Thanks to the tireless work of French explorers, the colony of New France covered the largest area, but it was numerically inferior to the neighbouring New England.
Consequently, a number of Ingénieurs du Roi ("King's Engineers") were appointed to make the colony the best fortified in North America:
In the new colonies, the Spanish start by building a church, the English a tavern, and the French a fort.

Quebec served as the only fortified city in the Americas, centred on the Citadelle of Quebec.
An unusual feature of Montreal's defence was a string of 30 outlying forts to protect against the constant Iroquois threat to the expansion of French settlements.
The majority of these were simple stockades, but as artillery was not as developed as on the battlefields of Europe, some of these were built like the fortified manor houses of France.
Roughly four of these were substantial stone forts which served as defensive residences, sometimes considered "true castles", as well as imposing structures to prevent Iroquois incursions.
Initially, Fort Senneville was a French stockaded fort, built in 1671 about half a mile above the Sainte-Anne rapids.
The property was part of a fief ceded to Dugué de Boisbriant in 1672 by the Society of Saint-Sulpice, and subsequently relinquished in payment of a debt to two of the most significant figures in New France's history: Jacques Le Ber and Charles Le Moyne, who used the site as a fur-trading post.

A large stone windmill was built on a hill by late 1686, doubling as a watch tower over the Ottawa River, the Lake of Two Mountains and the mouth of the Des Prairies River.
This windmill was like no other in New France (although a similar fortified windmill was later built in Quebec), with thick walls, square loopholes for muskets, with machicolation at the top for pouring lethally hot liquids and rocks onto attackers.

In October 1687, the nearby Fort Sainte-Anne and the Senneville mill were attacked by Iroquois, and although several settlers were killed, the attackers were repulsed.
A second attack was more successful in 1691, and the fort was burned down.
Only the mill itself was left standing.
Thanks to the tireless work of French explorers, the colony of New France covered the largest area, but it was numerically inferior to the neighbouring New England. Consequently, a number of Ingénieurs du Roi ("King's Engineers") were appointed to make the colony the best fortified in North America:
In the new colonies, the Spanish start by building a church, the English a tavern, and the French a fort.
Quebec served as the only fortified city in the Americas, centred on the Citadelle of Quebec. An unusual feature of Montreal's defence was a string of 30 outlying forts to protect against the constant Iroquois threat to the expansion of French settlements. The majority of these were simple stockades, but as artillery was not as developed as on the battlefields of Europe, some of these were built like the fortified manor houses of France. Roughly four of these were substantial stone forts which served as defensive residences, sometimes considered "true castles", as well as imposing structures to prevent Iroquois incursions. Initially, Fort Senneville was a French stockaded fort, built in 1671 about half a mile above the Sainte-Anne rapids. The property was part of a fief ceded to Dugué de Boisbriant in 1672 by the Society of Saint-Sulpice, and subsequently relinquished in payment of a debt to two of the most significant figures in New France's history: Jacques Le Ber and Charles Le Moyne, who used the site as a fur-trading post.
A large stone windmill was built on a hill by late 1686, doubling as a watch tower over the Ottawa River, the Lake of Two Mountains and the mouth of the Des Prairies River. This windmill was like no other in New France (although a similar fortified windmill was later built in Quebec), with thick walls, square loopholes for muskets, with machicolation at the top for pouring lethally hot liquids and rocks onto attackers.
In October 1687, the nearby Fort Sainte-Anne and the Senneville mill were attacked by Iroquois, and although several settlers were killed, the attackers were repulsed. A second attack was more successful in 1691, and the fort was burned down. Only the mill itself was left standing.
Fort Senneville