USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The crown owned all the land in the colony and granted large sections of it to army officers, lords, government officials, or influential people. These owners were called seigneurs.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Compagnie des Cent-Associés, which was granted ownership and legal and seigneurial rights over New France, from the Arctic to Florida, also obtained the right to allocate the land to its best advantage.

Detailed explanation-3: -A person who owned a seigneury was called a seigneur. The seigneur divided his seigneury into smaller strips of land and rented them out to farmers. These farmers were known as habitants.

Detailed explanation-4: -The seigneurial system was established in New France in 1627 and abolished in 1854. In this system, the seigneur divided his lands between censitaires (settlers, or inhabitants), who could then clear the land and exploit it, as well as build buildings there. Each portion of land was called a censive.

Detailed explanation-5: -Seigneuries were usually 1 x 3 leagues (5 x 15 km) but some did vary in size, and were then generally divided into river lots. The long, rectangular strips sometimes called long-lots, were particularly well adapted to the local terrain and provided access to the river, the principal communication route at the time.