Colony of Placentia

On 13 Jan. 1685 King Louis XIV of France appointed Antoine Parat governor of Plaisance. Immediately he took a census of the French colony in Newfoundland, which numbered at that time 640 people, 474 of whom were indentured employees. Plaisance consisted of just 18 houses; the rest of the population was scattered among some dozen ports along the coast. These posts offered refuge to about 60 fishing boats, which each year took in approximately 140,000 quintals of cod from the Grand Banks. With the ridiculously inadequate means at his disposal, it was not easy for the governor to ensure the safety and to satisfy the needs of a scattered and turbulent population. In 1713 the treaty of Utrecht ended the struggle between France and England but confirmed English possession of all Newfoundland and Acadia. The garrison and settlers of Placentia prepared to move to Cape Breton Island, where a new colony was to be founded.