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Jean Talon

Jean Talon

Jean Talon, comte d'Orsainville (1625 baptised 8 January 1626 – November 1694) was a French colonial administrator who was the first and most highly regarded Intendant of New France. His parents were Philippe Talon and Anne Bury. He was very entrepreneurial and may have had ancestors from Ireland.

JeanTalon
Jean Talon

As Intendent during 1665–1672, he attempted to diversify the colony's economy by encouraging agriculture, fishing, lumbering, and industry as well as the traditional fur trade. In 1666 he conducted the first census in North America. While he succeeded in settling some two thousand people in the colony, many of the industries he initiated failed when he returned to France. Talon was born in 1625 and he died in 1694. He was a highly respected man, and loved by many, yet he was never married. Jean studied at the Jesuit college of Clermont in Paris, so his knowledge was much appreciated by King Louis XIV and Jean-Baptiste Colbert, who were to help in the colonization of New France.

External links

- [http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=34663 Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online]
- Full text of [http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/4971 The Great Intendant : A Chronicle of Jean Talon in Canada 1665-1672] from Project Gutenberg Talon, Jean Talon, Jean Talon, Jean Talon, Jean

1625

Events

- March 27 - Prince Charles Stuart becomes King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland.
- June 13 - Marriage of Charles I of England and Henrietta Maria, Princess of France and Navarra.
- June 15 - Breda surrenders to the Spanish troops of general Ambrogio de Spinola
- The English Parliament refuses to vote Charles I the right to collect customs duties for his entire reign, restricting him to one year instead.
- William Oughtred invents the slide rule.
- James Ussher becomes Archbishop of Armagh.
- New Netherlands director Wilhem Verhulst commissions the construction of Fort Amsterdam on the southern tip of Manhattan.

Births

- June 8 - Giovanni Domenico Cassini, Italian astronomer and engineer (d. 1712)
- July 10 - Jean Herauld Gourville, French adventurer (d. 1703)
- August 13 - Rasmus Bartholin, Danish physician and scientist (d. 1698)
- August 14 - François de Harlay de Champvallon, Archbishop of Paris (d. 1695)
- August 20 - Thomas Corneille, French dramatist (d. 1709)
- September 24 - Johan de Witt, Dutch politican (d. 1672)
- October 4 - Jacqueline Pascal, French child prodigy and sister of Blaise Pascal (d. 1661)
- November 30 - Jean Domat, French jurist (d. 1696)
- December 14 - Barthélemy d'Herbelot de Molainville, French orientalist (d. 1695) See also :Category:1625 births.

Deaths

- January 7 - Ruggiero Giovannelli, Italian composer
- March 7 - Johann Bayer, German astronomer (b. 1572)
- March 25 - Giambattista Marini, Italian poet (b. 1569)
- March 27 - King James I of England and Ireland/James VI of Scotland (b. 1566)
- March 29 - Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, Spanish historian (b. 1549)
- April 23 - Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange (b. 1567)
- April 27 - Mori Terumoto, Japanese warrior (b. 1553)
- June 1 - Honoré d'Urfé, French writer (b. 1568)
- June 5 - Orlando Gibbons, English composer and organist (b. 1583)
- August - John Fletcher, English writer (b. 1579)
- September 20 - Heinrich Meibom, German historian and poet (b. 1555)
- September 26 - Thomas Dempster, Scottish historian (d. 1579)
- October 22 - Kikkawa Hiroie, Japanese politician (b. 1561)
- December 9 - Ubbo Emmius, Dutch historian and geographer (b. 1547)
- Robert Cushman, Plymouth Colony settler See also :Category:1625 deaths. Category:1625 ko:1625년 ms:1625

8 January

January 8 is the 8th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 357 days remaining (358 in leap years).

Events

- 871 - Battle of Ashdown - Ethelred of Wessex defeats Danish invasion army.
- 1198 - Innocent III becomes Pope.
- 1297 - Monaco gains its independence.
- 1499 - Louis XII of France marries Anne of Brittany
- 1734 - Premiere of George Frideric Handel's Ariodante at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
- 1746 - Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Stirling.
- 1790 - George Washington delivers the first State of the Union Address address in New York City.
- 1806 - Cape Colony becomes a British colony.
- 1811 - Unsuccessful slave revolt led by Charles Deslandes in St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana.
- 1815 - War of 1812: In the Battle of New Orleans Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British.
- 1838 - Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code).
- 1856 - Borax is discovered (John Veatch).
- 1863 - Battle of Springfield of the American Civil War is fought.
- 1867 - African American men granted the right to vote in the District of Columbia.
- 1877 - Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle with the United States Cavalry (Montana).
- 1889 - Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his electric tabulating machine.
- 1894 - A fire at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois causes a good deal of damage.
- 1900 - United States President William McKinley places Alaska under military rule.
- 1906 - A landslide in Haverstraw, New York kills 20 due to the excavation of clay along the Hudson River.
- 1908 - A train collision occurs in the Park Avenue Tunnel in New York City killing 17, injuring 38 and leading to increased demand for electric trains.
- 1912 - The African National Congress was founded.
- 1916 - World War I: Allied forces withdraw from Gallipoli.
- 1918 - President Woodrow Wilson announces his "Fourteen Points" for the aftermath of World War I.
- 1926 - Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud becomes the King of Hejaz and renames it Saudi Arabia.
- 1926 - African National Congress founded.
- 1935 - A.C. Hardy patents the spectrophotometer.
- 1953 - René Mayer becomes Prime Minister of France.
- 1958 - 14 year old Bobby Fischer wins the United States Chess Championship.
- 1959 - conquest of Cuba by Fidel Castro is completed with the conquest of Santiago de Cuba.
- 1959 - Michel Debré becomes Prime Minister of France
- 1962 - Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time (National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.)
- 1962 - Harmelen train disaster.
- 1964 - President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a "War on Poverty" in the United States.
- 1966 - Operation Crimp of the Vietnam War.
- 1973 - Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of placing bugs in Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.
- 1975 - Ella Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States who did not succeed her husband.
- 1977 - Soviet space mission Luna 21 is launched.
- 1982 - AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.
- 1986 - Hacker Manifesto written.
- 1987 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 8.30 to close at 2,002.25 -- The Dow's first close above 2,000.
- 1989 - Kegworth Air Disaster
- 1989 - beginning of Japanese Heisei era
- 1992 - President of the United States George H. W. Bush becomes ill on a visit to Japan and vomits on the Japanese Prime Minister, Kiichi Miyazawa.
- 1994 - Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He will stay on the space station till March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space.
- 1996 - An Antonov 32 cargo jet crashes into the central market in Kinshasa, Zaire killing more than 350.
- 1997 - "Mister Rogers" receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Births

- 1556 - Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese samurai and warlord (d. 1623)
- 1583 - Simon Episcopius, Dutch theologian (d. 1643)
- 1601 - Baltasar Gracián y Morales, Spanish writer (d. 1658)
- 1628 - François Henri de Montmorency-Bouteville, duc de Luxembourg, French general (d. 1695)
- 1632 - Samuel Pufendorf, German jurist (d. 1694)
- 1635 - Luis Manuel Fernández de Portocarrero, Spanish Archbishop of Toledo (d. 1709)
- 1735 - John Carroll, first American Catholic archbishop (d. 1815)
- 1763 - Edmond Charles Genêt, French ambassador to the United States (d. 1834)
- 1786 - Nicholas Biddle, President of the Second Bank of the United States (d. 1844)
- 1792 - Lowell Mason American composer (d. 1872)
- 1805 - John Bigler, Governor of California (d. 1871)
- 1805 - Orson Hyde, American religious leader (d. 1878)
- 1817 - Sir Theophilus Shepstone, South African statesman (d. 1893)
- 1821 - James Longstreet, American Confederate general (d. 1904)
- 1821 - W.H.L. Wallace, American Union general

1626

Events

- September 30 - Nurhaci, chieftain of the Jurchens and founder of the Qing Dynasty dies and is succeeded by his son Hong Taiji.
- November 18 - The new St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican is consecrated, the anniversary of that of the previous church in 326.
- Spanish establish a trading colony on Taiwan.
- Peter Minuit, director of the New Netherland colony, begins a policy of "purchasing" Manhattan from the Lenape.
- Work begins on building the sailing ship Vasa.
- The Duchy of Urbino is incorporated into the Papal States.
- The English Parliament impeach George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, favorite of Charles I of England.
- Charles I dissolves Parliament.
- The Dutch settle Manhattan, founding the town of New Amsterdam. The town would transform into a piece of what is now New York City.
- In New England, the Town (later City) of Salem, Massachusetts is founded at Naumkeag

Births

- January 16 - Lucas Achtschellinck, Flemish painter (d. 1699)
- February 5 - Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, French writer (d. 1696)
- March 12 - John Aubrey, English antiquary and writer (d. 1697)
- May 12 - Louis Hennepin, Flemish Catholic missionary in North America
- May 27 - William II, Prince of Orange (d. 1650)
- August 12 - Giovanni Legrenzi, Italian composer (d. 1690)
- October 4 - Richard Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland (d. 1712)
- December 18 - Queen Christina of Sweden (d. 1689)
- December 20 - Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff, German statesman (d. 1692) See also :Category:1626 births.

Deaths

- January 24 - Samuel Argall, English adventurer and naval officer (b. 1580)
- February 7 - William V, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1548)
- February 11 - Pietro Cataldi, Italian mathematician (b. 1552)
- February 20 - John Dowland, English composer and lutenist (b. 1563)
- April 9 - Francis Bacon, English scientist and statesman (b. 1561)
- April 11 - Marin Getaldić, Croatian scientist (b. 1568)
- May 4 - Arthur Lake, Bishop of Bath and Wells, English bishop and Bible translator (b. 1569)
- May 17 - Juan Pujol, Catalan composer (b. 1570)
- July 13 - Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester, English statesman (b. 1563)
- September 21 - François de Bonne, duc de Lesdiguières, Constable of France (b. 1543)
- September 25 - Lancelot Andrewes, English scholar (b. 1555)
- September 26 - Wakisaka Yasuharu, Japanese warrior (b. 1554)
- September 30 - Nurhaci, Chinese chieftain (b. 1559)
- October 2 - Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, conde de Gondomar, Spanish diplomat (b. 1567)
- October 30 - Willebrord Snell, Dutch astronomer and mathematician (b. 1580)
- November 25 - Edward Alleyn, English actor (b. 1566)
- November 29 - Ernst, Graf von Mansfield, German soldier
- November 30 - Thomas Weelkes, English composer
- December 8 - John Davies, English poet (b. 1569)
- December 10 - Edmund Gunter, English mathematician (b. 1581) See also :Category:1626 deaths. Category:1626 ko:1626년

1694

Events

- February 6 - The colony Quilombo dos Palmares is destroyed.
- July 27 - A Royal Charter is granted to the Bank of England.
- December 22 - The Triennial Bill became law.
- December 28 - Queen Mary II of England dies; King William III of England, Scotland and Ireland is now sole ruler after his co-ruler's death.
- Much of the town of Warwick, England destroyed by fire.
- The Lao empire of Lan Xang unofficially ends.

Births

- April 25 - Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, English architect (d. 1753)
- June 4 - François Quesnay, French economist (d. 1774)
- June 26 - Georg Brandt, Swedish chemist and minerologist (d. 1768)
- July 4 - Louis-Claude Daquin, French composer (d. 1772)
- August 5 - Leonardo Leo, Italian composer (d. 1744)
- August 8 - Francis Hutcheson, Irish philosopher (d. 1746)
- August 26 - Elisha Williams, American rector of Yale College (d. 1755)
- September 22 - Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, English statesman and man of letters (d. 1773)
- September 25 - Henry Pelham, Prime Minister of Great Britain (d. 1754)
- October 26 - Johan Helmich Roman, Swedish composer (d. 1758)
- November 8 - Leonhard Trautsch, German composer (d. 1762)
- November 21 - Voltaire, French philosopher (d. 1778)
- December 22 - Hermann Samuel Reimarus, German philosopher and writer (b. 1768)

Deaths

- January 2 - Henry Booth, 1st Earl of Warrington, English politician (b. 1651)
- January 7 - Charles Gerard, 1st Earl of Macclesfield
- February 4 - Nataliya Kyrillovna Naryshkina, Tsaritsa of Russia (b. 1651)
- April 27 - John George IV, Elector of Saxony (b. 1668)
- June 17 - Philip Cardinal Howard, English Roman Catholic Cardinal (b. 1629)
- August 8 - Antoine Arnauld, French philosopher and mathematician (b. 1612)
- October 15 - Samuel von Pufendorf, German jurist (b. 1632)
- November 22 - John Tillotson, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1630)
- November 25 - Ismael Bullialdus, French astronomer (b. 1605)
- November 28 - Matsuo Basho, Japanese poet (b. 1644)
- November 29 - Marcello Malpighi, Italian physician (b. 1628)
- December 2 - Pierre Paul Puget, French artist (b. 1622)
- December 28 - Queen Mary II of England, Scotland, and Ireland (b. 1662) Category:1694 ko:1694년

Intendant of New France

New France was governed by three rulers: the governor, the bishop and the intendant, all appointed by the King, and sent from France. The intendant was responsible for finance, economic development, and the administration of justice (law and order). He also presided over the Conseil souverain. Because of his extensive powers, there were often disputes over jurisdiction between the governor and the intendant. The first intendant of New France was Jean Talon, appointed in 1665 when the colony became a royal province of France. It was Talon who took the first census of the colony in 1666.

Name	Term	Sovereign
Jean Talon	1665-1668	Louis XIV
Claude de Bouteroue d'Aubigny	1668-1670

Jean Talon	1669-1675
Jacques Duchesneau de la Doussinière et d'Ambault	1675-1682
Jacques de Meulles	1682-1686
Jean Bochart de Champigny, sieur de Noroy de Verneuil	1686-1702
François de Beauharnois de La Chaussaye, baron de Beauville	1702-1705
Jacques Raudot co-intendant	1705-1711
Antoine-Denis Raudot co-intendant	1705-1710
Michel Bégon de la Picardière	1712-1726
Michel Bégon de la Picardière	1712-1726	Louis XV
Claude-Thomas Dupuy	1726-1728
Gilles Hocquart	1729-1748
François Bigot	1748-1760

- Intendants' names are recorded as given in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
- Adapted from [http://cca.qc.ca/adhemar/chroninten.stm Chronologie des intendants de la Nouvelle-France, 1665-1710] Category:New France

1665

Events

- March 4 - Start of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
- March 6 - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society begins publication.
- March 16 - Bucharest allows Jews to settle in the city in exchange of annual tax of 16 guilders.
- June 3 - The Duke of York defeats the Dutch Fleet off the coast of Lowestoft.
- June 15 - Jean-Baptiste Denis makes the first blood transfusion from lamb to human.
- June 12 - England installs a municipal government in New York City. This was the former Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam.
- July 7 - King Charles II of England leaves London with his entourage, fleeing the Great Plague. He moves his court to Salisbury, then Exeter
- October 5 - The University of Kiel is founded.
- November 7 - The London Gazette, the oldest surviving journal, is first published.
- Charles II of Spain becomes King.
- London has its last severe outbreak of the Bubonic plague, possibly introduced by Dutch prisoners of war. Two-thirds of Londoners leave the city, but over 68,000 die. (See the Great Plague.)
- Rumours abound that syphilis wards off the Plague, causing many Londoners to frequent the brothels.
- Battle of Ambuila: Portuguese forces defeat and kill king Garcia II of Kongo, ending native rule of that kingdom.
- Molière publishes L'Amour médecin.
- John Bunyan publishes The Resurrection, Alexendre Le Grand, and The Indian Emperor.
- Approximate date of the discovery of the Great Red Spot.

Births

- February 6 - Queen Anne of Great Britain (d. 1714)
- February 12 - Rudolf Jakob Camerarius, German botanist and physician (d. 1721)
- March 4 - Philip Christoph von Königsmarck, Swedish soldier
- April 19 - Jacques Lelong, French bibliographer (d. 1721)
- April 29 - James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde, Irish statesman and soldier (d. 1745)
- June 4 - Zacharie Robutel de La Noue, Canadian soldier (d. 1733)
- July 2 - Samuel Penhallow, English-born American colonist and historian (d. 1726)
- August 21 - Giacomo F. Maraldi, French-Italian astronomer (d. 1729)
- August 27 - John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, English politician (d. 1751)
- December 25 - Lady Grizel Baillie, Scottish songwriter (d. 1746)
- December 28 - George FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, English general (d. 1716) See also :Category:1665 births.

Deaths

- January 12 - Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician (b. 1601)
- January 31 - Johannes Clauberg, German theologian and philosopher (b. 1622)
- June 13 - Egbert Bartholomeusz Kortenaer, Dutch admiral (b. 1604)
- June 25 - Sigismund Francis of Austria, regent of Tyrol and Further Austria (b. 1630)
- July 11 - Kenelm Digby, English privateer (b. 1603)
- July 18 - Stefan Czarniecki, Polish general (b. 1599)
- September 12 - Jean Bolland, Flemish Jesuit writer (b. 1596)
- September 17 - King Philip IV of Spain (b. 1605)
- September 25 - Maria Anna of Austria (b. 1610)
- November 17 - John Earle, English bishop
- November 19 - Nicolas Poussin, French painter
- December 2 - Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet, French socialite (b. 1588)
- December 10 - Tarquinio Merula, Italian composer See also :Category:1665 deaths. Category:1665 ko:1665년

1672

Events

- March 15 - Charles II of England issues the Royal Declaration of Indulgence.
- May 2 - John Maitland becomes Duke of Lauderdale and Earl of March.
- June 12 - French forces under king Louis XIV cross the Rhine to Netherlands
- June 28 - William III of Orange appointed Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht.
- England, France, Münster and Cologne invade the United Provinces, therefore this name is know as ´het rampjaar´ (the disaster year) in the Netherlands.

Births

- January 4 - Hugh Boulter, Irish Archbishop of Armagh (d. 1742)
- January 15 - Antoine Houdar de la Motte, French writer (d. 1731)
- February 13 - Étienne François Geoffroy, French chemist (d. 1731)
- February 26 - Antoine Augustine Calmet, French theologian (d. 1757)
- May 1 - Joseph Addison, English politician and writer (d. 1719)
- June 9 - Emperor Peter I of Russia (d. 1725)
- June 11 - Francesco Antonio Bonporti, Italian priest and composer (d. 1749)
- August 2 - Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, Swiss scholar (d. 1733)
- September 8 - Nicolas de Grigny, French organist and composer (d. 1703)
- Ludovico Antonio Muratori, Italian historian and scholar (d. 1750)

Deaths

- January 15 - John Cosin, English clergyman (b. 1594)
- February 19 - Charles Chauncy, English-born president of Harvard College (b. 1592)
- April 22 - Georg Stiernhielm, Swedish poet (b. 1598)
- May 5 - Samuel Cooper, English painter (b. 1609)
- May 11 - Charles Seton, 2nd Earl of Dunfermline, English royalist (b. 1615)
- May 28 - John Trevor, English politician (b. 1626)
- June 27 - Roger Twysden, English antiquarian and royalist (b. 1597)
- July 3 - Francis Willughby, English biologist (b. 1635)
- August 20 - Johan de Witt, Dutch politician (b. 1625)
- August 20 - Cornelis de Witt, Dutch politician (b. 1623)
- September 12 - Tanneguy Lefebvre, French classical scholar (b. 1615)
- September 16 - Anne Bradstreet, American colonial writer
- October 24 - John Webb, English architect (b. 1611)
- November 6 - Heinrich Schütz, German composer (b. 1585)
- November 19 - John Wilkins, English Bishop of Chester (b. 1614)
- December 6 - King John II Casimir of Poland (b. 1609)
- December 7 - Richard Bellingham, Massachusetts colonial magistrate (b. 1592)
- Simon Dezhnev, Russian navigator
- Denis Gaultier, French lutenist and composer (b. 1603) Category:1672 ko:1672년

1666 census of New France

The 1666 census of New France was the first census conducted in Canada (and indeed in North America). It was organized by Jean Talon, the first Intendant of New France, between 1665 and 1666. Talon and the French Minister of the Marine Jean-Baptiste Colbert had recently (1663) brought the colony of New France under direct royal control, and Colbert wished to make it the centre of the French colonial empire. To do this he needed to know the state of the population, so that the economic and industrial basis of the colony could be expanded. Jean Talon conducted the census largely by himself, travelling door-to-door among the settlements of New France. He did not include Native American inhabitants of the colony, or the religious orders such as the Jesuits or Recollets. According to Talon's census there were 3215 people in New France, and 538 separate families. There were 2034 men and 1181 women. Children and unmarried people were grouped together; there were 2154 of these, while only 1019 people were married (42 were widowed). 547 people lived in Quebec, 455 in Trois-Rivières, and 625 in Montreal. The largest single age group, 21-30 year olds, numbered 842. 763 people were professionals of some kind, and 401 of these were servants, while 16 were listed as "gentlemen of means."

External link

- [http://www.statcan.ca/english/kits/jtalon1.htm Statistics Canada info kit] Category:New France

North America

North America is a continent in the northern hemisphere bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific Ocean. It covers an area of 24,497,994 km² (9,458,728 sq mi), or about 4.8% of the Earth's surface. As of July 2002, its population was estimated at more than 514,600,000. It is the third largest continent in area, after Asia and Africa, and is fourth in population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. Both North and South America are named after Amerigo Vespucci, who was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a previously undiscovered (by Europeans) New World. North America occupies the northern portion of the landmass generally referred to as the New World, the Western Hemisphere, the Americas, or simply America. North America's only land connection is to South America at the narrow Isthmus of Panama. (For geopolitical reasons, all of Panama – including the segment east of the Panama Canal in the isthmus – is often considered a part of North America alone.) According to some authorities, North America begins not at the Isthmus of Panama but at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, with the intervening region called Central America and resting on the Caribbean Plate. Most, however, tend to see Central America as a region of North America, considering it too small to be a continent on its own. Greenland, although a part of North America geographically, is not considered to be part of the continent politically.

Physical features

Greenland, plutonic, metamorphic rock types of North America. ]] Plate tectonics recognizes the vast majority of North America as being the surface of the North American Plate. Parts of California and western Mexico are known for being the edge of the Pacific Plate, with the two plates meeting along the San Andreas fault. The continent can be divided into four great regions (each of which contains many sub-regions): the Great Plains stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian Arctic; the geologically young, mountainous west, including the Rocky Mountains, the Great Basin, California and Alaska; the raised but relatively flat plateau of the Canadian Shield in the northeast; and the varied eastern region, which includes the Appalachian Mountains, the coastal plain along the Atlantic seaboard, and the Florida peninsula. Mexico, with its long plateaus and cordilleras, falls largely in the western region, although the eastern coastal plain does extend south along the Gulf. The western mountains are split in the middle, into the main range of the Rockies and the coast ranges in California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia with the Great Basin – a lower area containing smaller ranges and low-lying deserts – in between. The highest peak is Denali in Alaska. Since 1931, Rugby, North Dakota, has officially been recognized as being at the geographic center of North America. The location is marked by a 4.5 metre (15 foot) field stone obelisk. Image:North america terrain 2003 map.jpg|North America bedrock and terrain. Image:North america basement rocks.png|North American cratons and basement rocks. Image:North America Tectonic Elements.jpg|Tectonic elements of North America Image:North america craton nps.gif|North American craton.

Territories and regions

craton On the main continent landmass, there are three large and relatively populous countries:
- Canada - many large islands off the shore of North America belong to Canada, including Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands on the west, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island on the east, and the Canadian Arctic islands (including Ellesmere Island, Baffin Island, and Victoria Island) in the north
- Mexico - the Revillagigedo archipelago and numerous smaller islands off its coast belong to Mexico
- The United States - the 48 contiguous states and Alaska are part of North America, while the state of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean is not; the Aleutian Islands south of Alaska also belong to the U.S. At the southern end of the continent, in a relatively small area known as Central America, are the countries of:
- Belize
- Costa Rica
- El Salvador
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- Nicaragua
- Panama ¹ At the southeastern end of the continent lies a chain of islands territories called the Antilles, the Caribbean or the West Indies, which include the countries:
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Cuba
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Grenada
- Haiti
- Jamaica
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Trinidad and Tobago ¹ And the dependencies:
- Anguilla (British overseas territory)
- Aruba ² (part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)
- Cayman Islands (British overseas territory)
- Guadeloupe (French région d'outre-mer)
- Martinique (French région d'outre-mer)
- Montserrat (British overseas territory)
- Navassa Island (U.S. territory)
- Netherlands Antilles ¹ (part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)
- Puerto Rico (U.S. commonwealth)
- Turks and Caicos Islands (British overseas territory)
- British Virgin Islands (British overseas territory)
- U.S. Virgin Islands (territory of the USA) Lying in the Atlantic Ocean but considered part of the continent are the dependencies:
- Bermuda, a British overseas territory found about 1,072 km (670 mi.) southeast of New York City
- Greenland, the largest island in the world and a self-governing dependency of Denmark, which is located in the far north of the continent to the east of Nunavut.
- Saint Pierre and Miquelon, a French collectivité d'outre-mer off the south coast of Newfoundland, is the last of France's once vast possessions in America north of the Caribbean. ¹ These states and dependencies have territory both in North and South America.
² These dependencies lie in South America, but are considered North American because of cultural and historical reasons.
See here for details.

Usage

The United States, Canada, and the other English-speaking nations of the Americas (Belize, Guyana, and the Anglophone Caribbean) are sometimes grouped under the term Anglo-America, while the remaining nations of North and South America are grouped under the term Latin America. Alternatively, Northern America is used to refer to Canada and the U.S. together (plus Greenland and Bermuda), while Central America is mainland North America south of the United States. The West Indies generally include all islands in the Caribbean Sea. In this respect, Latin America generally includes Central America and South America and, sometimes, the West Indies. The term Middle America is sometimes used to refer to Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean collectively. The term "North America" may mean different things to different people. The term in common usage is often taken to mean "the United States and Canada, only" by some people of the United States and Canada, excluding Mexico and the countries of Central America, unless the context makes it clear that they are to be included (such as with specific reference to Mexico, when talking about NAFTA). For example, guides to wild flora and fauna published by the National Audubon Society for "North America" frequently include only species found in Canada and the U.S. This may be attributed to the fact that culturally and economically, the U.S. and Canada are more alike to each other than they are to the rest of North America. Mexicans, however, are acutely aware that Mexico is a part of North America and object to this usage. Central Americans, however, are generally content to be called Central Americans – largely because of their shared history, which includes several attempts at supranational integration in the region and in which Mexico, their much larger northern neighbor, was never involved.

Political divisions and regions

Notes:
¹ Continental regions as per UN categorisations/map.
² Depending on definitions, Aruba, Netherlands Antilles, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago have territory in one or both of North and South America.
³ Due to ongoing activity of the Soufriere Hills volcano beginning 1995, much of Plymouth, Montserrat's de jure capital, was destroyed and government offices relocated to Brades.

External links

- http://www.america-norte.com/america-norte-mapa.htm Category:Continents Category:North America zh-min-nan:Pak Bí-chiu ko:북아메리카 ja:北アメリカ simple:North America th:ทวีปอเมริกาเหนือ

Louis XIV of France

For the musical group of the same name, see Louis XIV (band). Louis XIV (Louis-Dieudonné) (September 5, 1638 – September 1, 1715) reigned as King of France and King of Navarre from May 14, 1643 until his death. He inherited the Crown at the age of four, but he did not actually assume personal control of the government until the death of his chief minister, Jules Cardinal Mazarin, in 1661. Louis XIV, known as The Sun King (French: Le Roi Soleil) and as Louis the Great (French: Louis le Grand), ruled France for seventy-two years — a longer reign than any other French or other "major" European monarch. Louis attempted to increase the power of France in Europe, fighting four major wars: the War of Devolution, the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the Grand Alliance, and the War of the Spanish Succession. He worked successfully to create an absolutist and centralised state; historians and political scientists often cite him as an example of an enlightened despot. Louis XIV became the archetype of an absolute monarch. He is frequently claimed to have said "L'État, c'est moi" ("I am the state"), though this is considered by historians to be a historical inaccuracy and is more likely to have been attributed to him by political opponents as a way to confirm a stereotypical view of the absolutism he represented. Quite contrary to that spurious quote, Louis XIV is actually reported by Saint-Simon to have said on his death bed: "Je m'en vais, mais l'État demeurera toujours. ("I am going, but the State shall always remain")."

Early years

On his birth at Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1638 his parents Louis XIII and Anne of Austria , who had been childless for twenty-three years, regarded him as a divine gift. (These circumstances have led some to postulate a different biological father for the boy, rather than Louis XIII. Anne of Austria, however, had denied these claims.) Louis came from a multicultural background since his grandparents on his father's side were Henry IV and Marie de' Medici, who were French and Italian. His other grandfather, Philip III was of Spanish descent and his grandmother, Margaret of Austria was of Austrian descent. He was christened "Louis-Dieudonné" (the latter word meaning "God-given"), and received the titles premier fils de France ("First Son of France") and the more traditional title Dauphin de Viennois. Louis XIII and Anne had a second child, Philippe I, Duc d'Orléans, in 1640. Louis XIII, however, mistrusted his wife; he sought to prevent her from gaining influence over the realm after his death. Nevertheless, when Louis XIII died and the four-year-old Louis XIV ascended the throne on May 14, 1643, Anne became Regent. She entrusted all power to her chief minister, the Italian Cardinal Mazarin, whom most French political circles despised — in part as a non-Frenchman. At the same time as the Thirty Years' War ended in 1648, a French civil war, known as the Fronde, began. Cardinal Mazarin continued the centralization policies of his predecessor, Armand Cardinal Richelieu. He attempted to augment the power of the Crown at the expense of the nobility. In 1648, he levied a tax on the members of the Parlement, a court whose judges comprised mostly nobles or high clergymen. The members of the Parlement not only refused to pay, but also pronounced all of Cardinal Mazarin’s entire earlier financial edicts to be burned. When Cardinal Mazarin arrested the members of the Parlement, Paris broke into rioting and insurrection. Louis and his courtiers had to flee from the city. Shortly thereafter, the signing of the Peace of Westphalia released the French army under Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé to return to the aid of Louis and of his royal court. By January 1649, the Prince de Condé had started besieging Paris; the subsequent Peace of Rueil temporarily ended the conflict. France had continued involvement in war, however, against Spain. The French received aid in this military effort from England, then governed by the military dictator Oliver Cromwell. The Anglo-French alliance achieved victory in 1658 at the Battle of the Dunes. The subsequent Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659) fixed the border between France and Spain at the Pyrenees. Under the same treaty, Louis XIV became engaged to marry the daughter of Philip IV of Spain, Maria Theresa (Marie Thérèse). The marriage occurred in 1660; under the treaty, Maria agreed to renounce all claim to the Spanish Throne. Spain had agreed to pay a large dowry (50,000 gold écus), but failed to complete payment. écu The French treasury stood close to bankruptcy when Louis XIV assumed power in 1661. The Sun King proved an incredibly extravagant spender, dispensing huge sums of money to finance the royal court. He operated as a patron of the arts, funding literary and cultural figures such as Molière, Charles Le Brun, and Jean-Baptiste Lully. He also brought the Académie française under his control, and became its "Protector". He spent money on improving the Musée du Louvre. Jean-Baptiste Colbert gained appointment as Controller-General in 1665. He reduced the national debt through more efficient taxation. His principal taxation devices included the aides, the douanes, the gabelle, and the taille. The aides and douanes were customs duties, the gabelle a tax on salt, and the taille a tax on land. Colbert, however, did not abolish the tax exemption claimed by the nobility and the clergy. Nonetheless, he improved the methods of tax collection then in use. Colbert also had wide-ranging plans to improve France through commerce. His administration ordained new industries and encouraged manufacturers and inventors. Colbert also made improvements to the navy, to the highways and to the waterways of France. He ranks as one of the fathers of the school of thought regarding trade known as mercantilism — in fact, France called "mercantilism" Colbertisme. Louis XIV ordered the construction of the complex known as the Hôtel des Invalides to provide a home for officers who had served him loyally in the army but whom either injury or age had rendered infirm. While methods of pharmaceuticals in the time period were quite elementary, the Hôtel des Invalides pioneered new treatments frequently, and set a new standard for the rather barbarous hospice treatment styles of the period. Louis considered its construction one of the greatest achievements of his reign, though many historians defer this honourable claim to the Chateau de Versailles, which, though of dubious necessity and, it may be said, ethically unsound, is one of the largest and most extravagant monuments to a king's power in Europe.

War and the Low Countries

After Louis's father-in-law, Philip IV of Spain, died in 1665, his son (by his second wife)became Charles II of Spain. Louis claimed that Brabant, a Spanish territory in the Low Countries, had "devolved" to his wife, Maria Theresa, Charles II's half-sister. Louis made the legal argument that the custom of Brabant required that a child should not suffer from his or her father's remarriage. He personally participated in the battles of the subsequent War of Devolution, which broke out in 1667. Louis saw as his primary enemy not Spain (which had little interest in Brabant and other Belgian territories), but the Republic of the Seven United Provinces (the Netherlands). Problems internal to the United Provinces aided Louis's designs on the Low Countries. The most prominent political figure in the United Provinces at the time, Johan de Witt, feared that power might come into the hands of William III, Prince of Orange. De Witt saw a naval war with France as potentially manageable, but a war on land would have allowed William III's army to intervene. Thus, France easily conquered both Flanders and the Franche-Comté. To protect itself from further French aggression, the United Provinces joined the Triple Alliance, with England and Sweden, in 1668. Faced with the joint naval and commercial power of England and the United Provinces, Louis agreed to make peace. Under the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668), France retained Flanders, but surrendered the Franche-Comté to Spain. The Triple Alliance did not last very long. In 1670, Charles II secretly signed the Treaty of Dover, entering into a coalition with France; the two nations declared war on the United Provinces in 1672. Louis XIV's aggression forced Johan de Witt to resign, and allowed William III, Prince of Orange to take power. William III entered into an alliance with Spain, causing England to withdraw in 1674. William even married Mary, the niece of the English King Charles II. A peace was therefore hastened, and accomplished in 1678 with the Treaty of Nijmegen. Louis gained more territory in the Low Countries, and regained the Franche-Comté. The Treaty of Nijmegen improved France's influence in Europe, but did not satisfy Louis XIV. Louis dismissed his foreign minister, Simon Arnaud, Marquis de Pomponne, in 1679. He also kept up his army, but accomplished further increases in territory through judicial processes instead of military ones. Louis claimed that the territories ceded to him in previous treaties ought to be ceded along with all their dependencies and all lands which had formerly belonged to them, but had separated over the years. French "courts of reunion" were appointed to ascertain which territories belonged to France; the French troops later occupied them. The annexation of these lesser territories, however, was not Louis's primary aim. Louis actually desired to gain Strasbourg, an important strategic outpost. Strasbourg was a part of Alsace, but had not been ceded with the rest of Alsace in the Peace of Westphalia. It was nonetheless occupied by the French in 1681 under Louis's new legal pretext.

Height of power

During the early 1680s, Louis greatly increased his influence. French colonies abroad were growing in size. Louis was in the process of reinforcing the traditional Gallicanism, a doctrine limiting the authority of the Pope in France. Furthermore, Louis began to diminish the power of the nobility and clergy. He achieved immense control over the second estate (nobility) in France by essentially imprisoning much of the nobility in his palace at Versailles, requiring them to spend a majority of the year under his close watch instead of in their local communities. He entertained his permanent visitors with extravagant parties and other distractions, which were significant factors contributing to Louis's absolutist rule. In pursuance of his absolutist aims, Louis attempted to increase his influence over the Church. He convened an assembly of clergymen in November 1681. Before it was dissolved in June 1682, it had agreed to the Declaration of the Clergy of France. The power of the King of France was increased, and the power of the Pope reduced. The Pope was not allowed to send papal legates to France without the King's consent; those legates, furthermore, required further approval before they could exercise their power. Bishops were not to leave France without the royal approbation; no government officials could be excommunicated for acts committed in pursuance of their duties. The King was allowed to enact ecclesiastical laws, and all regulations made by the Pope were deemed invalid in France without the assent of the monarch. The Declaration, however, was not accepted by the Pope. Louis attempted to reduce the influence of the nobility, continuing the work of Cardinal Richelieu and Cardinal Mazarin. He believed that his power would prevail only if he filled the high executive offices with commoners, because while he could reduce a commoner to a nonentity by dismissing him, he could not destroy the influence of a great nobleman. Thus Louis forced the nobles to serve him ceremonially as courtiers, whilst he appointed commoners as ministers and regional governors. As courtiers, the nobles grew ever weaker. Louis had converted the Chateau of Versailles outside Paris into a lavish royal palace; he moved there along with the royal court on May 6, 1682. Court life centered on grandeur; courtiers had to display expensive luxuries, to dress with suitable magnificence and to constantly attend balls, dinners, performances, and celebrations. Thus, many noblemen had perforce either to give up all influence, or to depend entirely on the King for grants and subsidies. Instead of exercising power, the nobles vied for the honour of dining at the King's table or the privilege of carrying a candlestick as the King retired to his bedroom. Louis had several reasons for building Versailles. Most painfully obvious: he disliked Paris. During the nobility-led Fronde rebellion, insurgents captured the young Louis and held him hostage. He decided to build himself a residence outside Paris so he could observe the goings-on of all of his country. Versailles also served as a dazzling and awe inspiring setting for state affairs and for receptions of foreign dignitaries. Louis XIV's most important minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, died in 1683. Colbert exercised a tremendous influence on the royal coffers — the royal revenue tripled under his supervision. The people of France, however, generally remained poor, and did not always reap the benefits of Colbert's plans. By 1685, Louis stood at the height of his power. One of France's chief rivals, the Holy Roman Empire, was crippled whilst fighting the Ottoman Empire in the War of the Holy League. The Ottoman Grand Vizier had almost captured Vienna, but at the last moment King Jan III Sobieski led an army of Polish, German and Austrian forces to final victory at the Battle of Vienna in 1683. In the meantime, Louis XIV had acquired control of several territories, including Luxembourg. After repelling the Ottoman attack on Vienna, the Holy Roman Empire's army was free, but the Emperor nevertheless did not attempt to regain the territories annexed by Louis XIV.

Decline

Luxembourg Louis's queen, Maria Theresa, also died in 1683. Louis had not remained faithful to her: his mistresses included Louise de la Valliere, Duchesse de Vaujours, Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart, Marquise of Montespan, and Marie-Angelique, Duchesse de Fontanges. He proved, however, more faithful to his last mistress and eventual second wife, Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon. The marriage between Louis XIV and Madame de Maintenon, which occurred in late 1685, was kept a secret. Madame de Maintenon, once a Protestant, had converted to Catholicism. It is believed that she vigorously promoted the persecution of the Protestants, and that she urged Louis XIV to revoke the Edict of Nantes (1598), which granted a degree of religious freedom to the Huguenots (the members of the Protestant Reformed Church). Louis himself supported such a plan; he believed that, in order to achieve absolute power, he had to first achieve a religiously unified nation — specifically a Catholic one. He had already begun the persecution of the Huguenots by excluding them from public office and by quartering soldiers in their homes. Louis continued his attempt to achieve a religiously united France by issuing an Edict in March 1685. The Edict affected the French colonies, and expelled all Jews from them. The public practice of any religion except Catholicism became prohibited. The Code Noir also granted sanction to slavery, but no person could own a slave in the French colonies unless a member of the Roman Catholic Church, and a Catholic priest had to baptise each slave. In October 1685, Louis increased the persecution of the Huguenots by issuing the Edict of Fontainebleau, revoking the Edict of Nantes. The new edict banished from the realm any Protestant minister who refused to convert to Roman Catholicism. Protestant schools and institutions were banned. Children born into Protestant families were to be forcibly baptised by Roman Catholic priests, and Protestant places of worship were demolished. The Edict precluded individuals from publicly practising or exercising the religion, but not from merely believing in it. The Edict provided "liberty is granted to the said persons of the Pretended Reformed Religion [Protestantism] … on condition of not engaging in the exercise of the said religion, or of meeting under pretext of prayers or religious services." Although the Edict formally denied Huguenots permission to leave France, 200,000 of them left in any event, taking with them all their skills in commerce and trade. The Edict proved economically damaging, and Sébastien Le Prestre, Marquis de Vauban, one of Louis XIV's most influential ministers, publicly condemned the measure. Louis may have acted against the Huguenots to foster a mutual hatred between Catholics and Protestants in Europe, thereby hoping to discourage any alliances between nations of varying faiths. If he indeed had this aim, the plan failed utterly. In 1686, both Catholic and Protestant rulers joined the League of Augsburg, designed to check Louis's ambitions. The coalition included the Holy Roman Emperor and several of the German states that formed part of the Empire — most notably the Palatinate, Bavaria, and Brandenburg. The United Provinces, Spain and Sweden also joined the League. Louis sent his troops into the Palatinate in 1688. Ostensibly, the army had the task of supporting the claims of Louis's sister-in-law, Charlotte Elizabeth, Duchesse d'Orléans, to the Crown of the Palatinate. (The Duchesse d'Orléans' nephew had died in 1685, and the Crown had gone, not to her, but to the junior Neuburg branch of the family.) The invasion had the actual aim, however, of applying diplomatic pressure and forcing the Palatinate to leave the League of Augsburg. Louis's activities united the German princes behind the Holy Roman Emperor. Louis had expected that England, under the Catholic James II, would remain neutral. In 1689, however, the Glorious Revolution resulted in the deposition of James II and his replacement by his daughter, Mary II, who ruled jointly with her husband, William III (William of Orange). As William had developed an enmity with Louis XIV during the Dutch War, England joined the League of Augsburg, which then became known as the Grand Alliance The campaigns of the War of the Grand Alliance (1688 – 1697) at first proceeded generally favorably for France. The forces of the Holy Roman Emperor proved ineffective, as many Imperial troops concentrated on fighting the Ottoman Empire. Louis XIV aided James II in his attempt to retake the English crown, but unsuccessfully; James lost his last stronghold, Ireland, in 1690. England could then devote more of its funds and troops to the war on the continent. An Anglo-Dutch naval fleet decimated Louis XIV's navy at La Hougue in 1692. The war continued for five more years, but ended with the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697. Louis XIV surrendered Luxembourg and all other territories he had seized since the end of the Dutch War in 1679, but retained Strasbourg. Louis also undertook to recognise William III and Mary II as Sovereigns of England, and assured them that he would no longer assist James II.

The Spanish Succession

The great matter of succession to the Spanish Throne dominated Europe following the Peace of Ryswick. The Spanish King Charles II, severely invalided, could not father an heir. The Spanish inheritance offered a much-sought prize — Charles II ruled not only Spain, but also Naples, Sicily, Milan, the Spanish Netherlands and a vast colonial empire — in all, twenty-two different realms. Both France and the Holy Roman Empire vied for the Spanish Crown. Both Louis XIV and the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I had close family ties the Spanish royal family; Louis as the son of the elder daughter of Philip III of Spain and as the husband of the elder daughter of Philip IV of Spain; Leopold as the son of the younger daughter of Philip III and as the husband of the younger daughter of Philip IV. The French might have had a slight advantage because Anne of Austria and Maria Thérèse had seniority over their respective sisters. Many European powers feared that if either France or the Holy Roman Empire came to control Spain, the balance of power in Europe would be threatened. The English King William III proposed another candidate, the Bavarian Prince Joseph Ferdinand. Under the First Partition Treaty, it was agreed that the Bavarian prince would inherit Spain, with the territories in Italy and the Low Countries being divided between France and the Empire. Spain, however, had not been consulted, and vehemently resisted the dismemberment of its territories. The Spanish royal court insisted on maintaining the glory of the Spanish Empire. When the Treaty became known to Charles II in 1698, he settled on Joseph Ferdinand as his heir, assigning to him the entire Spanish inheritance. The entire issue opened up again when smallpox claimed the Bavarian prince six months later. The Spanish royal court was intent on keeping the great Spanish Empire united, and acknowledged that such a goal could be accomplished only by selecting a member of either the French Bourbon Dynasty or the Imperial Habsburg Dynasty. Charles II chose the Habsburgs, settling on the Emperor Leopold's younger son, the Archduke Charles. Ignoring the decision of the Spanish, Louis XIV and William III signed a second treaty, allowing the Archduke Charles to take Spain, the Low Countries and the Spanish colonies, whilst Louis XIV's son, Louis de France, Dauphin de Viennois would inherit the territories in Italy. In 1700, as he lay dying, Charles II unexpectedly interfered in the affair. He sought to prevent Spain from uniting with either France or the Holy Roman Empire. The whole of the Spanish territory was to go to the Dauphin's younger son, Philip, Duc d'Anjou. If the Duc d'Anjou were to inherit the French Crown, then the Spanish Crown would go to the Dauphin's next son, Charles, Duc de Berry, and thereafter to the Archduke Charles. Louis XIV thus faced a difficult choice: he could have agreed to a partition and to peace in Europe, or he could have accepted the whole Spanish inheritance but alienated the other European nations. Louis assured William III that he would fulfill the terms of their previous treaty and partition the Spanish dominions. Later on, however, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Marquis de Torcy (nephew of Jean-Baptiste Colbert) advised Louis XIV that even if France accepted a portion of the Spanish inheritance, a war with the Holy Roman Empire would ensue. Louis agreed that if a war occurred in any event, it would be more profitable to accept the whole of the Spanish inheritance. Consequently, when Charles II died on November 1, 1700, Philip, Duc d'Anjou became Philip V, King of Spain. Louis XIV's opponents reluctantly accepted Philip V as King of Spain. Louis, however, acted too aggressively. In 1701, he cut off English imports to France. Moreover, Louis ceased to acknowledge William III as King of England, instead supporting the claim of James II's son and heir, James Francis Edward Stuart (the "Old Pretender"). England consequently entered into an alliance with the United Provinces, the Holy Roman Empire and most German states. Bavaria, Portugal and Savoy aided Louis XIV and Philip V. The subsequent War of Succession continued for most of the remainder of Louis XIV's reign. France had some initial success, but Marlborough's victory at the Battle of Blenheim (13 August 1704) forced her into a defensive posture. Bavaria ceased her involvement in the war, and Portugal and Savoy joined the opposite side. The endeavour proved costly for Louis XIV; by 1709, he had lost almost all of the power France had amassed during his reign. Whilst it became clear that France could not conquer the entire Spanish inheritance, it also seemed clear that its opponents could not overthrow Philip V in Spain. Louis XIV and Philip V made peace with Great Britain and the United Provinces in 1713 with the Treaty of Utrecht. Peace with the Holy Roman Empire came with the Treaty of Baden in 1714. The general settlement recognised Philip V as King of Spain and ruler of the Spanish colonies in the Americas. Spain's territory in the Low Countries and Italy went to the Empire. Louis, furthermore, agreed to end his support for the Old Pretender's claims to the throne of Great Britain.

Death

Louis XIV died on September 1, 1715 of gangrene, a few days before his seventy-seventh birthday. His body lies in the Saint Denis Basilica in St Denis, a city near Paris. Almost all of Louis XIV's legitimate children died during childhood. The only one to survive to adulthood, his eldest son, Louis, Dauphin de Viennois, known as "The Grand Dauphin" died in 1711, leaving three children. The eldest of those, Louis, duc de Bourgogne, died in 1712. Thus Louis XIV's five-year-old great-grandson, the son of the duc de Bourgogne, succeeded to the throne and reigned as Louis XV. Louis XIV sought to restrict the power of his nephew, Philip II, Duc d'Orléans, who by law would become Regent for the prospective Louis XV. He instead preferred to transfer power to his illegitimate son by Madame de Montespan, Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, Duc du Maine. Louis XIV's will provided that the Duc du Maine would act as the guardian of Louis XV and Commander of the Royal Guards. The Duc d'Orléans, however, ensured the annulment of Louis XIV's will in court. The Duc du Maine, stripped of the title prince du sang (Prince of the Blood) and of the command of the Royal Guards, went to prison, while the Duc d'Orléans ruled as sole Regent. Louis XIV placed France in a dominant position in Europe. Even with several great alliances opposing him, he could continue to increase French territory. For his vigorous promotion of French national greatness, Louis XIV became known as the "Sun King". Voltaire compared him to Caesar Augustus and called his reign an "eternally memorable age". The Duc de Saint-Simon offered the following assessment: "There was nothing he liked so much as flattery, or, to put it more plainly, adulation; the coarser and clumsier it was, the more he relished it … His vanity, which was perpetually nourished – for even preachers used to praise him to his face from the pulpit – was the cause of the aggrandisement of his Ministers." At the same time, however, Louis's efforts did not bring prosperity to the common people of France. His numerous wars and extravagant palaces effectively bankrupted the nation, forcing him to levy high taxes on the peasants. As the nobility and clergy had exemption from paying these taxes, the peasantry came to resent them. The peasantry also opposed the royal absolutism established by Louis. The French Revolution picked up on such sentiments in 1789. Louis XIV achieved his dream of putting a member of the Bourbon Dynasty on the throne of Spain. The House of Bourbon retained the Crown of Spain for the remainder of the eighteenth century, but experienced overthrow and restoration several times after 1808. The present Spanish monarch, Juan Carlos I, descends from Louis XIV. In 1682, the explorer René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle named the basin of the Mississippi River in North America "Louisiane" in honour of Louis XIV. Both the Louisiana Territory and the State of Louisiana in the United States formed part of Louisiane. Louis XIV features in the d'Artagnan Romances by Alexandre Dumas. The plot of the last of the three Romances, The Vicomte de Bragelonne, involves a fictional twin brother of Louis XIV who tries to displace the King. In The Man in the Iron Mask, a 1929 movie based on The Vicomte de Bragelonne, William Blakewell portrayed Louis and his twin. Louis Hayward played the twins in a 1939 remake, and Leonardo DiCaprio did the same in a 1998 remake.

Style and arms

Louis XIV had the formal style: "Louis XIV, par la grâce de Dieu roi de France et de Navarre," or "Louis XIV, by the Grace of God King of France and Navarre." He bore the arms Azure three fleurs-de-lis Or (for France) impaling