to survive was in doubt until 1663 when Louis
XIV assumed direct rule of Canada from the trading companies that
had administered the colony in the King's name. Official
encouragement to immigration in the 1660's raised the immigrant
population to about 6,500 persons in 1672, when France's wars in
Europe diverted the monarch's money and interest away from the
colony.
In addition to social and occupational distinctions, and visible
order, a town required facilities of control. Although government was
generally benevolent and paternalistic, it was in Vleory absolutist and
the King's Will could be imposed brutally when required. Quebec
and Montrbal, during most of the French regime, had no military
peter N. ~ocgk , Buildina A House in New France: an account Of the mmexitis
of dbnt end crabmen in erdv Can&, p. 13
122
barracks and no large contingents of troops. Nevertheless, the
French settlers were very conscious of the authority of the state.
There were public demonstrations and boisterous protests over food
shortages, profteering and unjust levies, but these revolts against
constituted authorityw The concept of control to promote social
harmony, extended to local decrees regarding market days, disposal
of garbage, fire prevention, hours of business, and Sunday
observance. Just as society was expected to be orderly, so towns
were laid out in orderly fashion and governed by regulations
bolstering the ideals of harmony, equity and Subservience in one's
proper place in the social hierarchy.
The situation in French Pondichery was similar to in New
France. The town planning took time, as Govemor Franpise Martin
was the one responsible for building up the fort in Pondichery that
developed into the main town. The fort building was undertaken as a
safety measure because war in 1676 between two Indian nobility
Sher Khan Lodi and Nazir Muhammad took place. At first a bastion
was added to the loge that the French had. Franpis Martin had
made some arrangements for people who were essential for trade
purpose to stay in Pondichery loge. He set up a separate village for
the weavers, textile painters and coral polishers so that he could get
" Terence Clowlsys. 'Thunder Guecrtr: Popular Dirturbsnws in Early French
Csnsd.,'&tcfical P e a (1979), pp. 11-31.
123
work done without any disturbances. Town planning with respect to
fortification and public order were based on manuals." The
development of the European town reflected the economic interest of
the colonial development that took place. The French and the
lndians (Tamil speaking population of PondichBry) lived in separate
areas that were divided by a lagoon. This lagoon was tumed into the
Grand Canal built by the French as part of their drainage system and
the point of separation of the lndians from the French town. There
were two streets that ran parallel to the canal. The Quai du Ambour
and Quai du Gingy and these areas became settlement quarters of
the Indians.
Franwis Martin invited the lndians to settle and develop the
place, as he was interested in maintaining a cordial relationship with
them. However the lands that essentially became French
possession were for a price as the Company had purchased the
lands from the original owners. It was only in 1702 that the Superior
Council set up in PondichBry played a major role in utilisation of
these lands. The Council collected taxes from the lndians to build
the walls of the fort. The Superior Council administered the
" M, de Guignard, k' icwle de Men, ou m8moks i ~ t ~ c t i f s surle Corn Milifaim
(Psis: Simart, 1725) and M. Guiliaute, MBmoh sur le tw fwme de la wlkw 1749
(Wealeham: H e m n , 1874). T w woilts summarized earlier dispersed
trwtber on the wtjoct.
124
improvement of housing and legal property titles that had become a
major concern in the European town area. Household industries and
handicrafts moved into the town but a plan regarding this
development had yet to be traced. Pondichbry, like QuBbec, was to
be an orderly public space.
Frangois Martin had to pay a huge amount of 5,000 chakras in
the court of Gingee to fortify Pondichbry. The fort was built in the
form of an il~egular rectangular structure near the Bay of Bengal.
There were four circular towers and was called Fort ~ a r l o n g . ~
There were eleven plans for the fortifications and later in the urban
development of Pondichbry. Nicolas de Fer (1646-1723) in 1705
drew the first plan for developing and making Pondichery town a
bigger area. He lived in Paris and was an eminent cartographer. His
plan de Pondichery a la cote Commandel occupe par la Compagnie
Royale des lndes Orientales mis au Jour par N, de ~ 8 7 , ' ~ appears in
his work on Atlas Curieux and the same plan is also recorded in
Marguerits, V. labemaide. Le RBvdufion et k ,w l i Jsements Frencaa dans
m, p 25
" A Susan Gole, A Series of sarlv Dnnted maos of India in Facsimile, (New Delhi:
Jayaprlnts. 1980). No: 23; for further information see Susan Gole's Earlv M ~ D S Q!
m. (New Yoh: Humanitis Press, 1976) and Indian Maps And Plans. fm
& & . # J J - , (New Delhi: Manoharial
Publiatianr, 1989)
125
Beaurain's Atlas de GBogmphique Ancienne et modeme in 1751.
The original size of the plan of Pondichbry appears to be just 35.5 x
24cm. This plan mentioned the latitude and longitude of the town
and contained other information about the streets and the town plan.
In the second plan of Pondichbry the streets and adjoining
villages are marked. This plan is dated 1748 and called 'plan de la
vilie de Pondichbry". There were fourteen houses within the fort
area that came up and the local population of Pondichbty did not
have their houses there. On the roadsides there were markets in the
Podicherrian area across the canna1 and all roads were
interconnected to the market area. The third plan, dated 1750,
published in the Le Petit Atlas Maritime (1764) by Jacques Niwlas
Franwis Bellin clearly shows the fortifications". It included the four
gates and the full detail of the town within the fort. The whole town
plan was listed in the form of numerals ranging from one to twenty-
one. These twenty-one important locations were the most important
areas of the town inside the fort. 'Plan du front de la ville
PondichBry" dated as January 1756, gives a front view dimension of
the European town overlooking the sea. The fifih to ninth plans do
not cover the time period of this thesis. Town plans for Louisbourg
indicate a common concern I the eighteenth century for order, safety
" J ~ I J O S ~ i c o b ~ a ~ ~ i n , Le w1if auas rne#img, ([micmfoml. S.l.s.n., 1974) and
Plan & Nouvdb OMang, (Ithaca, New York: Historic Urban Plans. 1864).
126
and social control. John Johnston, grder at l ouisboura: Measure of
Control in a French Colonial Societv. 17151758 East Lansing:
Michigan State University Press, 2000) features the elaborate plans
stored in the Bibliotheque National (Paris) and the Archives du Genie
(Paris).
The fifth plan Le Plan de la ville de Pondichdry adte par M.Duc
da Pmslin en Fevrie 1768 has more details of the inner regions of
Pondicherry. The sixth plan of 1771, Plan de la ville de PondichBry
of Bourcet shows the town renovated after the British had destroyed
it after occupying it for a period of time from 1769. "The seventh
plan was of 1777, in the form of a folio entitled Registre du papier
tem'er de la ville da PondichBty fait en execution de I'om'onnanca de
M. M. les administmtors de Roy, en data du 1 Juillet 1777, in 28 cm x
43.5cm form, indicates the buildings within the fort in various coiours.
Minute details of all lands and owners are given in the register
accompanying it. The eighth plan, Plan de la ville et environs de
PondichBry lave lors du seige de cette ville fait par les Anglais an
1778 provides the details of barracks that were constructed, the four
gates and an additional gate of Pondichery i.e. Madras gate along
with the, Valudavur, Villiyanoor , Cuddalore and Muthialpet Gates.
These details of the plans fmrn seventh to tenth is given only to follow the plans
order for informatim purpw and nothing elss as It does not fall in the period
taken Iw remarch.
127
General Monroe drafted the ninth plan of Pondicherry after the
British attack of Pondichbry in 1778. The tenth plan of 1789 was
drawn after the British returned Pondichkry to the French in 1783
according to the Treaty of Versailles. The town was planned to have
an oval shape with a boulevard area and a ring road ail around it.
De Philines was in charge of the fortification work in 1792. The
eleventh plan of 1793 was made before Pondichbry surrendered to
the British.
The town plans give an insight into the urban development of
Pondichbry. The French population along with the Portuguese,
Dutch and Creoles lived in the European town and the sea was the
natural boundary on the east. The Canal on the west gave the town
a distinct segregationist atmosphere as it separated the areas of the
Indians from the French. The streets were similar to those of France
with the mint, the Capuchin missions, and the church all within the
fort area. The Grand Bazaar was the main area of business for the
French and the lndian merchants. The houses of the French were
built in the French style with grand chambers, kitchen, bathroom and
courtyard. The latrine was built in the Portuguese style outside the
house for hygienic purposes. The houses had large gardens with
flowers, fruit and vegetables. Common lndian plants and trees like
coconut, acacia, and palm were grown in the ba&yards because of
the cash value of the kernels of the fruit. In the eighteenth century
128
the houses had individual numbers to differentiate them from each
other. During the earlier part it was a sort of sign to differentiate the
buildings. The houses were built on both sides of the street with
domestic space in behveen houses to show the individual space.
There was also the public space that was owned by the Compagnie
des lndes Onentales, the administrators of the comptoir.
The streets were well laid out, well maintained and connected
to the four gates of Pondichbry. The streets met at right angles and
were twenty-five in numbers. Wells were constructed for water
facility in the French quarter. The Topas, Portuguese, Armenians
and the French owned property in the European area. There were
records and registers of the property deeds. Taxes were paid on the
property. A few lndians had property in this sector. Kanadappa
Mudaliar the Dubash of the French Governor and Ananda Ranga
Pillai the Dubash of Governor Dupleix, but very few others. Legal
documents were translated from Tamil the language of the lndians of
Pondichbry into French and were presented to the notary in 1742.
The lndians lived in their own areas, which were more suitable for
their intermingling with their own people. The rich lived in large
houses that were often modelled on French villas that made them
feel on par with the French.
129
A wall with cannon was build by the French for the protection of
the Pondichemans. There were separate streets allocated for the
Indians according to their caste. This allocation of streets did not
have anything to do with the French. This system of separate
quarters originated long before the amval of the French. Each caste
lived in its own area in houses made with the available materials.
They differed according to family wealth. There were large families
who lived together and followed the extended family system. These
houses were built in an elongated form; as the family increased the
house was extended. The very poor and lower caste population
lived in mud houses with thatched roof of palm leaves. According to
the occupation of the population the houses differed in style. The
fishermen living near the sea had houses made of simple mud
plastered with cow dung to give it strength. The roof is made of
bamboo and woven palm leaves. The houses are small and the
kitchen was always outside the house a wise sign of safeguarding
houses from being bumt and causing mass destruction. Despite
this houses used to gut to pieces and nothing remained of it as the
materials used to build the house were not fireproof but were
ignitable. Summer time was the wont time of fire as the heat made
the palm fronds and the similar materials used to thatch the roof
ignite at a very fast rate, During the rains an additional roof was
made for the kitchen that was normally an open area with a Stove
made of mud or stone.
The chettis lived in houses that were made of stone or wood.
They usually were large had a courtyard and everything needed was
inside the house. A wall surrounded the house for privacy. The
Brahmins lived in agraharam that is a typical Brahmin household. It
was circular in shape and might be made of mud, or stone. The
pillars inside the house were wooden to support a high roof. The
courtyard was laid out for the sun to shine into all the rooms, and
beautified with a tulsi or the basil tree. This basil tree is worshipped
by the Hindus throughout India and is considered to be holy and
offered to their gods. The rooms were usually small and lacked
ventilation. The lower castes could not enter the Brahmins
household. Guests of the same caste only were entertained.
However the later Brahmins entertained their guests on verandas
and sprinkled cow dung mixed with water to take away the impurity
that a person might have brought into the area. No communal meals
were partaken with persons of other castes.
It is a very different situation prevailing at the New France.
Quebec and Montreal there was not the same racial segregation as
was evident in Pondichery because the First Nations at Quebec lived
in a separate Huron community north of the French town. At
Montreal the Iroquois lived on a separate reduction across the St.
Lawrence River and the Algonkian lived around the Missouri on the
131
mountain north of the French town. However, in both cases, the
First Nations came into the European towns to sell their goods, buy
in the shops and sometimes frequent the towns. Social interaction
was much more common than hitherto to as believed to have been
the case."
Travellers, such as Peter Kalm, visited the upper sector of
Quebec and therefore were less well acquainted with the humbler
parts of town. The inhabitants of the lower town used to drive their
cattle and sheep up the slope to pasture on the plain behind the
elitist quarter until the Governor ordered the Upper Town closed off
and a stairway just wide enough for one person built connecting the
upper and lower towns. In 1676, the Sovereign Council issued urban
regulations, a model at the time, for ~ u 6 b e c . ~ These regulations
imposed a building code, fire precautions, garbage disposal,
environmental guidelines and hygienic practices. They had little
impact on the lower town, however, where low, narrow wooden and
black stone houses crowded together at the foot of cliff. Along the
waterfront in no particular order were the merchant warehouses with
85 [This is the conclus~on of Jan Grabouski, 'The Common Ground. Settied Natives
and French in Montreal, 1667.1760; (Unpublished Ph.D, thesis, University of
Montreal, 1993), pp. 189-191, 303-3053
" Cornelius Jaenen 8 Cecilia Morgan, a s . , Material Memow Documents in Pre-
Gonfederation Hiatgy (Don Mills: Addition-Wesley, 1998): pp. 30-32.
132
quarters above or adjoining, artisans' workshops and retail bakeries,
butcher shops and grocers. At the mouth of the St. Charles River
sprawled the royal shipyards, dominated halfway up the slope by a
brewery and the Intendant's residence.
Montreal was a much more bustling commercial centre
because of the annual trade fair when hundreds of Native canoe
man came each spring, hundreds of French voyageurs joined them
in flotillas laden with trade goods for the Upper Country each
autumn, and dozens of soldiers were filleted among the inhabitants.
A wooden palisade enclosing stone commercial buildings, wooden or
stone houses, dominated by six or seven steeples, surrounded the
town. There were more taverns than shops giving the town an
unruly rep~tation.~'
When the French acquired Pondichery they had to purchase
land or obtain it from the Nawabs as gifts for their neutrality or
support in internal wars. The Governor of Pondichery sold land to
the missionaries rather than offering it as a gift. Franqois Martin,
Governor of Pondichbry, sold land to the Capuchin clergy who came
to settle in Pondichbry but they did not have the full amount to pay to
the Governor. It was the Indians who helped them with a sum Of 119
" Olivirr MaurauH, Mpntrbal en 1742 (QuBbec: Cahiers des Dih, 1942)
133
pagodas and 22 panams to buy the plot where they built their
church. The Capuchins built their residence and a hospital with ten
small rooms to take care of the sick. They got a bigger house when
Madame Dupleix helped them. They bought a building from a
widow named Catelouse and turned it into an orphanage. This was
registered on 29 December 1758 in order to shelter all orphan
including few Indians. This was a much appreciated community
service.
The Bazaar in Pondichery was the main hub of the fort. Mainly
Indians ran the bazaar and the French had a minor role in the
market. The bazaar sold any thing like perishable and non-
perishable goods. There was heavy demand for tobacco, sugar,
onion and turmeric. On Tuesdays the weekly market was held on
the roadsides of the bazaar and an estimated ten thousand people
gathered to buy or sell goods. The Chettis had the monopoly in the
market area. They owned the shops and interchange of goods took
place at this market. The warehouses were built near the shore but
there were few Indian warehouses in the European town. Goods
were brought from the markets to the warehouses and from they're
taken to the port to be taken by ship to various parts of the world.
The roads from the bazaar were linked to the port for this purpose.
Slaves transported goods onto the ships or from the ship to the
market area. The market was also the place for slave trade. The
134
Governors of Pondichery indulged in the slave trade and a better
price was paid for boys than girls.
By 1672 confidence in Canada's future led to the first effective
measures in town plans. In that year Francois Dollier de Casson,
superior of the Sulpician Clergy who was the seigneurs of Montreal
Island marked out the streets of 'ville Marie de Montreal." This
westemmost settlement in the St. Lawrence valley had been founded
30 years earlier and was harassed by the Iroquois Confederacy that
looked upon the community as an intrusion into its territory. In 1672,
Governor General Buade de Frontenac made the case for regulating
the town of Quebec's development. 'Nothing," he wrote to the
Minister of the Marine and Colonies,'has appeared to me to be so
fine and so magnificent as the location of the town of Quebec [ . . . I ,
but I find, or rather it seems to me, that a very grave error has been
committed in allowing private individuals to build houses according to
their own fancy and without any order [...I. I believe one should
consider not only the present situation, but also the future stage Of
thing^."^ He proposed to the minister to endorse a plan for the
fortification of the town. This was done to facilitate any individual
wanting to construct or build any street and squares within the town
area. The individual would take into consideration the existing
' Guy Ftwun, La de /as Nwve/leFlpa~a, P. 73-14.
135
symmetry of the town and continue construction. Frontenac did not
await a reply from the King of France. In March 1673 he forbade
further construction unless authorized by him and in conformity with
the projected street alignments 'to give, by this means, some form
and symmetry to a town that one day must be the capital of an
immense co~ntry.'~'
The Lower town of Quebec was too well advanced in its
haphazard growth and its site was too confined to yield to a vision of
broad avenues and expensive squares. In the 1680's the small
Piace Royale was created with the monarch's bust in bronze as its
centrepiece and a minimum width of twelve feet was set for the
Lower Town's streets. The same street allowance was chosen for
Trois-Rivibres in 1735, nearly a century after that town had been
established. The Upper Town of Quebec was still malleable in the
seventeenth century and two arteries, SaintJean and Saint-Louis
streets were run parallel to one another through the town. One
began at the 'grand place" in front of the cathedral and the other led
from the Governor's fort to the royal road that, by 1734, linked the
towns in the St. Lawrence valley. The division of Quebec into an
upper elitist town and a lower commercial popular sector, with the
Intendant housed halfway between the two areas, illustrate
" Guy FrBpaun, La Civilisatbn de /as Nwvelle-Fmng, p.14
136
geographically the ideal social structure the French hoped to
recreate in the colony. As one-eighteenth century writer observed,
'the superior class ... will always be the most powerful brake keeping
the popular masses from straying from their ~bedience."~'The layout
of the town of Qu6bec bespoke of symbolic power and established
hierarchy of social Class and occupation. Closely associated with
this ordering of society was the administration of justice aimed at
maintaining royal authority, aristocratic privilege and social
harmony." This was the ideal 'pacified society' that the French
were trying to build.g2
The royal administration wanted the towns of New France to be
compact as well as defensible and these suburbs developed while
there was still vacant land within the town walls. It was an absurd
situation created, in part, by people who accumulated town lots for
speculation. The Intendants of the colony, whose jurisdiction
extended to public order in the towns, tried to force the owners of
unoccupied lots to either build on that land or to sell it to someone
who would erect a house. In April 1685, those with vacant land in
LOUIS SIbast~n Merciea, Tableau da Paris (Amsterdam: 1Q89), Vol. XII, p. 4.
O' Jacques Mathlew, La NwvelleFmnce, les Francais en Amdriaua du Nod,
WIe-Wllle si&/g, (QuBbec: Pressen de I'UnivenitB Laval, 1991), pp. 98-101
" Nwberl Elks, 1 a Clvilisath des m z ~ (Pa& Celmann-Levy, 1978) pp.116
118.
137
QuBbec's Lower Town were ordered to do just that by the following
summer. The law was ineffective for it had to be reissued in 1707
with a provision for reuniting the empty lots to the royal domain. It is
remarkable that there was still unused land in an area whose
confined location forced residents to build on small lots. At Montkal
the demands of the intendent were modest; in 1688 each resident
was restricted to owing one square arpent within the town and on
that site the owner was to build 'a house of stone and mortar or of
heavy timber with a masonry chimney' within a year.
In the Initial decades of French settlements, the population of
the colony was more urban than rural. Urbanisation engenders its
own fonn of social organisation and fosters a particular kind of
~andscape.'~ It gives rise to institutions like in QuBbec, the way of
life, which is different from the villages, certain sets of activities,
which are different from those of the rural folk. In a colonial context,
urbanisation takes on a special character; a petition shows as from
some of the inhabitants of Quebec to the Sovereign Council in
1 6 8 3 . ~ In the town area in Quebec the merchants had privileges
that protected their trade. This was according to the regulation
granted in 1645. They had the exclusive rights to the fur trade within
the area. Thus they were the only ones who could have authorised
" Chenief, Quebec A French Colonial Town In America. 1660 to 169P. p. 9.
" Ibid., 9
138
shops and stores in the area. The merchants in a petition to the
council reminded them of why the special privileges were granted to
them that they wished to have respected and enforced.
At the conceptual level, there was not a perfect match between
the kind of colonial town that Quebec was and towns or cities in
France certain traits were common to both. Quebec was first and
foremost a Catholic capital in a Catholic colony, but it was also a
town of refuge (with its poor), a military town (with its forts, its
garrison, its own governor, and its militia), and a trading town (with
its public squares, its markets, and the privileges afforded its own
citizens but denied to non- resident^).^' Too, the town was
increasingly becoming a place of retirement; people were retiring
there to live a quieter, easier life than was possible in the
countryside.
Quebec was nevertheless similar to French towns and cities in
terms of its physical characteristics. Despite Montmagny's initial
plan, its streets still evoked the layout of medieval towns, and its
many open spaces gave it a rustic atmosphere. In the Upper Town a
multiplicity of convents, monasteries, and churches (the seminary,
the buildings housing the Jesuit, Unuline, and Recollect orders, the
' Chenier, @ebac A French Colonial T o m in America. 16BO to 16QQ p.11
139
Hotel Dieu, and the cathedral) pervaded the urban landscape, while
in the Lower town, a Certain amount of crowding could already be
seen. Royal engineers in the colony were less closely supervised
than in France therefore they were able to plan towns 'to be broad,
functional, cut out of the whole cloth to a single pattern," in the
opinion of Anne ~ l a n c h a r d . ~ In the 1720s Jean Francois de Ve~ i l l e
drew up plans for the town and fortification of Louisbourg along the
same line as Qubbec.
Pondichery became the entrbpot for activities of French in
Indo-China. Pondichbry being an entrbpot had affected the structure
of the fort town. As all administrative and port activities were
concentrated near the sea and around the square close to the
residential areas of the Frenchmen called as Viile Blanche a proof of
French rational superiority consciousness. The construction of the
Pondichbry fort was on the basis of for of Vauban de Tourani in
France. Fran~ois Martin started the construction of the Pondichbty
fort in 1702 and by the time he passed away the town had a
population including the Pondicherrians of forty thousand. The fort
was christened Fort St. Louis in 1706 and same time Martin passed
away. During his time itself five bastions were built on the north,
west, south part of the town. These bastions were named Bastion
" Anne Blanchard, Les' du mv de Louis XIV et a Louis XVI: dtude du
p m s des fwtfl~atim. (Montpellier: Universitb Paul-ValbV. 1Q79), PP. 429432.
140
Dauphin, Bastion Bourgogne, Bastion Berry, Bastion Bretagne, and
Bastion de la ~ompagnie."
The successors of Franqois Martin like Duliver and Hebert did
not do anything for the maintenance of the fort. They were busy with
slave trade and their own activities. Under Lenoir the fort was taken
care of by aligning the streets. Planting flowers, shade trees and
gardens in the public areas beautified the town. Streets were lined
with shade trees like mango, neern, peepal, and tamarind so that the
pedestrians can enjoy cool breeze and shade during hot summers.
Permission was granted by Lenoir to the rich landlord to build rnulti
storied houses, and Governor Lenoirs house was made of brick and
tiled roof. From 1728 onwards construction of residential and official
buildings took place in the Pondichbry fort. A prison for natives was
built near the Grand Bazaar. A hospital in 1734 was constructed on
the southwest part of the fort. The mint house was built near the old
Cuddalore Gate in 1736. Foundation for a new Govemon palace
was laid by Dumas in 1738. The palace was with a clock tower but
Dumas did not have the pleasure of living there for a long time.
The fort area was destroyed by the British attack and all the
constructions had to be redone in 1765 by Law de Lauriston came as
97 Frands Cyril htony, w r of India Pond~cherrv State, Val. 11,
(Pondicheny: Government Press, 1982) P. 1191
141
the Governor. Till then the French functioned from an area outside
the Fort. Houses of the Pondicherrians destroyed and of the French
were rebuilt in three years time. It is interesting to note that Law was
considerate towards the weaving community like Martin. He made
sure that they had trees planted between their houses so that they
could continue with weaving from the house itself. A very common
site in Pondichery even now is of weaver weaving cloth tied between
two trees. This fort and town area functioned smoothly till it fell into
the hands of the British in 1774.
In 1759 Quebec the fortified capital of New France was forced
to capitulate after a three-month siege and naval bombardment. The
following summer three British armies entered Montrbal, and after
the fall of most of the interior military posts and the coilapse of the
First nation alliance system. The commercial centre of the colony
was unable to withstand a siege therefore a capitulation was
arranged in the September of 1760. The colony was under military
occupation and military rule for three years. The definitive Treaty of
Paris in 1763 ceded New France to the British crown and in 1764 a
civil government was established.
The immediate British policy was to attempt to reconcile the
new subjects Canadians and First Nations to the British rule. It was
soon realized the British and French societies had some common
142
characteristics, so that the British regime would also be the
continuation of what has been called an ancien regime society. Two
French regime institutions survived the conquest and took on added
significance under the new rulers-the church and the seigneurial
system. The Roman Catholic Church continued to provide religious
educational and welfare services, and began to play an important
role in the formation of the ideology of the conquered population.
The seigneurial tract was fully occupied and provided a region of
homogeneous population that British immigrants could not penetrate.
So there arose the concept of two charter groups, the descendants
of the hvo European colonizing powers.
The British began to introduce their organisational framework
but had to make many concessions to the already established social
order. These concessions established in Canada a principle of
duality in the colony. Under British rule the society along the banks
of St. Lawrence continued to evolve within a different and alien
context. New France lived on in Quebec and through this new
expression of itself, is referred to as the French fact and influenced
the development of whole of Canada.
Chapter V
Agriculture pattern in New France and Pondichbry
The most striking feature of French Canadian society is
its very persistence, enduring over the centuries in an alien, often
hostile environment. This capacity for survival has been attributed to
a number of factors, some related to time and circumstances and
some to the product of conscious effort. One hypothesis is that as
an agrarian society French Canada was able to survive because it
was physically and socially isolated from external influences, at least
up to the time North America began to industrialize. Another
explanation is the nature of the rural French-Canadian community,
with its seigneurial origins and its well-integrated structure.
Moreover, it is argued that the traditional French-Canadian elites,
especially the clergy, succeeded in isolating the community from the
North American mainstream by perpetrating an ideology and a range
of social policies that kept intact French Canada's distinctive
institutions and way of life.
One finds opposing ideologies and differences of interpretation
about the colonial bourgeoisie and agriculture in the St. Lawrence
valley. The seigneurial question is of great importance in Quebec
1 44
historiography. From F. X. Garneau's Histoire du Canada (1845-48)
to 1960, the dominant thesis was that before being transplanted to
New France, the seigneurial system of the ancien regime had been
the object of purification. Canada was to be a classless society and
of a nation homogeneous in terms of ethnic origin, language, and
religion.
Explorers, traders and missionaries pushed along the St.
Lawrence along the tributaries of Great Lakes draining into Hudson
Bay and Gulf of Mexico. Along the St. Lawrence agricultural
settlement was narrowly constr i~ted.~ It is here that the Canadian
Shield presses in upon the river from the north. During the French
Regime beaver pelts were an attraction to the Shield area as a result
agricultural settlements reduced tremendously. 'The Shield and the
St. Lawrence intersect twenty-five miles below Quebec and at the
point of intersection hills rise sharply from the river for a thousand
feet or more. To the east the walls of hills is broken in several
places, and the valleys inundated by the postglacial Champlain Sea,
are covered with sedimentary deposits on which fertile soils have
formed. Such a valley at Baie Saint-Paul opposite Ile aux Courdres
was settled before 1700, but most of the north shore was cut off to
settlement twenty-five miles below Quebec. From there the river
" Richard Colebrwk Harris, pg 9-10
145
swings away from the shield to a maximum distance midway
between Quebec and Montreal of more than twenty miles."se
Towards the south of the river is the northeastward extension
of the Appalachian Rough lands. The relief in these hills and
mountains is not unlike that of the southern fringes of the Shield, and
the effects of glaciations are almost as marked. A mantle of glacial
drift coven the underlying sedimentary rocks, but soils developed on
this ground are generally more fertile and cultivable than in the
Shield area. During the French regime, the northwestern boundary
was a barrier to settlement. At Montreal this boundary is forty miles
away, at Lake Saint-Pierre at least thirty and below Quebec does it
approach the river. The settlement on the west of the Ile de Montreal
was restricted by Canadian governors and Intendants who would not
grant seigneuries along either the upper St. Lawrence or the Ottawa
River the two principal routes of the fur trade. Farms on both the
routes have been exposed to attacks by the Fint ~ a t i o n s . ' ~ ~ The
habitants used these routed legally and illegally. The St. Lawrence
waterway drew on an enormous hinterland, agricultural settlement
and the seigneurial system expanded in the narrow limits i.e. within
eo Richard Colebrook Harris pg.10. A Map No. B is given towards the end of the
thesis to show the principal waterways in Canada.
'm Richard C W w k , p. 10-11
146
the area bounded by the Shield, the Appalachian Rough lands, and
the western limit of seigneurial c~ncessions.'~'
Although not an ideal system seigneurialism did not impose
one roads dues on consistories that would have discouraged
agricultural settlement. The system became more like the
metropolitan system as the colony became populated; land suitable
for fanning taken up, and villages appeared along the banks of the
St. Lawrence waterways. Seigneurs began to exercise their
traditional privileges, to increase their dues whenever new
concessions were granted and to reside in urban areas while living
from the revenues of their rural estates.
Nevertheless, during the years of French rule, the system was
never unduly oppressive; the habitant fanner was not a serf but a
free as an independent owner of his land. Cole Harris in his The
Seioneurial Svstem in Canada 1966) provides a balanced
assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of this system of
landholding and agricultural product i~n. '~~ The first work of Marcel
Trudel in the 1950s, and of Georges Baillargeon ten years later, as
well as Maurice Seguin's thesis, La NaUon Canadienne et 1'
lo' Refer to Map No. C for further detail towards the end of the thesis.
I02 Richard Colebrook Hams, Tho Saiineuriai System in Canada (Madison:
University of W i n s i n Press, 1968), pp. 1-75
147
agriculture 1760-1860, reinforced this historiographical tradition that
held that after 1760 it was the English seigneurs who diverted the
regime from its original design and transformed it into an exploitative
system.
The French officials dealt with the headman of the village
community in French India so that peace could be maintained. The
Indian villages around Pondichbry had a village governance body,
which was under the headman. The French considered it important
to get the trust of the village headman as his words were the rule and
the population of the village would act accordingly. This official
recognition was to ensure that there would be no problem in the
revenue collection. The French followed the Dutch method of
collection of revenue as it was more organised and was prevalent in
Pondichbry.
The agricultural pattern, land tenure, and land grants in
Pondich6ry and New France will give an idea of the actual
colonisation process that the French adopted. This is apart from the
economic gain in the form of revenue generated from agricultural
produce. In the process of exploring revenue the areas of cultivation
could produce, the French implemented the seigniorial system. In
Pondichery the system was not successful, as there was an existing
system of agriculture that seemed more proffable. It was the
148
Compagnie des lndes Occidentales, in charge of the administration
in the area that acquired land for the crown. It was not the same in
New France where the direct rule of the monarch was introduced in
1663. The idea of peaceful coexistence following the traditional
pattern of agriculture with little innovation at Pondichbry brought
many villages under direct French control. All these villages were
rich revenue producing areas. The villages Theduvanatham and
Archivak (Abhishekapakkam), Odiyampattu, Thirukkanji and
Kottakuppam were given to M. Dumas by Nawab Safdar Alikhan, the
Nawab of Carnatic, as a gift for his exemplary courage and wisdom
shown during the Maratha incursion in September 1740.
In Hyderabad, Nasir Jung became the Nizam, but soon
thereafter he was killed. Dupleix who became the Governor of
Pondichbry in 1722 made Muuafar Jung the Nizam of Hyderabad
and sent a military force for his protection. Muuafar Jung was
pleased with the help rendered to him by the French, and he gave
Dupleix as Maniam (freeland), Bahur, Valudavur and Villinuar and
Bahur in full possession. These lands that were given as gifts were
the governor's personal property. But a part of the tax collected from
these lands went to the Crown coffers. It is very interesting that the
land revenue system was called Ijem. The middlemen called tax
farmers collected taxes; these middlemen collected more than
required legally so that they could keep part as their personal gain.
Early evidence of land administration about nearby places in
Pondichery is known from the Bahur plates of the IX century. This
record the gift of three villages near Pondichbry given to a person
named as Vidyastana. The Bahur plates rewrd that the boundaries
of land given were differentiated by seeing the permanent locations
such as rivers, mountains or rock, canals, big tree etc. as landmarks.
All the land within the kingdom has been surveyed and detailed
records of the land rights, including schedules of tax-free lands were
maintained in the registers. Details of waste lands, lakes, tanks,
wells and river, rocks and even trees were recorded for the purpose
of giving land as grants to temples and Brahmins or for revenue
purp~se.'~' During the time of the Cholas land was the main form of
land revenue as such lands were classified into different grades as
many as twelve or more grades (taram). The unclassified land was
known as taramili During the Vijayanagar period land revenue and
land assessment was very severe. During the Mughal period for
better administration purpose land mass was divided into subahs
which was subdivided into sarkan and each sarkars comprised of
parganas. Each pargana consisted of a union of different villages
under the control of amaldar.
'@ Francis Cyril Antony. w e e r of India. Union Territow of Pondichem. Vol. I1
(Pondicherry: Administration of the Union Territory of Pondicherry, 1982), p. 923
150
In Pondichbry Anandaranga Pillai's Diary emphasises the fact
that parganas and the appointment of amaldan was prevalent. The
French followed the land revenue administration of the Dutch and
what was prevalent earlier. Direct land pattern of that time was that
it was farmed out to renters and who gave it to the renters or leased
it to the ryots under adamanomlM (usually an agreement signed
between the ryot and the renter who was the farmer). Land was
generally farmed out for a period of five yean as the general
condition of the crop depended on many conditions. As such it was
better to take or give the land for a stipulated amount of period was
what was followed. The t i ~ a i and the varam form of adamanon
deductions of about ten percent was made from the crop before it
was harvested by the ryot for payment of village servants, artisans,
temples needs etc. The choice was left to the ryot to pay the dues
and normally the adamanom t i ~ a i was preferred because the
ownership of land was his and in the varam he was slave of the
farmer.
Land was classified as paddy that was wetland or small grain
that was in dry land. The dry land was usually assigned on a fixed
rent tirvai while the wetland was rented or cultivated to the crop
I M Land was granted under two heeds in adamanom called vararn and tirvai.
Under the tiwai the land was granted to the ryot on fixed rent. Under varam the
produce was shared between the farmers and the ryots.
I51
sharing system. In the case of the lands having irrigation facilities,
varam gave more to the farmers than to the cultivators as the
cultivators received 113, 112, 215 to 9/20 of the crops according to the
nature of crop. Under the tirvai the accounts were settled in two
crops. Samba crops are abundant and the cultivator paid two third of
his tirvai and in the second karcrop that was not very abundant. The
third cultivation of crop was meant for the cultivator. The cultivator
was given extra time by the farmer in case his crop was not ride
enough for hawesting and in retum the cultivator gave gifts to the
farmer. In some cases where extension of time was over the crop
went to the new account of the farmer and the cultivator was at a
loss.
The assignment of lands on the adamanon was made clear to
the people by beating of tom-tom thus giving it a public declaration
and also by giving wwles that contained the rates of the land.lo5 The
deeds pertaining to the adamanoms were generally registered with
the local notary called Tabellion. The quantum of share indicated in
one deed was the basis to fix the share for the subsequent
adamanom. So a ryot often writes a less figure of his share in order
so that he has to pay a less share. Land was handed over from
father to son and sometimes it did to belong to them also
'" Francis Cyril Antony, Gazetteer of India, Vol. II, p. 927 from A.A. 1827,
Ordonnanca of 26 May 1827,pp. 11C-122
The land revenue was collected by the amaldan who is posted
in each parganas or group of villages and there were two peons
appointed by the king. These peons were bound to give the renter
and the farmer accounts of each year and of each village. The
collected amount had to be remitted to the treasury before the due
date. Permission however was granted to the amaldar to remit the
arrear after the due date and they were to give gifts to the
Governon. Nattars or the village headmen helped the amaldars in
performing their duties. In order to mark the beginning of the
collection of land revenue, tying toranams or flags in each village
was started and the amaldars as well as the nattars gave to the
farmers the details of expenditure incurred. The farmers levied some
extra taxes like resum'" and sadalwar '''at the ate of ten percent of
the total amount. Sometimes an extra amount was collected for the
expenditure on the European soldiers and coolies admitted in the
hospital.lo8 It is seen that only after 1816 the French brought some
regulations with regard to land regulation and on 25 October 1826
issued an Ordonnance Royal. 'Under this ordinance lands were to
be perpetually farmed out to Europeans or their descendants and
'" Resum was a cuslornary perquisites
107 Sadalwar was a continpncms tax
'w~rancis Cyril Antony. Gazetteer of India. Vol. I1 p. 927 as in B.O. M t e of 23 May
1845, p. 11
153
they were to enjoy all the rights of a French citizen on condition that
the land should be brought under cultivation within a fixed time. The
farmer had to pay a security equal to two years lease amount and
were allowed to rent out their lands in turn to others."10e
Th6 Compagnie des lndes Occidentales exploited lands and
got an income of 524 pagodas of which 229 came from
Ariyankuppam, 84 from Kalapet and 76 from Olandai. The balance
of 135pagodas came from the seven small villages. In 1706 when
the Ozhukarai was acquired 566 pagodas was got in total and this
amount doubled, as the lands were very fertile in this area.'l0 In
1710 when Hebert was the Governor the Company followed the
system prevailing in Pondichbry of renting out lands for a specific
number of years. The revenue of the company increased to 42,553
French livres."' Nainiappapillai the Mudaliar chief was responsible
for enhancing the French land revenue, as he was the mediocre for
negotiation with the Carnatic Nawab the Murungappakkam village for
the French. The French Company in return started granting lands to
Pondicherrians for cultivation. In 1724 lands of Ariyankuppam and
Ozhukarai villages were given to Guruvappapillai the nephew of
'" Francis Cyril Antony, Gazetteer d Indie. Vol. II p. 927
"O bi., p. 945 as in Paul Kaeppelin. La mpagn ie des lndes Orientales el
Franvir Martin, 1808, p. 538
1 '1 Fnncb Cyril Antony, Gazenesr ofInd&. Vol. II p. 945
is4
Anandarangapillai at the rate of 2,155 pagodas.ii2 1733 for five
years four important areas were leased out to rich Pondicherians at
the rate of 2,649 pagodas per annum. The lease was renewed for
another period of five years in 1738 at 4,152 pagodas. The French
made a huge profit and the distribution is given below-
Year of land leased by the French 1773'"
Ozhukarai villages 2.017 pagodas
From the official records it is understood that land revenue
underwent changes and cultivation of the land was mostly done by
the low castes and ownenhip of the land was in he hands of the rich
landlords. Cultivation depended on hired labour and a large number
of agricultural labourers increased during the French rule in
PondichBry.
Ariyankuppam village's
"' Franc18 Cyril Antony, pareneer of lndip Vol. II p and elso in Yvonne Robert
GaebelB. Enfance et Adokscance d' Ananda Rangapoullb , p.72
Francis cyril Antony, mof Indio.04. II p and also in Martineau.
Dupleix et lSln& Fmnpiw, Vol. 11, 1920, p, 54
0,619 pagodas
155
In New France, the Govemor and Intendants under royal
government (1663-1760) did not obtain land. However. it was not
illegal to seek remuneration over and above the annual salaries they
were paid. Instead of investing in land, which was plentiful and
cheap in the seventeenth century, the royal officials turned to the fur
trade. They formed alliances with prominent merchants in the colony
to this end. However, this often brought them into conflict with rival
merchants, as was the case with Governor Frontenac's interests in
the activities of the explorer-trader, Cavelier de La ~aile."'
The agriculture of French India was closely connected to the
policy of assimilation. The village community was bound together
economically on the basis of traditional occupations. Each
community was divided into an infinite variety of sub groups. In the
French villages included the Chetfis, the merchant class, the Reddis,
the landowners, and the Vaniyas. The territory of Pondichery was
divided into eight communes. However, these were not communes
similar to those in France. These were districts each comprising
about thirty villages called "'ldees" 'The aldee (small village) was
composed of about one hundred dwellings. There were in each
aldee two or three large houses of leading landlords or notable
merchants.
"4 john F, ~ ~ ~ b ~ , ~ h o (o(Odord: Oxford Univenity P r W .
19.87) for a mprehensive description of commercial affairs.
Landowners, tenants, fanners and agricultural labourers made
up the population of the aldee. The PaNy or the Vaniyas were the
major cultivating caste in Pondichbry's rural hinterland. The majority
of cultivators were owners of the lands, but most of them owned only
a few kulis (1 kuli is equivalent to 53-25 m2). The rich landowners
possessed 30 to 50 kanys and a very few possessed more than 100
kanys. (12 kany is equal to 5,350 m2, about % hectare). The rich
landlords had at their service pannayals who lived in a state of semi
bondage. These pannayals were men, who put themselves at the
services of a landlord either to pay the interest on an old debt or as a
mean of making a living. They did not receive wages in the form of
cash. They were given a meal daily and at the end of the month
twenty-two measures of paddy were given to feed him and his family.
A very interesting custom quite like in the stories given in the Bible,
in practice in certain aldees of Bahur, is to give to the Pannayal as
much millet as his wife can carry as wages. During the French
regime agriculture became more and more commercialised.
In New France Gedeon de Catalogne, royal surveyor, made a
survey of the rural region in 1712."5 The agricultural land at that
time was divided into seventy-eight seigneuries that had been
"' Gedeon de Catalogne, 'Mdmoire sur les seianeurie$' Bulletin de Rechercher
Hisloriques No. Z(1915) pp 257-335.
157
granted mostly to military officers, civil servants, merchants and a
few mariners. As the seigneuries became populated, the land
rendered productive by the consitaires (free farmers), who received
the land free but were subject to annual dues called cens et rentes in
perpetuity, the seignuers began to enjoy increased income and many
retired to Montreal or Quebec leaving the administration of their
estates to a managers. This was not a feudal system because the
consitaires were not bound to the land but could annul their contracts
whenever they wished. Some farmers did leave their land to engage
in the fur trade or operate town tavern.
The land on the whole in Pondichdry was classified into three
categories - wetlands, dry lands and wastelands. In the wetlands the
main crops cultivated were paddy (rice the staple food of south
India), plantain, coconut, palm, sugarcane, betel leaves and betel nut
(areca nuts). In the dry land, or manavav land, the crops cultivated
were cotton, groundnut and millet, which were considered to be cash
crops. The wastelands were the barren lands including the
marshlands, where cultivation could not be done.
In New France, the farms were surveyed into long narrow
strips"' running back from the St. Lawrence and Richelieu River to
' Map No. D given towards the end of the thesis.
158
the hilly and rocky Appalachian range. This survey pattern meant
that the farmhouses were relatively close together along both banks
of the river giving the countryside the aspect of a ribbon of settlement
rather than of distinct villages. Each farm usually had a variety of
soils and terrain suitable to mixed farming. At the river's edge,
where fishing was carried out, the marshland provided fodder for
cattle. Then came rich dark soils suitable for cereal crops, then
upland meadows for grazing cattle and sheep. And finally the
forested hills that provided wood for fuel lumber and stone for
building. The French settlers grew a variety of pulses and these
turned out to be good source of food that kept them healthy during
long winters.
In the days of Pallavas or the Vijayanagar rulers some
historians assert that there was a type of feudalism different from
European feudalism. There was no pyramidal structure of feudal
authority. The mar am"' system of land tenure and the
Nayankara"8 system in the military tended to depict the Vijayanagar
117 Amaram system d lend tenure was started in M]ayanagarrule in South ind~e.
"' Nayankara system of land revenue prevailed during the Vqayanagar dynasty
rule in South India. According to the system under started Deve Raya lands were
given to the Nayaks who ware the important commanden of the king or to nobles.
These commanders and nobles would maintain a certain amount of soldiin and
hones for the king. They were supposed to help the king in case of war and
159
as a feudal society. The French in Pondichbry realised the
importance of agriculture and had provided irrigation facilities by
constructing reservoirs, feeding channels and other diversion. In fact
many of the existing irrigation works were carried out during the
French period. The famous 'Ousten Lake" was the largest lake and
prominent source of water for the Villianur Commune. It had been
built during the days of Vijayanagar rulers and was repaired by the
French.
Ananda Ranga Pillai, the Indian Dubash to the French
company during the period of Dupleix was known to have spent
money for the repair of reservoirs and canals in Pondichery. The
French had undertaken the construction of a few ~ n i c u t s " ~ in
provide all assistance. In return for this service the King gave land grants to the
Nayaks. The Nayaks maintained the soldiers and the horses from the taxes
collected on the lands. The lands were sublet to small farmers who would cuhivate
the lands and in return get small amount of wages or a parl of share of the crop.
The major share went to the Nayaks. Tlw lands under the Nayenkara system were
hereditary. As such the Nayaks became very powelful and they revolted against
the king and became independent sovereigns. Thus the Vqayanagar Nlers faced
the problem from the Neyaks and the Nayaks led Vijayanagar for a certain
period of time.
'ID It is lhke the modern version of a small dam but was built with stone, lime and
moltar and was the main source of collection of rainwater with doors that could be
modulated to let water flow into smaller tunnels built. This in turn was connected
160
Pondichbry. They repaired the Sutfakanni anicut; it served the
irrigation of Sutfakanni Village. The Kilur anicut built across
Kuduvayur was another contribution of the French. Again, the credit
goes to the French for the repair of the ancient anicut at Tirvkkanji.
The French paid attention to canal irrigation. Villianur channel
starting from Pillaiyarkupparn anicut provided with direct irrigation
facility to an area of about 200 hectares in Villianur and Ozhukara~
commune.
Besides, well and tanks were used for irrigation. Having taken
keen interest in the development of agriculture and irrigation facilities
for the cultivation of more acres of lands, the French company aimed
at getting fixed revenue from the land. At first, the French used to
collect land revenue directly but it proved to be a hard task for them
due to the insincere and evasive tactics practised by the native
clerks, who were employed by the company in assisting in tax
assessment and collection. To ensure a 'fixed' income the French
took to Uim (a form of land revenue) 'farming' of its territories to the
chosen one, naturally to the highest bidder. When the company
could not get a handsome offer it resorted to direct collection.
appointing its own clerks and others. This was because the person
to the main Irrigation fields where the caretaker of the fdds would supervise the
flow of water and regulate the water according to the need. Once the water was
fed into the h l d s the anicut doers would be closed so that water is preserved.
161
in charge of collection was a middleman who would take out his
commission before giving the remaining revenue to the Company.
He was able to manipulate the records to suit his purpose.
The company was the owner of the entire lands that were
bought from the native Pondicherrians. However, in the years 1706
and 1708 Olugarai village was leased out to Sinnagaridy for a fixed
amount. At times, the company farmed out its villages, the sale of
tobacco, beverages, fishing rights and other source of revenue. The
duty of the revenue collector was the collection of revenue for the
company. Also he took care of irrigation facilities in the villages that
were directly allotted to him. Revenue was collected in cash as well
as in kind and the company had the final say in the mode of
collection. Payment in cash could be made in instalments, as an
indication of the market value of the crops. Natural calamities could
also make it necessary to pay by instalments.
In spite of the various measures taken by the company, after
1770 there followed a period of acute financial distress at
Pondichbry. There were no funds available to pay the civil and
military employees or to purchase provisions for the inhabitants. An
important reason for this crisis was the defective system of collecting
revenues under the company's administration. All collection of
revenue generated from land like amca nuts, betel leaves, tobacco,
162
alcohol (which was in the form of toddy, which was tapped by the
toddy tappers from the palm trees) from customs (both land and sea)
etc. was farmed out to private persons. Mostly rich native
Pondicherrians and in some cases those closely connected with the
administrative officials. The system was open to abuse. Added to
the already existing financial crisis the company was faced with the
outbreak of famines at different periods. The famine of 1687 was the
earliest mentioned in the records. Famine was marked by shortages
of food as people migrated to different places in search of
assistance. Franpis Martin arranged for the import of rice for
distribution to the poor. Similar famines occurred in the years 1708,
1711 and 1737. However the one that occurred in 1760 was the
worst. In order to eradicate the shortage of food and to stimulate the
import of cereals to the town, duties and levies were suspended.
Comparison with the situation in New France is difficult
because the Compagnie des lndas Omidentales was not interested
in land but rather held the monopoly of the export of furs to France.
All hides, dressed furs were to pass through its warehouses in
QuBbec, where an export duty was imposed, for a shipment to
France. Monthal merchants accumulated the monopoly by sending
some furs clandestinely, using Amerindian middlemen who were free
to trade in their own interests with both French and English, to
163
Albany and New York, thus avoiding paying duty and also obtaining
some English manufactured goods in exchange.
The French were humanitarian in their outlook towards revenue
collection. Whenever there was scarcity of fwd-grains as the result
of drought and famine, they relaxed the entry tax on food-grains.
The tax collected from the inhabitants for fortifying Pondichdry was
withdrawn in view of their sorry state even after persistent pressure
from France for its continuation. Company officials were willing to
ignore imperial orders out of consideration for local crises. The
French in Pondichery ensured a fixed sum of revenue to carry on
commercial enterprises through the farming out system. The
company did not bring in much innovation in the field of agriculture,
but it encouraged the cultivation of those cash crops like groundnuts,
paddy, betel, and sugarcane, that brought in substantial revenues.
Lack of innovation may also be traced to the rural backwardness of
the French in their homeland in the field of agriculture. in the field of
agriculture they more or less followed traditional practices found in
the rest of village society in India during the medieval period. '*' in
New France, a similar humanitarian view persisted. During yeas of
drought or insect infestations that reduced crop yields, price controls
were put in place to assure fair prices for flour and bread.
'm Revue Hislotique Do Pondicherry, Vol.XIII 1976-1B80, p.138
The Seigne~rial system in France originated in the Gall*
Roman period and had developed as part of the ancient land tenure,
which was an important aspect of feudalism. Land became a key
support of the social structure as dignity of man was assessed on the
basis of his land holdings. The King granted lands to nobles in
exchange for services, particularly militaly services, and so
established a social hierarchy based on land tenure. The lord or
seigneur then granted small plots to peasants farmers in exchange
for annual dues based on the production of the land. During the
French regime in New France, it was found necessary to modify the
Custom of Paris in order to suit the needs of the population to which
it was app~ied.'~' There was abundant land in the colony but it had
first to be cleared of its forests and brought into cultivation.
Seigneurs, therefore, could not impose onerous obligations on
pioneer farmers. Instead, they found it difficult to attract settlers to
develop their estates or seigneuries. The royal officials found it
necessary to assume the burden of encouraging immigration when
the monopoly company, the religious orders, and seigneur failed to
attract large numbers of settlers from France.
"' Dorothy A. Heneker, The Seianiorial Regime in Canada. (Quebec: Canada.
1927), p. 24.
165
Land granted in the seignuerial system was in a geometric
pattern as it was connected to the waterways. The seigneuries had
the river at the frontage and this facilated in irrigating the fields of
crops grown by them.lz2 In order to make sure that the seigneuries
get access to water the land was divided into long strips that could
be extended further. To establish a geometric pattern the
boundaries must be pointed in the same southwest north easternly
direction as the river. Parallel lines perpendicular to the frontage
must be drawn giving to the seigneuries the shape of a narrow
rectangles running in a northwest-south easternly direction.lZ3 The
application of this geographical pattern was visible in the Bourbon
map.
The geographic pattern according to Trudel does not limit itself
to the main division but also is seen in the smaller strips and division
of the seigneuries. The seigneuries that were very large are
Beaupr6, the island of Montrdal, Batuscan, and Capde-la-Madeline;
the last two extends 20 leagues (equal to 3 miles) into the interior.
Another was Lauzon covering an area of 36 Leagues. No seigneur
had the right to keep the seigneury for his exclusive use. He could
reserve only a portion, called reserve or domain direct because he
lU Marcel Trudel, The Seigneurmi Regime, Ottawa: the Canadian Historical
&sadation Bodtktt No. 6,1976, p. 2-4
I23 TNdel, The Selgneuriai Regime. pg. 2-4
166
owned and occupied it directly. Champlain reserved an arpent of
five (one is equal to 27 and half arpents) frontage by a ~eague. '~
The seigneur had a duty towards the state by following what
state needs from him. It was mandatory for him to maintain a manor
house. Whether he lives or does not live a year is of no concern to
the state. The manor house should have a responsible tenant to
look afier the affairs of the house. The consistaire would populate
the seigneuries. The seigneur had to cede the land and was not
permitted to sell woods of his land unless it was a part of
colonization. Apart from this the seigneur had to build and operate a
flourmill, oven. This was must as he had to report to the state about
the developments and the state could ask the censistaire to build it
and collect toll.
In reality the seigneur owned the land but everything belongs to
the king. The mines and oak trees found in the seigneurs land was
the sole property of the king. The seigneur cannot cut the oak for his
personal use as oak being a sturdy tree the timber was used to build
ships. The seigneur faced tremendous pressure to maintain the
seigneuries as Louis IV would take away the land grant in case it
'" Map No. E is given towards the end of the thee to show the Quebec
Mttbinent as drawn by Champlain.
167
was found that a manor house was not well maintained and did not
generate the necessary funds.
It was in 1608 that Champlain built the Quebec habitation,
1637 marked the beginning of the distribution of lots of land.lZ5 The
Company of New France granted a total of 792 % arpents of land to
commoners, (not to nobles), in Quebec and its immediate
surrounding^.^'^ The first grant of seigneury of Sault-au-Maytelot
was to a Parisian apothecary Louis ~ebert.'" Champlain had
persuaded him to immigrate with his whole family in 1617 and the
Duc de Ventadour made the grant in 1626.lZ8 During the regime of
the Company of New France, according to its charter, the merchant
investors were to recruit immigrants and establish them in the
colony. This approach proved ineffective because investors were
interested in the fur trade and not in agriculture, therefore the Crown
assumed control in 1663. The use of a charter company to colonize
New France was ineffective because France was self-sufficient in
agriculture and did not require the cereals or cattle a colony might
provide. Settlers were difficult to recruit because Canada was
believed to be a cold hostile land populated by wild savages. It took
"' Dorothy A. Heneker, Seioniorial Reaime in Canada,, p. 126
ln ib i . . p. 126
'"ibi., p. 40 from (Can& and itr Pmvinws Val. II p. 393).
In i M . , p. 40
168
some time to overcome this negative image of the colony, Investors
were interested in profits and there would come only from codfish
and furs. Neither the fishery, which was a seasonal metropolitan
enterprise, nor the fur trade represented any extensive colonisation.
When agriculture did develop it was to support the small local
population, unlike the commercial and plantation agriculture of more
temperate zone colonies.
Seigneurial jurisdiction was originally in France a source of
substantial profit, but in Quebec, owing to meager population. The
settlement along Quebec concentrated along the north shore from
Beaupre to Trois ~iveres, '~' towards the west of QuBbec. Very little
revenue from fines and fees, etc., accrued to the seigneur, and
consequently his judicial rights were apparently never exercised to
any very important degree.'= In France, property and jurisdiction
were generally, though not always, inseparable during the feudal era,
this apparently was never so in Quebec. The possession of a
seigneury did not of itself carry any jurisdiction; this right could only
be obtained by express grant. As a rule, judicial authority was rarely
bestowed on the Canadian seigneur after the introduction of royal
129 Map No. F, G towards the end of the thesis
Dorothy A. Heneker, -e in Cenadg, P. 113
'" ibd., p. 113
'The various religious communities settled in upper town of
Qubbec because of the protection the fort walls provided and
because more land was available there than in the lower town. In
1650, Mme. De La Peltrie gave two arpents to the Ursulines, who
also received an extra perche 'along the side of their yard, and two
perches on its length." Beginning in 1651, the Ursulines also gained
possession of a three-troise strip that separated their land from rue
Saint-Louis. In 1655 Pere Guillaume Vignal gave them half an
arpent located outside of their yard on rue Saint-Louis. The same
year the Ursulines bought from Robert Caron a lot 36 pieds wide by
90 pieds deep at the corner of rue du Parloir and the three trois strip.
The order also possessed land in Lower Town. By 1663 the
Ursulines owned 9.7 arpents in Qubbec. This was so unlike
Pondichbry where the Unuiine and the Jesuits bought the lands. In
addition to land the Ursulines were given a monopoly on the eel
fishing in the St. Lawrence were, a source of revenue.
Like the Unulines, the Hospitals got a concession of 12
arpents in Upper Town in March 1637. However, by the time the
nuns took possession of the land in 1640, the area had been
reduced to 7.5 arpents. In the same year, Guillaume Couillard gave
them 25 perches of land so that a laundry could be built. Later, in
1644, he sold the Hotel-Dieu an arpent and a half of land that fronted
170
on the Saint-Charles River. Eleven years later he gave the
Hospitalieres a small parcel of land 'to help in the building of a new
infinary, chapel, and an enclosure around the hospital." Couillard
also donated the Hotel-Dieu the land for a cemetery in 1661. By
June 1663 the Hospitalieres property had increased to 9.33 arpents,
or 8397.2 square toises. Other lots were added to the property after
1663. In 1665 the gardener at the Hotel-Dieu, Denis Diedonne,
transferred to them ten arpents that fronted on what is now C6te du
~alais.'"
The Jesuits got a grant of 12 arpnts in 1637, but it, too, was
reduced, to 6 arpents, 42 perches. In 1637 their college site was
enlarged by the purchase of two arpents from Guillaume Couiliard.
The Jesuits were also granted two other lots outside their main
location; these lots looked onto the square on which Notre-Dame
church was built and adjoined the Ursulines' land. In 1661 the Notre-
Dame fabriqudparish granted them 70 perches, in a triangular lot,
between their location and Cbte de la Fabrique. On the north side of
the street the parish also gave them 28 perches in January 1663.
Including the land they held in Lower Town, the Jesuits had a total
8686.6 square toises in Qubbec, equal to that of the Ursuiines.
DomUly A. Hensker, W n i o r i a l Recime in Canada, P. 113
171
The Notre-Dame parish was set up in 1645, and the gift of a lot
80 pieds by 38 pieds from Guillaume Couillard meant that a parish
church could be built. Seven years later, Couillard gave 80 perches
to the parish or parish council. These two initial lots combined to
form the socalled fief of the parish. In June 1651 the parish council
got a concession of 38.5 perches and another of one arpent, which
was bounded by the streets that are now Buade, des Jardines,
Sainte-Anne, and du Tresor. In May 1652 12.5 perches increased
the holdings by 140 perches and later in 1654-55. The latter lot was
resewed from the land that Governor d' Ailleboust had set aside for
himself on rue Baude. The fabrique's fief totaled some 9.75 arpents
in 1656. Before 1663 the parish also owned the land on which the
cemetery was built on CBte de la Fabrique.
By 1663 the three religious communities mentioned above and
the parish owned over 27 per cent of the land in Quebec. This
affected the town's development, particularly in Upper Town. The
town of Governor Montmagny reduced the initial concessions
granted to them in order to leave room for other residents to build
their houses. His attempts to rationalise Quebec's development and
to establish a plan for it ran into difficulties because of the existing
concessions. '''
Remi Chenirr, p 134
The Arrets of Marly in 1711 were important land laws in the
history of France. Their purpose was to see that the land was 'put to
cultivation and occupied by inhabitants" rather than left unused as
the private property of a seigneur. In effect these laws set up what
has been called compulsory sub-exploitation.13 The king was
informed of the seigneurs who refused to concede land to the
settlers but held them in speculation, hoping that land values would
rise. Unconceded land earned no revenue for the seigneurs.
General Murray describes the seigneurial system that he found in
operation when he took control of the colony in 1760. '~~
The tenure of the lands here is of two sorts: 1.The Fiefs of
Seigneuries. These lands are deemed noble; on the demise of the
possessor his eldest son inherits one-half, and shares with the other
children in the remainder; if any of these die without posterity, the
brothers share the portion of the deceased exdusive of the sisters.
The purchaser of these fiefs enters into all the privileges and
immunities of the same, but pays a fifth of the purchase-money to
the sovereign, who is lord of the soil. By law the seigneur is
restricted from selling any part of his land that is not cleared. Is
'= J.H.Stewafl Reid, Kenneth McNaught and Hany S.Crowe. A Source book of
Canadian (hgrnana, Toronto: 1859) p. 31
'Ulbid,, p. 31.
173
likewise obliged (reserving a suffciency for his own private domain)
to concede the remainder to such of the inhabitants as require the
same, at an annual rent, not exceeding one sol or one half penny
sterling, for each arpent.
This was the law only after 171 1 .] The seigneurs have had the
right of high, middle, and low justice in their several fiefs [i.e. of
holding courts of various degrees of importance], but this was
attended with so many abuses and inconvenience that the inferior
jurisdictions were mostly disused. 2. Tene en Roture. The lands
conceded by the seigneurs [to the habitants] are the second sorts of
tenure, and these are called terres en routes. The property is
entirely in [the possession of] the possessors and the rent they pay
can never be raised upon them. They can sell it as they please, but
the purchaser is obliged to pay a twelfth part of the purchase-money
to the seignueur. The children of both sexes share equally in the
lands, but if upon a division, the several parts are found unequal to
the subsistence of a family, they are obliged to sell to one another.
By law no man can build upon a piece of land of less extent than one
arpent and a half in front, upon a depth of thirty or forty. This was
done with a view to promote cultivation, and to oblige the inhabitants
to spread out.'36
'= J.H. Stewart Reid, p. 31. Myrray misunderstood nntes to be rent, rather than
an annual kvy.
The whole system of the seigneur granting the land to the
requesting individual was very important. The seigneur could
establish a court of law in his seigneury, erect a mill where the
habitants were required to grind their gain of pay a fee in kind.
Hunting and fishing levees were seldom exacted. The habitant who
was granted land had to pay annually cens et rentes in cash or in
kind. The farmers had the right over the produce of the land and
they could transfer the land to their heirs or sell it as they pleased.
The seigneurial system left its mark on New France, as it was the
only form of property in the entire area. The colonial application of
this landholding system was much less exploitive than in France.
The richness of the soil and the capacity to produce was never
doubted because of the initial harvest of the crop. Initial problems of
cultivation were soon overcome; as a result production was
satisfactory. Agricultural land was in strips that were rectangular in
shape and extended back from frontage on a river. There was an
increase in the cultivation of staple crops that brought in more
produce. This was to have enough winter stock to prevent
starvation. Crops like barley, wheat, rye, oats, were extensively
cultivated along with vegetables grown in patches. Cattle and sheep
provided the much-needed meat for the population of Quebec.
There was no dearth of fish as the fishermen all along St. Lawrence
175
harvested it. Agriculture accounted for eighty percent of the
population's economic activity by 1750. Once established the farmer
could buy things for his needs with the produce of the land he
cultivated and owned. The habitants or farmers had often come out
as indentured servants. A large proportion of the colonists were of
urban origin in France, not peasants accustomed to farming. '"
This was very different to the condition in Pondichery where the
tenants had no control over the profits from the produce. Profits went
to the person who owned the land. However they could keep a
certain pati of the produce for their use thus ensuring that they do
not die of hunger. Much land was in the hands of the lndians and
also of French omcials. Land was purchased from the lndians or
was given as gifts in return for favours from the French. The farmers
who cultivated the fields were tenants and did not own the land.
They lived on the wages earned in kind from the owner. Those lands
that were under the Company were sublet to rich lndians who in turn
gave the land for cultivation to the tenants. The revenue collected
from the lands went into different pockets before reaching the
Company. This was why there was lots of loss from the projected
revenues. As the population increased and the value of land varied
the hold over the farmers and the tenants increased. Land began to
'" For further information Leslie Chaquette, Frenchmen into Peasants M-mitv in
jhe Pwolina of New Francp (Cambrige: Hnvard University Press, 1997)
176
be considered as a symbol of power and subsistence was the
concept that emerged from this.
Women In the seigneurlal system
This is essentially brought into the thesis in the seigneurial
context because it is they who lived along with the seigneurs and
changed the history of New France. As with all areas of historical
scholarship, women's history and historiography does not have any
meaning without dealing wRh them in the colonial context. There is
very little literature available on women colonial women especially of
New France and Pondichbry. What is available is of a biographical
nature and did not have any relevance to the women theory of
history. The general tendency while dealing with the women's issue
is considering them as an oppressed group and dealing with their
struggles against their oppressors. By treating women as a victim
places them in a male-defined conceptual framework thus making
them passive.
The existence of women in the extraordinarily harsh climate
New France is remarkable both in the traditional way of life and more
difficult for the First Nation women who had come into contact with
European settlers. Many of them married the French had to live in
the French style and they did so because they were gentle and
loving. They adjusted to their husband's way of life and even learnt
177
French so that communication became easy. In New France
winning out the hands of First Nation women and usurping their
ancestral land was becoming a part of the young French males life.
The colonial settlers had a quest for land and this crossed the need
for maintaining First NationJEuropean military alliances that had
previously kept the Europeans in check. Colonial and imperial
governments considered the natives as an encumbrance, to
progress. First Nations found themselves placed on reselves set
aside for them, more often than agriculturally unproductive land.
This was a process that began in central and eastern Canada it
eventually moved west. The First Nations who were assimilated
were those who were closely connected with the French culture or
were trading partners. For the First Nations assimilation meant that
those tribes who proffered high status, power, and recognition to
women now had to follow the Christian mental make up where the
woman's place was subordinate to man, not equal to man.
As Sylvia Van Kirk has detailed, the coming of the Europeans
meant a lowering of status form many native women. In Western
Canada where the fur trade was still strong at mid century and where
alliances had occurred between the traders and native women, the
coming of white women meant too often the throwing off of native
wives. White women were unwilling to accept First Nation women as
their equals despite the fact that both shared the challenges of living
178
in a world in which the wilderness surrounded them. For women of
native ancestry this had been true from time immemorial. For
European women, leaving the confines of settled communities, for
what they saw as an uncivilized land, was a new and at times
terrifying experience made easier in some cases by feeling superior
to the native women they found living there.
Feeling superior to others may have helped psychologically,
but it could not negate the physical hardships experienced by white
women settlers. At the beginning of settlement dislocation took
place for families and individuals. Women travelled from one part of
the country to other in search for a better future for themselves.
They braved the rough weather at the sea and came to realise that
life was not that easy in the wilderness. Women who voluntarily
came with their families or travelled alone survived because of their
hope that they were helping to build a better future for themselves
and their loved ones. For some emigration enthusiasts, these
women represented the tangible bonds of Empire, a way of
expanding Britain's rule. The single women who were coming to
New France were the kings daughters who were asked to settle
down and there by populate the barren New France.
Women who came to Canada to homestead with their families
found the challenges of pioneering had just begun. One of the
179
conditions that were most difficult to accept was the isolation. The
harsh Canadian winters in much of the country added to the sense of
being cut off from all that women had known in their former homes.
This physical isolation was accentuated by the fact that for many
families contact with the outside world was limited because of cost of
pens, ink, paper, stamps, books and magazines. With the
seigneurial system the women had a house of their own and families.
Their status was much better than many others in Pondichbry but
everything came with a price.
The seigneurial system was introduced into the colony by the
Company of New France not only to provide a rational and legal
framework for land-holding with which Frenchmen were familiar and
also as a method of colonisation because the seigneurs required
censitaires to provide them with an income. It was expected by
some to provide a system of social and state control. It did provide
Canada with a basic land survey system, running along both banks
of the St. Lawrence River, then with successive rangs behind the
riverfront concessions. It did not favour the development of towns or
service centers, so that by 1760 there were still only three towns, six
nucleated villages and 4 hamlets'38 between the islands of Montreal
and Orleans. The Custom of Paris required equal division of half the
1 3 Map No. H is given towards the end of the thesis
1 SO
property between all the children, male and female, on the death of
the parents. This would have resulted in excessively small holdings
had families not worked out strategies to avoid too much subdivision
of the land. In the end the seigneurial system had two important
consequences for the future development of Canada. One was that
it divided a framework for a class structure in which the seigneur
increasingly asserted their rights and privileges, and the other that
seigneurial tract had become virtually fully occupied by the end of the
French regime do that it became a closed area of franwphone
popu~ation.'~~
In wntrast, the French at Pondicherry had to invest to settle
down as coionisers. In the case of New France they did not have to
purchase the land from the First Nations. In the case of New France
the seigneurial system did change the geography and pattern. This
was also a cause for the economic development of the Quebec
region. The principal change that was witnessed in Quebec and
other parts of the region was the independence asserted under the
seigneurial system. Royal officials in Pondichery and Quebec could
regulate the commercial life of the towns and thereby supervise the
exports as well as imports passed through QuBbec. However they
did not have any control over the habitants in the St. Lawrence area.
'" Marcel Trudel, pg. 6