Vitis vinifera
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Vitales
Family:	Vitaceae
Genus:	Vitis
Species:	V. vinifera
Binomial name
Vitis vinifera L. Linnaeus, 1758

Vitis vinifera (Common Grape Vine) is a species of Vitis, native to the Mediterranean region, central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran.^[1]

It is a liana growing to 35 m tall, with flaky bark. The leaves are alternate, palmately lobed, 5–20 cm long and broad. The fruit is a berry, known as a grape; in the wild species it is 6 mm diameter and ripens dark purple to blackish with a pale wax bloom; in cultivated plants it is usually much larger, up to 3 cm long, and can be green, red, or purple. The species typically occurs in humid forests and streamsides.

The wild grape is often classified as V. vinifera subsp. sylvestris (in some classifications considered Vitis sylvestris), with V. vinifera subsp. vinifera restricted to cultivated forms. Domesticated vines have hermaphrodite flowers, but subsp. sylvestris is dioecious (male and female flowers on separate plants) and pollination is required for fruit to develop.

Cultivars of Vitis vinifera form the basis of the majority of wines produced around the world. All of the familiar wine varieties belong to Vitis vinifera, which is cultivated on every continent except for Antarctica, and in all the major wine regions of the world.

History[link]

Humans are known to have interacted with the Vitis vinifera in the Neolithic period.

Wild grapes were harvested by foragers and early farmers. For thousands of years, the fruit has been harvested for both medicinal and nutritional value; its history is intimately entwined with the history of wine.^{[citation needed]}

Changes in pip shape (narrower in domesticated forms) and distribution point to domestication occurring about 3500–3000 BC, in southwest Asia, South Caucasus (Armenia and Georgia), or the Western Black Sea shore region (Bulgaria). Cultivation of the domesticated grape spread to other parts of the Old World in pre-historic or early historic times.^{[citation needed]}

The first written accounts of grapes and wine can be found in the Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient Sumerian text from the third millennium BC. There are also numerous hieroglyphic references from ancient Egypt, according to which wine was reserved exclusively for priests, state functionaries and the pharaoh.^{[citation needed]}

Grape harvest on Etruscan terracotta from the 6th century BC

The ancient Greeks introduced grape growing and wine making to Europe in the Minoan age^{[dubious – discuss]}. Hesiod in his Works and Days gives detailed descriptions of grape harvests and wine making techniques, and there are also many references in Homer. Greek colonists then introduced these practices in their colonies, especially in southern Italy (Magna Grecia), which was even known as Enotria due to its propitious climate.

The Etruscans improved wine making techniques and developed an export trade even beyond the Mediterranean basin.^{[citation needed]}

The ancient Romans further developed the techniques learnt from the Etruscans, as shown by numerous works of literature containing information that is still valid today: De Agri Cultura (around 160 BC) by Cato the Elder, De re rustica by Marcus Terentius Varro, the Georgics by Virgil and De re rustica by Columella.^{[citation needed]}

During the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, the long crisis of the Roman Empire generated instability in the countryside which led to a reduction of viticulture in general, which was mainly sustained only close to towns and cities and along coastlines.^{[citation needed]}

Between the 5th and 10th centuries, viticulture was sustained almost exclusively by the different religious orders in monasteries. The Benedictines and others extended the grape growing limit northwards and also planted new vineyards at higher altitudes than was customary before. Apart from ‘ecclesiastical’ viticulture, there also developed, especially in France, a ‘noble’ viticulture, practiced by the aristocracy as a symbol of prestige.^{[citation needed]}

Vineyard in Burgundy

Grape growing was a significant economic activity in the Middle east up to the 7th century, when the expansion of Islam caused it to decline.^{[citation needed]}

Between the Low Middle Ages and the Renaissance, viticulture began to flourish again. Demographic pressure, population concentration in towns and cities, and the increased spending power of artisans and merchants gave rise to increased investment in viticulture, which became economically feasible once more.^{[citation needed]}

Much was written during the Renaissance on grape growing and wine production, favouring a more scientific approach. This literature can be considered the origin of modern ampelography.^{[citation needed]}

Grapes followed European colonies around the world, coming to North America around the 17th century, and to Africa, South America and Australia. In North America it formed hybrids with native species from the Vitis genus; some of these were intentional hybrids created to combat phylloxera, an insect pest which affected the European grapevine to a much greater extent than North American ones and in fact managed to devastate European wine production in a matter of years. Later, North American rootstocks became widely used to graft V. vinifera cultivars so as to withstand the presence of phylloxera.^{[citation needed]}

V. vinifera accounts for the majority of world wine production; all of the most familiar grape varieties used for wine production belong to V. vinifera.^[2]

In Europe, Vitis vinifera is concentrated in the central and southern regions; in Asia, in the western regions such as Anatolia, the Caucasus, the Middle east, and in China; in Africa, along the northern Mediterranean coast and in South Africa; in North America, in California and also other areas like New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Washington State, British Columbia, Ontario and Québec; in South America in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru and Brazil; and in Oceania in Australia and New Zealand.

In the second half of the 20th century there was a shift in attitude in viticulture from traditional techniques to the scientific method based on fields such as microbiology, chemistry and ampelography. This change came about also due to changes in economic and cultural aspects and in the way of life and in the consumption habits of wide sectors of the population starting to demand quality products.^{[citation needed]}

Nature magazine published the genome sequence of V. vinifera.^[3] This work was a collaboration between Italian researchers (Consorzio Interuniversitario Nazionale per la Biologia Molecolare delle Piante, Istituto di Genomica Applicata) and French researchers (Genoscope e Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique). Vitis vinifera is the fourth angiosperm species whose genome has been completely sequenced. The results of this analysis contribute significantly to understanding the evolution of plants over time and of the genes involved in the aromatic characteristics of wine.

In March 2007, scientists from Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), working in the Cooperative Research Centre for Viticulture, reported that their "research suggests that extremely rare and independent mutations in two genes [VvMYBA1 and VvMYBA2 of red grapes] produced a single white grapevine that was the parent of almost all of the world's white grape varieties. If only one gene had been mutated, most grapes would still be red and we would not have the more than 3000 white grape cultivars available today."^[4][5]

Uses[link]

Use of grapes is known to date back to Neolithic times, following the discovery in 1996 of 7,000 year-old wine storage jars in present-day northern Iran.^[6] Further evidence shows the Mesopotamians and Ancient Egyptians had vine plantations and winemaking skills. Greek philosophers praised the healing powers of grapes both whole and in the form of wine. Vitis vinifera cultivation and winemaking in China began during the Han Dynasty in the 2nd century^[7] with the importation of the species from Ta-Yuan. However, wild vine "mountain grapes" like Vitis thunbergii were being used for wine making before that time.^[8]

Using the sap of grapevines, European folk healers sought to cure skin and eye diseases. Other historical uses include the leaves being used to stop bleeding, pain and inflammation of hemorrhoids. Unripe grapes were used for treating sore throats, and raisins were given as treatments for consumption (tuberculosis), constipation and thirst. Ripe grapes were used for the treatment of cancer, cholera, smallpox, nausea, skin and eye infections as well as kidney and liver diseases.

Seedless grape varieties were developed to appeal to consumers, but researchers are now discovering that many of the healthful properties of grapes may actually come from the seeds themselves, thanks to their enriched phytochemical content.^[9][10]

Grapevine leaves are filled with minced meat (such as lamb or beef), rice and onions in the making of Balkan traditional dolma.

A grapevine is depicted on the reverse of the Croatian 2 lipa coin, minted since 1993.

Phenolic chemistry[link]

V. vinifera contains many phenolic compounds. Anthocyanins can be found in the skin of the berries, hydroxycinnamic acids in the pulp and condensed tannins of the proanthocyanidins type in the seeds. Stilbenoids can be found in the skin and in wood.

Stilbenoids[link]

Trans-resveratrol is a phytoalexin produced against the growth of fungal pathogens such as Botrytis cinerea^[11] and delta-viniferin is another grapevine phytoalexin produced following fungal infection by Plasmopara viticola.^[12]

Anthocyanins[link]

Vitis vinifera red cultivars are rich in anthocyanins that impart their colour to the berries (generally in the skin). The 5 most basic anthocyanins found in grape are:

• Cyanidin-3-O-glucoside
• Delphinidin-3-O-glucoside
• Malvidin-3-O-glucoside
• Petunidin-3-O-glucoside
• Peonidin-3-O-glucoside

Cultivars like Graciano^[13][14] may also contain :

acetylated anthocyanins

• Cyanidin-3-(6-acetyl)-glucoside
• Delphinidin-3-(6-acetyl)-glucoside
• Malvidin-3-(6-acetyl)-glucoside
• Petunidin-3-(6-acetyl)-glucoside
• Peonidin-3-(6-acetyl)-glucoside

coumaroylated anthocyanins

• Cyanidin-3-(6-p-coumaroyl)-glucoside
• Delphinidin-3-(6-p-coumaroyl)-glucoside
• Malvidin-3-(6-p-coumaroyl)-glucoside cis
• Malvidin-3-(6-p-coumaroyl)-glucoside trans
• Petunidin-3-(6-p-coumaroyl)-glucoside
• Peonidin-3-(6-p-coumaroyl)-glucoside

caffeoylated anthocyanins

• Malvidin-3-(6-p-caffeoyl)-glucoside
• Peonidin-3-(6-p-caffeoyl)-glucoside

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Vitis vinifera

• List of grape varieties
• Annual growth cycle of grapevines
• Canopy (vine)

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Daniel Zohary, Maria Hopf (2000). Domestication of plants in the Old World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-850356-3. 
• Manzi Luigi, La viticoltura e l'enologia al tempo dei romani, Er. Botta, Roma 1883
• Marescalchi Arturo, Dalmasso Giovanni, Storia della vite e del vino in Italia, 3 voll., Unione Italiana Vini, Milano 1931-33-37

French American
Franco-Américain, Franco-Américaine

Brett Favre • Kate Chopin • Oliver Stone Robert Goulet • Jack Kerouac • Henry David Thoreau John C. Frémont • Eleuthère Irénée du Pont • William C. Durant John James Audubon • Rene Gagnon Angelina Jolie • Johnny Depp
Total population
17,000,000 [1] 4% of the U.S. population (2009)
Regions with significant populations
Predominantly in New England, The Midwest and Louisiana
Languages
American English, French(Cajun•Acadian•Canadian•Missouri•New England French)
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholicism Calvinist Protestantism
Related ethnic groups
French people, French Canadian, Québécois, Cajuns, Acadians

French Americans or Franco-Americans are Americans of French or French Canadian descent. About 11.8 million U.S. residents are of this descent, and about 2.0 million speak French and French Creole at home.^[2] While Americans of French descent make up a substantial percentage of the American population, French Americans arguably are less visible than other similarly sized ethnic groups. This is due in part to the tendency of French American groups to identify more strongly with "New World" regional identities such as Acadian, Cajun, or Louisiana Creole. This has inhibited the development of a wider French American identity. The majority of Americans of French and French Canadian descent are descendants of those who first settled in Canada in the 17th century (known as New France at the time), which later became the Province of Quebec in 1763, Lower Canada in 1791, and a Canadian province of Quebec after Canadian Confederation in 1867. The majority of Americans of French descent, mostly resident in New England and the Midwest, are descendants of the Quebec Diaspora and the first Canadiens, while a few are of Acadian descent from the Canadian Maritime provinces. Immigration to the United States from France was much lower than from other parts of Europe, such as Ireland, Great Britain, Germany, Scandinavia, Italy, or Poland.

History[link]

Unlike other immigrants who came to the United States from other countries, some French Americans arrived prior to the founding of the United States. In many parts of the country, like the Midwest and Louisiana, they were the founders of some of these villages, cities, and first state inhabitants. While found throughout the country, French Americans are most numerous in New England, northern New York, the Midwest, and Louisiana. French is the fourth most-spoken language in the country, behind English, Spanish, and Chinese.^[3] Often, French Americans are identified more specifically as being of French Canadian, Cajun, or Louisiana Creole descent.^[4] An important part of French American history is the Quebec diaspora of the 1840s-1930s, in which one million French Canadians moved to the United States, principally to the New England states, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Historically, the French in Canada had among the highest birth rates in world history, which is why their population was large even though immigration from France was relatively low.

Franco-American Flag

Some French Americans are descended from the casquette girls and comfort women who were sent to Louisiana from France as brides for the French colonists in the 18th century.

They also moved to different regions within Canada, namely Ontario and Manitoba. Many of the early male migrants worked in the lumber industry in both regions, and, to a lesser degree, in the burgeoning mining industry in the upper Great Lakes.

Louisiana[link]

The Cajuns of Louisiana have a unique heritage. Their ancestors settled Acadia, in what is now the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, in the 17th and early 18th centuries. In 1755, after capturing Fort Beauséjour in the region, the British Army forced the Acadians to either swear an oath of loyalty to the British Crown or face expulsion. Thousands refused to take the oath, causing them to be sent, penniless, to the 13 colonies to the south in what has become known as the Great Upheaval. Over the next generation, some four thousand managed to make the long trek to Louisiana, where they began a new life. The name Cajun is a corruption of the word Acadian. Many still live in what is known as the Cajun Country, where much of their colonial culture survives. French Louisiana, when it was sold by Napoleon in 1803, covered all or part of than fifteen current U.S. states and contained French and Canadian colonists dispersed across it, though they were most numerous in its southernmost portion.

In Louisiana today, more than 15% of the population of the Cajun Country reported in the 2000 United States Census that French was spoken at home.^[5]

Another significant source of immigrants to Louisiana was Saint Domingue, which gained its independence as the Republic of Haiti in 1804, following a bloody revolution; much of its white population (along with some mulattoes) fled during this time, often to Louisiana, where they largely assimilated into the Creole culture.

Biloxi in Mississippi, and Mobile in Alabama, still contain French American heritage since they were founded by the Canadian Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville.

The Houma Tribe in Louisiana still speak the same French they had been taught 300 years ago.

Colonial era[link]

In the 17th and early 18th centuries there was an influx of a few thousand Huguenots, who were Protestant refugees fleeing religious persecution in France. For nearly a century they fostered a distinctive French Protestant identity that enabled them to remain aloof from American society, but by the time of the American Revolution they had generally intermarried and merged into the larger Presbyterian community.^[6]:382 The largest number settling in South Carolina, where the French comprised four percent of the white population in 1790.^[7][8] With the help of the well organized international Huguenot community, many also moved to Virginia.^[9] In the north, Paul Revere of Boston was a prominent figure.

Midwest[link]

From the beginning of the 17th century, French Canadians explored and traveled to the region with their coureur de bois and explorers, such as Jean Nicolet, Robert de LaSalle, Jacques Marquette, Nicholas Perrot, Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, Pierre Dugué de Boisbriant, Lucien Galtier, Pierre Laclède, René Auguste Chouteau, Julien Dubuque, Pierre de La Vérendrye, and Pierre Parrant.

The French Canadians set up a number of villages along the waterways, including Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin; La Baye, Wisconsin; Cahokia, Illinois; Kaskaskia, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan; Saint Ignace, Michigan; Vincennes, Indiana; St. Paul, Minnesota; St. Louis, Missouri; and Sainte Genevieve, Missouri. They also built a series of forts in the area, such as Fort de Chartres, Fort Crevecoeur, Fort Saint Louis, Fort Ouiatenon, Fort Miami (Michigan), Fort Miami (Indiana), Fort Saint Joseph, Fort La Baye, Fort de Buade, Fort Saint Antoine, Fort Crevecoeur, Fort Trempealeau, Fort Beauharnois, Fort Orleans, Fort St. Charles, Fort Kaministiquia, Fort Michilimackinac, Fort Rouillé, Fort Niagara, Fort Le Boeuf, Fort Venango, and Fort Duquesne. The forts were serviced by soldiers and fur trappers who had long networks reaching through the Great Lakes back to Montreal.^[10]

The region was relinquished by France to the British in 1763 as a result of the Treaty of Paris. Three years of war by the Natives, called Pontiac's War ensued. It became part of the Province of Quebec in 1774, and was seized by the United States during the Revolution.^[11]

New England, New York State[link]

In the late 19th century, many Francophones arrived in New England from Quebec and New Brunswick to work in textile mill cities in New England. In the same period, Francophones from Quebec soon became a majority of the workers in the saw mill and logging camps in the Adirondack Mountains and their foothills. Others sought opportunities for farming and other trades such as blacksmiths in Northern New York State. By the mid-20th century French Americans comprised 30% of the Maine's population. Some migrants became lumberjacks but most concentrated in industrialized areas and into enclaves known as 'Little Canadas.'^[12]

French Canadian immigrant women saw the United States as a place of opportunity and possibility where they could create alternatives for themselves distinct from the expectations of their parents and their community. By the early 20th century some French Canadian women even began to see migration to the United States to work as a rite of passage and a time of self-discovery and self-reliance. When these women did marry, they had fewer children with longer intervals between children than their Canadian counterparts. Some women never married, and oral accounts suggest that self-reliance and economic independence were important reasons for choosing work over marriage and motherhood. These women conformed to traditional gender ideals in order to retain their 'Canadienne' cultural identity, but they also redefined these roles in ways that provided them increased independence in their roles as wives and mothers.^[13][14]

The French Americans became active in the Catholic Church where they tried with little success to challenge its domination by Irish clerics.^[15] They founded such newspapers as 'Le Messager' and 'La Justice.' The first hospital in Lewiston, Maine, became a reality in 1889 when the Sisters of Charity of Montreal, the 'Grey Nuns,' opened the doors of the Asylum of Our Lady of Lourdes. This hospital was central to the Grey Nuns' mission of providing social services for Lewiston's predominately French Canadian mill workers. The Grey Nuns struggled to establish their institution despite meager financial resources, language barriers, and opposition from the established medical community.^[16] Immigration dwindled after World War I.

The French Canadian community in New England tried to preserve some of its cultural norms. This doctrine, like efforts to preserve francophone culture in Quebec, became known as la Survivance.^[17]

Potvin (2003) has studied the evolution of French Catholic parishes in New England. The predominantly Irish hierarchy of the 19th century was slow to recognize the need for French-language parishes; several bishops even called for assimilation and English language-only parochial schools. In the 20th century, a number of parochial schools for Francophone students opened, though they gradually closed toward the end of the century and a large share of the French-speaking population left the Church. At the same time, the number of priests available to staff these parishes also diminished. By the 21st century the emphasis was on retaining local reminders of French American culture rather than on retaining the language itself.^[18] With the decline of the state's textile industry during the 1950s, the French element experienced a period of upward mobility and assimilation. This pattern of assimilation increased during the 1970s and 1980s as many Catholic organizations switched to English names and parish children entered public schools; some parochial schools closed in the 1970s. Although some ties to its French Canadian origins remain, the community was largely anglicized by the 1990s, moving almost completely from 'Canadien' to 'American'.^[12][19]

Representative of the assimilation process was the career of singer and icon of American popular culture Rudy Vallée (1901–1986). He grew up in Westbrook, Maine, and after serving in World War I attended the University of Maine, then transferred to Yale, and went on to become as a popular music star. He never forgot his Maine roots, and maintained an estate at Kezar Lake.^[20]

Civil War[link]

French Americans in the Union forces were one of the most important Catholic groups present during the American Civil War. The exact number is unclear, but thousands of French Americans appear to have served in this conflict. Union forces did not keep reliable statistics concerning foreign enlistments. However, historians have estimated anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 French Americans serving in this war. In addition to those born in the United States, many who served in the Union forces came from Canada or had resided there for several years. Canada's national anthem was written by such a soldier named Calixa Lavallée, who wrote this anthem while he served for the Union attaining the rank of Lieutenant.^[21] The French government and British government supported the Confederate cause, but no soldiers were sent.^[22] Leading Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard was a noted French American from Louisiana.

Politics[link]

Walker (1962) examines the voting behavior in U.S. presidential elections from 1880 to 1960, using election returns from 30 French American communities in New England, along with sample survey data for the 1948-60 elections. From 1896 to 1924, French Americans typically supported the Republican Party because of its conservatism, emphasis on order, and advocacy of the tariff to protect the textile workers from foreign competition. In 1928, with Catholic Al Smith as the Democratic candidate, the French Americans moved over to the Democratic column and stayed there for six presidential elections. They formed part of the New Deal Coalition. Unlike the Irish and German Catholics, very few French Americans deserted the Democratic ranks because of the foreign policy and war issues of the 1940 and 1944 campaigns. In 1952 many French Americans broke from the Democrats but returned heavily in 1960.^[23]

As the ancestors of most French Americans had for the most part left France before the French Revolution, they usually prefer the Fleur-de-lis to the modern French tricolor.^[24]

Franco-American Day[link]

In 2008, the state of Connecticut made June 24 Franco-American Day, recognizing French Canadians for their culture and influence on Connecticut. The states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, have now held Franco-American Day festivals on June 24.^[25]

Population[link]

Distribution of Franco Americans according to the 2000 census

According to the U.S. Census Bureau of 2000, 5.3% of Americans are of French or French Canadian ancestry. French Americans made up close to, or more than, 10% of the population of:

In states that once made up part of New France (excluding Louisiana):

Franco Americans also made up more than 4% of the population in

States with the largest French communities including (according to the 2010 U.S. Census)

French and French Canadian

Religion[link]

Most Franco Americans have a Roman Catholic heritage (which includes most French Canadians and Cajuns). Besides the Protestant Huguenots who fled from France in the colonial era, there were some Protestants from Switzerland who came in the 19th century.^[27]

There was tension between the English-speaking Irish Catholics, who controlled the Church in New England, and the French immigrants, who wanted their language taught in the parochial schools. The Irish controlled all the Catholic colleges in New England, except for Assumption College in Massachusetts, controlled by the French, and one school in New Hampshire controlled by Germans. Tension reached a breaking point during the Sentinelle affair of the 1920s, in which Franco-American Catholics of Providence, Rhode Island, challenged their bishop over control of parish funds in an unsuccessful bid to wrest power from the Irish American episcopate.^[28]

Marie-Rose Ferron was a mystic stigmatic; she was born in Quebec and lived in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Between about 1925 and 1936, she was a popular "victim soul" who suffered physically to redeem the sins of her community. Father Onésime Boyer, promoted her cult.^[29]

French language in the United States[link]

According to the National Education Bureau, French is the second most commonly taught foreign language in U.S. high schools, colleges, and universities behind Spanish. French was the most commonly taught foreign language until the 1980s; when the influx of Hispanic immigrants aided the growth of Spanish. According to the U.S. 2000 Census, French is the third most spoken language in the United States after English and Spanish, with 2 097 206 speakers, up from 1 930 404 in 1990. In addition to parts of Louisiana, the language is also commonly spoken in Florida, northern Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York City; home to large French-speaking communities from France, Quebec, and Haiti.

As a result of French immigration to what is now the United States in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the French language was once widely spoken in much of the country, especially in the former Louisiana Territory, as well as in the Northeast. French-language newspapers existed in many American cities; especially New Orleans and in certain cities in New England. Americans of French descent often lived in predominately French neighborhoods; where they attended schools and churches that used their language. In New England, Upstate New York, and the Midwest, French Canadian neighborhoods were known as "Little Canada".

Cities founded by the French and French Canadians[link]

• Biloxi, Mississippi founded in 1699 by Canadien Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville.
• Boise, Idaho, founded in the 1820s by French fur traders, means "wooded."
• Bourbonnais, Illinois named after French Canadian fur trader Francois Bourbonnais. The first permanent resident was French Canadian fur trader Noel LeVasseur in the 1830s.
• Chicago, Illinois founded by the French and the Indians, is pronounced with the French pronunciation of the sound ché as opposed to the English chi. It also contained a u at the end, Chécagou.
• Coeur d'Alene, Idaho French Canadian fur traders allegedly named the local Indian tribe the Coeur d'Alene out of respect for their tough trading practices. Coeur d'Alêne literally means "heart of the awl."
• Detroit, Michigan was founded by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac in 1701, a French army captain, and was originally called Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit, after the minister of marine under Louis XIV and the French word Détroit for "strait."
• Dubuque, Iowa was established as a lead mining site by Canadien Julien Dubuque in 1788
• French Camp, California was the terminus of the Oregon-California Trail used by French-Canadian fur traders (including Michel Laframboise)in the 1830s and 1840s, making it one of the oldest settlements in San Joaquin County.
• Green Bay, Wisconsin or La Baye, was founded by Jean Nicolet in 1634. Many descendants of Green Bay are direct descendants of the French Canadian habitants and their families.
• Juneau, Alaska was founded in 1891 and named in honour of Joseph Juneau, a gold prospector from the region of Montreal, who settled the first mining camp in the area.
• Kaskaskia, Illinois was founded in 1703 by French Jesuit missionaries and was Illinois's first capital.
• Mobile, Alabama founded in 1702 by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and his brother Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne. It was the first capital of Louisana.
• Natchitoches, Louisiana was founded in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis.
• New Orleans, Louisiana was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne.
• Pierre, South Dakota was named after Pierre Chouteau, Jr., a fur trader of French Canadian origin, who built Fort Pierre, where the capital of Pierre stands today.
• Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin established in 1685 by Nicholas Perrot as a fur trading post.
• Prairie du Rocher, Illinois was founded in 1722 by Sister Thérèse Langlois, four years after Fort de Chartres was built by Pierre Dugué de Boisbriand.
• Saint Charles, Missouri was founded by Louis Blanchette, a French Canadian, in 1769.
• Saint Louis, Missouri was founded by a French trader, Pierre Laclède, and his stepson, a trader from Louisiana, René Auguste Chouteau in 1764.
• Sainte Genevieve, Missouri was founded in 1735 by habitants.
• Saint Ignace, Michigan was founded by father Jacques Marquette in 1671.
• Saint Paul, Minnesota was established in 1838 by Pierre Parrant and settled by French Canadians. In 1841, it was named Saint-Paul by Father Lucien Galtier in honor of Paul the Apostle.
• Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan was founded in 1668 by fathers Jacques Marquette and Claude Dablon
• Vincennes, Indiana was established in 1732 by François-Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes and rallied to the cause of the American revolution with Father Pierre Gibault.
• San Antonio

State names given to American states[link]

Most of the names were bestowed by early French explorers who were not permanent residents of the area that became the U.S. Upwards of 10 U.S. states have names of either direct French origin (Louisiana, Vermont, Illinois), indirect French origin through other languages (Michigan, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Delaware, New Jersey) or possible / disputed French origin (Maine, Oregon).

• Arkansas – named by French explorers from the corrupted Indian word meaning "south wind";
• Delaware – named after Lord de la Warr (Anglo-Norman surname originally de la Guerre meaning; "of the war");
• Illinois – French for the land of the Illini, a Native American tribe;
• Louisiana – from the French "Louisiane", in honor of king Louis XIV of France;
• Maine – most likely from the French province of the same name. because Henrietta Maria of France, queen of Charles I of England was said to have owned the province of Maine in France.^[30][31]
• Michigan – French transcription of Ojibwe word Mishigamaw which means "great lake"
• New Jersey – named after the Bailliage de Jersey, the largest of the British Channel Islands, whose inhabitants are of Norman descent and many of whom still speak a Norman-French dialect. English and French are the official languages of Jersey and Guernsey;
• Oregon – may have been named by early French explorers after "le fleuve aux ouragans", the hurricane river, a name used to describe the windiness of the Columbia River;
• Vermont – comes from a contraction of French words, Vert, green, and mont, mount, mountain. Hence the "Green Mountain" (la montagne verte) state;
• Wisconsin – named after the Meskousing River. This spelling was later corrupted from the local Native American language to "Ouisconsin" by French explorers, and over time this version became the French name for both the Wisconsin River and the surrounding lands. English speakers anglicized the spelling to its modern form when they began to arrive in greater numbers during the early 19th Century;^[30]

Historiography[link]

Richard (2002) examines the major trends in the historiography regarding the Franco-Americans who came to New England in 1860-1930. He identifies three categories of scholars: survivalists, who emphasized the common destiny of Franco-Americans and celebrated their survival; regionalists and social historians, who aimed to uncover the diversity of the Franco-American past in distinctive communities across New England; and pragmatists, who argued that the forces of acculturation were too strong for the Franco-American community to overcome. The 'pragmatists versus survivalists' debate over the fate of the Franco-American community may be the ultimate weakness of Franco-American historiography. Such teleological stances impede the progress of research by funneling scholarly energies in limited directions while many other avenues, for example, Franco-American politics, arts, and ties to Quebec, remain unexplored.^[15][17]

Immigration from France, Canada, and Acadia[link]

See also[link]

	United States portal
	Franco-Americans portal
	Quebec portal
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Citations[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Robbins, Rhea Cote. Wednesday's Child (2008)
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The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's general notability guideline. Please help to establish notability by adding reliable, secondary sources about the topic. If notability cannot be established, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted. (June 2011)

Acharya Balkrishna is an Indian scholar and close associate of Swami Ramdev and was born on August 4.^[1]

Biography[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (June 2011)

http://patanjaliayurveda.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/balkrishan-Ji.gif

Studies[link]

Balkrishna studied various aspects of classical Indian philosophy, such as yoga, ayurveda, Sanskrit language, vedas and upanisads under the guidance of Acharya Shri Baldevji in the gurukul at Kalwa^{[disambiguation needed ]} and obtained his acharya degree from Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, Varanasi.

Career[link]

Ayurvedic practitioner and researcher[link]

Balkrishna has founded and/or heads various ayurvedic healing centers, including the Brahmakalpa Chikitsalaya (hospital) and the Patanjali Yog Peeth, an institution founded by Swami Ramdev and headed by Balkrishna. In association with his ayurvedic healing practices, he has founded Divya Pharmacy to produce ayurvedic medicines and health and beauty care products to his own specifications.He also heads the research institution at Patanjali YogPeeth that performs research in Yoga and Ayurveda. Currently, he is involved in the project of creating a mega-encyclopedia of medicinal herbs (jadibooti) that would contain the information on 5000 herbs. This is supposed to be the most comprehensive encyclopedia on herbs in the world. The Patanjali YogPeeth website calls him a vaidyaraaja (the leader of ayurvedic doctors) and ayurveda-manishi (ayurvedic thinker and philosopher).

Writer and journalist[link]

Balkrishna serves as chief editor of Yog Sandesh, a magazine that promotes yoga and ayurveda. He has also written or co-written:

• Ayurved: Its Principles & Philosophies
• Secrets Of Indian Herbs
• Vitality Strengthening Astavarga Plants
• Vaidika Nityakarma Vidhi
• Yogadars'ana
• Sant Darshan
• Bhakti Gitanjali

Protests against black money[link]

Balkrishna has been involved in the ongoing protests against black money in India.^[2] Having disappeared after the Ramlila ground protests of June 4, 2011, Balkrishna reappeared on June 8, 2011 at the side of Ramdev, claiming he had remained in hiding to avoid repercussions from the police for his involvement in the protests.^[2]

Controversy[link]

Balkrishna's links to the many companies spawned by Swami Ramdev,^[2] and alleged irregularities with his pharmaceutical company's shipments of goods to the United States^[3] have led to government probes of his businesses.

After his recent involvement in the 2011 anti-black money protests, he has been alleged by Digvijaya Singh to be a Nepali criminal who fled to India and as having fake passports. CBI was investigating these allegations but has so far not come out with any charge sheet against BalKrishna.

References[link]