Being deported from France to the New World on the grounds of having participated in various types of smuggling: this is the fate suffered, between 1730 and 1743, by at least 900 unfortunate people. First imprisoned, these men were then pushed aboard boats to contribute, at little cost, to populate the colonies. Other fraudsters were sent before them by the crown to the Antilles as well as to Louisiana. New France in turn welcomes these repeat offenders, these poachers, these troublemakers, these smugglers, these smugglers. These people, often elderly, appear to be identified as simple salt workers, traffickers in salt, a popular product. In reality, their misdeeds are sometimes more complex. This book allows us to understand them a little better, according to a somewhat bric-a-brac genealogical approach that lacks editorial direction. The whole thing offers at least avenues to help grasp, once again, that the enchanted vision of New France, projected onto the past by a nascent nationalism from the 19e century, agrees rather badly with reality.
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