Qualla: Equinoctial France https://qualla.com/equinoctial-france en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:09 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/7/p/8/3/equinoctial-france-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Equinoctial France https://qualla.com/equinoctial-france Equinoctial France: Introduction https://qualla.com/equinoctial-france/ Photo credit Lopo Homem, Public domain. On August 8, 1612, three French ships made landfall on the island of Upaon-Açu in what is now the Brazilian state of Maranhão. They carried 500 colonists, three Capuchin friars, and a commission from the boy-king Louis XIII to found a French settlement on the equatorial coast of South America. The name for the enterprise - France Équinoxiale - came from a Latin term for the line where days and nights are equal year-round. The colony lasted three years. In that short span, the French founded the city that became São Luís - the only state capital in Brazil founded by France - and laid the groundwork for a displacement of the Tupinambá people that long outlived the French presence.

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]]> Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/7/p/8/3/equinoctial-france-wp/7p83-equinoctial-france-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Equinoctial France: The Expedition from Cancale https://qualla.com/equinoctial-france/ Photo credit Lopo Homem, Public domain. The expedition had been in the making for eight years. Daniel de la Touche, Seigneur de la Ravardière, had first reached the region in 1604, but the assassination of King Henry IV of France in 1610 had delayed the colonial push. His co-commander, Admiral François de Razilly, was ...

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]]> Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/7/p/8/3/equinoctial-france-wp/7p83-equinoctial-france-the-expedition-from-cancale.mp3 0:06 2 full Equinoctial France: The Tupinambá Alliance https://qualla.com/equinoctial-france/ Photo credit Lopo Homem, Public domain. The French did not arrive to uninhabited land. The Tupinambá had lived on Upaon-Açu and the surrounding coast for generations. They had absorbed multiple waves of European contact before 1612 - French traders on the pau-brasil dyewood coast, Portuguese raids, Dutch visits, Jesuit...

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]]> Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/7/p/8/3/equinoctial-france-wp/7p83-equinoctial-france-the-tupinamb-alliance.mp3 0:06 3 full Equinoctial France: The Portuguese Response https://qualla.com/equinoctial-france/ Photo credit Lopo Homem, Public domain. From the Captaincy of Pernambuco, Portuguese commander Alexandre de Moura mobilized a counter-expedition. France and Portugal had been at nominal peace, but Portuguese claims to Brazil rested on the 1493 papal bull Inter caetera and the Treaty of Tordesillas, which divided the Ne...

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]]> Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/7/p/8/3/equinoctial-france-wp/7p83-equinoctial-france-the-portuguese-response.mp3 0:06 4 full Equinoctial France: The Colony That Would Not Die https://qualla.com/equinoctial-france/ Photo credit Lopo Homem, Public domain. Equinoctial France did not give up on the equator. French traders tried again in 1626 and 1635, founding Cayenne in what is now French Guiana. A Compagnie de la France Équinoxiale was chartered twice, in 1643 and 1645, and failed both times under mismanagement and disease. Only a...

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]]> Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/7/p/8/3/equinoctial-france-wp/7p83-equinoctial-france-the-colony-that-would-not-die.mp3 0:06 5 full