La monarchie et l’environnement en Alsace et au Canada sous l’Ancien Régime : l’eau, politiques et représentations

In XVIIth Century France, two phenomena tend to modify the relationships between the State and the territory. The first one is the expansion of the kingdom’s borders, due to political and strategical considerations from the metropole. The second phenomenon is the ever-increasing involvement of the State into hydraulic planning, such as the creation of new waterways or the draining of swamps. This valorization of the hydrographic network aims at answering the needs of the French monarchy fort the kingdom, that is to say, to strengthen its power by developing the economy and protecting the territory. Such a trend allows us to raise the question which will be at the heart of this research: how relevant is the management of the environment to the expansion of French sovereignty on newly integrated territories, in Europe and across the Atlantic? To what extent does the management of waterways, with all their assets and constraints, pertain to the integration of said territories? Based on the recent developments of environmental history, the thesis offers to compare Alsace and New France, analyzing the ways these newly acquired territories are appropriated by the French Crown by looking at the interactions between public authorities, populations and environment. The analysis takes into account not only the material aspect of water, but also its cultural, political, social and material dimensions. Doing so, the sources provided by and for the State show that the hydrographic network is taken into account to achieve France’s political, military and economic goals, not only for the conquest, but also for the subsequent administration of territories. Thus, the thesis highlights the part played by the management of the environment in the ways the territory is handled and appropriated: This role is crucial in the case of areas recently attached to the kingdom. Indeed, through its strategy of expansion of its sovereignty, the French State asserts itself as a genuine participant in the handling of waterways, taking manifold measures. The representatives of the royal State, both in the colonies and in the province, contribute to legitimizing the actions of the monarchy and to establishing the king’s authority by controlling both the uses and the material adaptations of the waterways. The wording of the archives, and the measures taken by the central power as well as by its representatives, reveal much about the capacity of action of the populations, a pragmatic aspect that must be taken into account, but also much about the constraints imposed by the hydric environment itself. Thus, comparative hydro-history, as used in this thesis to analyze two very different territories, enables us to reveal the discrepancy between what could be called a perceived environment, upon which general politics and great layout projects are based, and a genuine environment for each area. In both territories, specific characteristics and sometimes contradicting interests go against the plans of the monarchy, therefore forcing it to compromise and adapt.

Keyphrases: Canada, Alsace, Administration, Environment, Water, New-France, Sovereignty, Territory, State