developed the thesis that there was an inherent tension between the colonial policy of the French government, and the economic realities of the fur trade. Eccles argued that the French government wanted to develop a "compact colony", of settlers farmers and minor industries, based on the St Lawrence river. This was the vision of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the chief minister to Louis XIV from 1661 to 1683. He discouraged attempts to build elaborate fur-trading chains to the Great Lakes and the Ohio country, which he considered would over-extend the resources of the colony, and the ability of France to defend it. The settlers of New France, however, repeatedly ignored those restrictions and steadily expanded trade chains to the west. Later life Eccles retired from the University of Toronto in 1983. He died in Toronto on October 2, 1998, after a brief illness. He was survived by his wife, a son and a daughter, another son having predeceased him. His papers are located in the archives of McMaster University. Awards His book Frontenac: The Courtier Governor received the 1959 Award of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association. In 1979, the Royal Society of Canada awarded him the J. B. Tyrrell Historical Medal for his contributions to the history of Canada, even though he had refused to allow his name to stand for election to the Royal Society. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Genoa. Bibliography Frontenac: The Courtier Governor (1959) French ed. (1963). New ed. (2003) Canada Under Louis XIV (1964) Canadian Society During the French Regime (1968) The Canadian Frontier, 1534-1760 (1969) Rev. ed. (1983) France in America (1972) Rev. ed. (1990) Essays on New France (1987) The French in North America, 1500-1783 Rev. ed. (1998) References 1917 births 1998 deaths Historians of Canada Historians of Colonial North America University of Toronto faculty University of Manitoba faculty University of Alberta faculty McGill University alumni 20th-century Canadian historians People from Thirsk University of Paris alumni Canadian expatriates in France British emigrants to Canada