The Authorship and Purpose of the Histoire naturelle et morale des iles Antilles - An Early Huguenot Emigration Guide

Sep 4, 2026

Uploaded by Gloria

The article examines authorship and intended purpose behind the Histoire naturelle et morale des iles Antilles, treating it as an early guide aimed at French Huguenots considering emigration to the New World. It situates the work within seventeenth-century European migration literature, contrasting broader promotional texts with French Protestant-targeted materials and addressing how policy and tolerance shaped potential readers’ expectations. The discussion evaluates competing scholarly claims about whether the text was meant to stimulate settlement, and analyzes how edition variants, translations, and literary style complicate straightforward interpretations.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages60

Reading Time2 h 31 min

AccessFree to download

The seventeenth-century context for Huguenot emigration

Policy, tolerance, and the reception of Protestants

Earlier French works and why they differed

Authorship, purpose, and scholarly debate

Competing interpretations of the work’s aim

Evidence from editions and translations

Literary character and doubts about it as a guide

The authorship and purpose of the"Histoire naturelle et morale des ilesAntilles",an early Huguenotemigration guide # Citation Wilkie,Everett C.Jr.1992.The authorship and purpose of the "Histoire naturelle et moraledes iles Antilles",an early Huguenot emigration guide.Harvard Library Bulletin 2(3),Fall1991:27-84. # Link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:42661987 # Terms of use This article was downloaded from Harvard University's DASH repository,and is madeavailable under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material(LAA),as setforth at https://harvardwiki.atlassian.net/wiki/external/NGY5NDE4ZjgzNTc5NDQzMGIzZWZhMGFIOWI2M2EwYTg # Accessibility https://accessibility.huit.harvard.edu/digital-accessibility-policy # Share Your Story The Harvard community has made this article openly available.Please share how this access benefits you.LSubmit a story Pnr CHA BLE.S JE ROCHEFORT, Francese d.Raeroam. e b 1671 Bemard Vaillant mezzotint portrait from life of Charles de Rochefort.(Courtesy of the Rijksprentenkabiner,Rijksmuseum Amsterdam) # The Authorship and Purpose of theHistoire naturelle et morale des iles Antilles,an Early Huguenot Emigration Guide Everett C.Wilkie,Jr. To induce Europeans to emigrate to the New World,various types of guide-I books,handbooks,and promotional works were printed in the seventeenthcentury.Literature intended primarily for French Huguenots has,however,notgenerally been thought to exist before the last part of the seventeenth century—and then it was in mainly in English.At that time the the English colonies foundthey needed a greater labor supply to maintain themselves and believed they mighthave found one source in French Huguenots,for whom religious toleration offi-cially ended with the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Although the Huguenots were tolerated in France before I68s,the French gov-ernment did not recognize any religion outside France other than Roman Catholi-cism.Its official policy in its overseas territories was non-toleration.The JesuitPierre Pelleprat,for example,relied on this policy when he asserted in I65s thatthose who govern in the West Indies have a duty to take various steps to bringabout the conversion of Protestants. Some literature in French that could provide information to the potential emi-grant was,to be sure,available in the mid-seventeenth century.For New France,there was,for example,Pierre Biard's Relation de la Nouvelle France(I616),MarcLescarbot's Histoire de la Nouvelle France(I609),Samuel de Champlain's voyages,and numerous Jesuit relations.Those tended,however,to emphasize the role ofthe Catholics in the colonies,as did Du Tertre's Histoire(I654),which dealt withthe West Indies.Moreover,some French works about the Protestant colonies ofthe English did not present them as havens.Guillaume Coppier,in his Histoire etvoyage des Indes Occidentales (Lyons,I645),specifically remarked(pp.I36-I37)thatthe English populated Virginia with prostitutes,hardly an inducement to emigrate 1“Ceux qui commandent dans les Isles ont aussi grandepart en leur [protestants]conuersion,faisans garderexactement les Edits du Roy,qui defendent auxHeretiques Iexercice de leur pretendue Religion dansI'Amerique:d'ou il arriue que n'ayans ny Temples,nyMinistres qui les entretiennent &qui les confirment dansleurs erreurs,on trouue moins de resistance à leur faire embrasser la Foy Catholique,"Relation des missions des PP.de la Compagnie de lesvs dans les isles &dans la terre deI'Amenique Menidionale(Paris:Cramoissy,165s),pp.24-25.Joseph Rennard,"Juifs et protestants aux Antillesfrancaisesau XVIIe siecle,"Revue d'histoire des missions,IO(1933),436,notes that the official policy was not alwaysstrictly carried out. EVERETT C.WILKIE,JR.,is thehead librarian and Crofut Cura-tor of Rare Books and Manu-scripts in the ConnecticutHistorical Society. HARVARD LIBRARY BULLE T IN to a God-fearing Huguenot.The anonymous persona in

FAQs

Why did seventeenth-century English colonies look toward French Huguenots for labor and settlement?

English colonies sought a larger labor supply and believed French Huguenots might be a source, especially after France’s religious policy and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes shaped Protestant prospects.

What scholarly disagreement exists regarding the purpose of the Histoire naturelle et morale des iles Antilles?

The article notes that some scholars claimed its aim was to stimulate Protestant emigration, including to Florida, while others argued it is difficult to determine whether it was intended as an emigrant guide at all.

How do the book’s multiple editions and translations affect interpretation of its purpose?

Because the first edition appeared in two forms and later editions and translations introduce further information, interpretation can vary depending on which version a scholar consults.

Sep 4, 2026

Uploaded by Gloria