colony · North America and Oceania
Plaisance
Origins
French fishing crews had long used the sheltered harbour of Plaisance, now Placentia, on the Avalon Peninsula. French claims to the harbour date from the 1650s, but the colony is usually dated from 1662, when a garrison and the first resident governor arrived, making Plaisance the administrative centre of French Newfoundland.
Rule and society
Plaisance was a small military and fishing post with a few hundred residents and many more seasonal fishermen from Saint-Malo and the Basque coast. Its governors, such as Jacques-François de Brouillan, oversaw Fort Saint-Louis and the dry cod trade. In 1696 to 1697 Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville led raids from Plaisance that destroyed most English settlements on Newfoundland, including St John's.
Decline and legacy
By the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 France ceded Newfoundland to Britain, keeping only fishing rights on part of the coast. Governor Philippe Pastour de Costebelle moved the settlers to Louisbourg on Ile Royale, and Placentia became a British garrison town in the Colony of Newfoundland.
Lineage
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (2)
- Plaisance was part of New France1655 CE – 1713 CE
- Plaisance was a colony of Kingdom of France1655 CE – 1713 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Plaisance. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/plaisance
- MLA
- “Plaisance.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/plaisance. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Plaisance.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/plaisance.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Plaisance’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/plaisance (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻