1666 census of New France

Talon and the French Minister of the Marine Jean-Baptiste Colbert had brought the colony of New France under direct royal control in 1663, and Colbert wished to make it the centre of the French colonial empire.

To do this he needed to know the state of the population so that the economic and industrial basis of the colony could be expanded.

[1] Jean-Talon conducted the census largely by himself, travelling door-to-door among the settlements of New France.

He did not include Native American inhabitants of the colony, or the religious orders such as the Jesuits or Recollets.

[2] The census showed a difference in the number of men at 2,034 versus 1,181 women.