IMMIGRATION—1665-1670
The Compagnie des Indes Occidentales, which had been granted the domain of New France from May 16, 1664, one year after the forced retirement of the Hundred Associates, brought over on the king's account, in 1665,[3] 429 men and 100 women and girls; in 1667,[3] 184 men and 92 women and girls; and in 1668, [102] 244 of both sexes.
In addition, during the above period 422 officers and soldiers of Carignan regiment were established in the colony. In 1666 the company sent out on its own account 35 hired men (engagés); in 1669,[4] 200 men and 150 women; in 1670,[4] 100 men and 100 women; in 1671,[103] 100 men and 150 women; in 1672, the war in Holland stopped the movement.
In 1670 there came five companies of fifty men each, making with their officers an effective force of 266. Thus for the first period we have sent at the king's account about one thousand four hundred persons, and for the second 1,116 about two thousand five hundred and sixteen in all. But there was a certain number of others who came to find a position, or were brought over by the owners of fiefs or by the seigneurs of Montreal.
Talon encouraged marriages so that with the establishments of the officers and the soldiers, joined to the activity of the emigration movement from 1665 to 1668, the families had more than doubled their numbers, and the population was also almost doubled during this period.
In 1665 the first census under Talon shows, at the commencement of 1666, 3,215 souls and 533 families; at the commencement of 1668, 6,282 souls and 1,132 families.
Yet the official report of Frontenac in 1673 after the departure of Talon gave only a population of 6,705. This seems incredible and Colbert expressed surprise. From 1669 to 1672 the king had sent over 820 persons without counting the soldiers arriving in 1670. Add to this the material increase, the six to seven hundred births of 1671 and those of 1672, estimated in advance by Laval at 1,100, and it is difficult to admit that the population had only increased by 423 souls from 1668 to 1673. The census of 1675 gives 7,833. This is more reasonable and leads to the conclusion that the returns of 1673 were too small.
The population of Montreal, according to Morin "Le Vieux Montreal," was as follows: 1642, 72; 1650, 196; 1660, 472; 1665, 525; 1667, 760; 1662, 830; 1680, 1,400; 1690, 1,567; 1700, 2,100; 1710, 3,492; 1720, 5,314; 1730, 6,351; 1740, 7,710; 1750, 8,224; 1760, 8,321.