Beginning in 1524 France took part in the Atlantic race in which, for a long time, North American fur was the primary goal of overseas voyages. In 1608 the first permanent settlement was created where the St Lawrence River narrows, at Quebec, and it became the indispensable axis of the French empire in North America. New France experienced rapid expansion in 1684; it stretched from the Gulf of St Lawrence to beyond Lake Superior, and from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. Yet it still numbered no more than about 12,000 inhabitants, almost all of whom clung timidly to the banks of the St Lawrence. At the beginning of the 18th century New France reached its zenith, but with the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 the demolition of this empire began. In 1763, at the end of the Seven Years’ War, Great Britain assumed control of the former territory of New France.