As a result of the French explorations, they claimed Canada, the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi valley. Control of the St. Lawrence River, the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi River system provided them with a natural highway to the interior of North America. The French established few large settlements in New France as their empire in North America was called. Concerned chiefly with developing a profitable fur trade with the Indians, the French built trading posts and forts at strategic points to control the waterways and to serve as centers for the Indian trade.