Introduction

 

Exploration

Early Inhabitants

Louisiana had a sizable prehistoric population. Many ceremonial mounds still stand throughout the state as reminders of the Hopewell culture (about AD 1-800) and the Mississippian culture (about AD 800-1500), both popularly called Mound Builders, whose people lived in highly organized farming communities. Archaeologists believe that some mounds located at a site called Watson Brake near Monroe in northeast Louisiana were built more than 5,000 years ago and may be the oldest known remnants of human construction in North America.

1519

Alvarez de Pindea discovers mouth of the Mississippi

1541-42

Hernando de Soto discovers the Mississippi River

1682

Robert Cavalier de la Salle erects a cross at the mouth of the Mississippi River after descending the river from the Great Lakes and claims the territory for Louis XIV of France, for whom Louisiana is named.

Robert Cavelier de La Salle

 

French History in Louisiana began in the late 17th century. French expeditions, which included sovereign, religious and commercial aims, established a foothold on the Mississippi River and Gulf Coast. With its first settlements, France lay claim to a vast region of North America and set out to establish a commercial empire and French nation stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada.

The French explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle named the region Louisiana to honor France's King Louis XIV in 1682. The first permanent settlement, Fort Maurepas (at what is now Ocean Springs, Mississippi, near Biloxi), was founded by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, a French military officer from Canada, in 1699. By then the French had also built a small fort at the mouth of the Mississippi at a settlement they named La Balise (or La Balize), "seamark" in French. By 1721 they built a 62-foot (19 m) wooden lighthouse-type structure to guide ships on the river.

 

Colonisation

1715

Louis Juchereau de St. Denis establishes Fort St. Jean Baptiste (Natchitoches), first permanent settlement in the Mississippi Valley

The settlement of Natchitoches (along the Red River in present-day northwest Louisiana) was established in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis, making it the oldest permanent European settlement in the Louisiana Purchase territory. The French settlement had two purposes: to establish trade with the Spanish in Texas, and to deter Spanish advances into Louisiana. Also, the northern terminus of the Old San Antonio Road (sometimes called El Camino Real, or Kings Highway) was at Natchitoches. The settlement soon became a flourishing river port and crossroads, giving rise to vast cotton kingdoms along the river. Over time, planters developed large plantations and built fine homes in a growing town, a pattern repeated in New Orleans and other places.

The French settlement of Natchitoches, established in 1714 is the oldest settlement in the State of Louisiana, founded primarily as a way to continue trade with the Spanish in Texas and keep the Spanish from making advances into the territory of Louisiana. The Louisiana territory eventually spread all the way to Canada encompassing several other areas that are today known as the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The capitals of the French territory of Louisiana were originally Biloxi, Mississippi and Mobile, Alabama, which showed the importance of trade and military interests on the Mississippi River.

Louisiana's French settlements contributed to further exploration and outposts, concentrated along the banks of the Mississippi and its major tributaries, from Louisiana to as far north as the region called the Illinois Country, around Peoria, Illinois and present-day St. Louis, Missouri. The following States were part of Louisiana: Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota.

1718

New Orleans is founded and named for Phillippe Duc D'Orleans

The city of New Orleans history began in 1718 when it was founded by Frenchman Jean Baptiste Le Moyne as a port city for the transfer of goods coming into the Americas. It is named after the Duke of Orleans, Phillipe II, who was regent of France.

Initially Mobile, Alabama and Biloxi, Mississippi functioned as the capital of the colony. Recognizing the importance of the Mississippi River to trade and military interests, France made New Orleans the seat of civilian and military authority in 1722.

1718

The St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans is built, the oldest in the United States

1723

New Orleans becomes the capital of Louisiana, superseding Biloxi

1751

Sugar cane is first introduced into Louisiana

 

The transfer to Spain

1762

Louis XV gives the "Island of New Orleans" and all of Louisiana west of the Mississippi to his cousin, Charles III of Spain

1763

Treaty of Paris ends Seven Years' War and confirms transfer of Louisiana to Spain. Florida Parishes ceded to England with Baton Rouge becoming New Richmond

After the French-Indian war from 1754-1763, the French lost the territory east of the Mississippi to the British and the rest of what is now the state of Louisiana to the Spanish. Another famous event in Louisiana history occurred during the Spanish rule, when refugees from Acadia (now known as Nova Scotia) came down the Mississippi, were welcomed by the Spanish, and settled in the Southwestern part of Louisiana after being expunged by the British. This area is now known as Acadiana, or as their modern day ancestors call themselves, Cajuns.

The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was the North American chapter of the Seven Years' War. The name refers to the two main enemies of the British: the royal French forces and the various American Indian forces allied with them. The conflict, the fourth such colonial war between the kingdoms of France and Great Britain, resulted in the British conquest of all of New France east of the Mississippi River, as well as Spanish Florida. The outcome was one of the most significant developments in a century of Anglo-French conflict. To compensate its ally, Spain, for its loss of Florida, France ceded its control of French Louisiana west of the Mississippi. France's colonial presence north of the Caribbean was reduced to the tiny islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon.

The city of New Orleans remained under Spanish control for the next 40 years. One of the biggest modern day examples of New Orleans history, the French Quarter, was actually developed, ironically, under Spanish control.

1764

First four Acadian families arrive in Louisiana from New York

1796

Opera is first performed in the United States at New Orleans

 

The Louisiana Purchase

1800

Return to France

The Third Treaty of San Ildefonso (formally titled the Preliminary and Secret Treaty between the French Republic and His Catholic Majesty the King of Spain, Concerning the Aggrandizement of His Royal Highness the Infant Duke of Parma in Italy and the Retrocession of Louisiana) was a secretly negotiated treaty between France and Spain in which Spain returned the colonial territory of Louisiana to France. The treaty was concluded on October 1, 1800 between Louis Alexandre Berthier representing France and Don Mariano Luis de Urquijo for Spain. The treaty was negotiated under some duress, as Spain was under pressure from Napoleon. The terms of the treaty did not specify the boundaries of the territory being returned, which later became a point of contention between Spain and the United States after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, in which France sold its territory to the United States. This treaty also affirmed the earlier Treaty of Alliance signed at San Ildefonso on August 19, 1796. That treaty is sometimes also referred to as the Treaty of San Ildefonso.

1803

Louisiana is purchased from Napoleon I by the United States for $15,000,000

When the United States won its independence from Great Britain in 1783, one of its major concerns was having a European power on its western boundary, and the need for unrestricted access to the Mississippi River. As American settlers pushed west, they found that the Appalachian Mountains provided a barrier to shipping goods eastward. The easiest way to ship produce was to use a flatboat to float it down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to the port of New Orleans, from where goods could be put on ocean-going vessels. The problem with this route was that the Spanish owned both sides of the Mississippi below Natchez. Napoleon's ambitions in Louisiana involved the creation of a new empire centered on the Caribbean sugar trade. By terms of the Treaty of Amiens of 1800, Great Britain returned ownership of the islands of Martinique and Guadaloupe to the French. Napoleon looked upon Louisiana as a depot for these sugar islands, and as a buffer to U.S. settlement. In October of 1801 he sent a large military force to retake the important island of Santo Domingo, lost in a slave revolt in the 1790s. Defeated by Haitian revolutionaries, Napoleon decided to sell Louisiana.

Louisiana state welcome signThomas Jefferson, third President of the United States, was disturbed by Napoleon's plans to re-establish French colonies in America. With the possession of New Orleans, Napoleon could close the Mississippi to U.S. commerce at any time. Jefferson authorized Robert R. Livingston, U.S. Minister to France, to negotiate for the purchase of the City of New Orleans, portions of the east bank of the Mississippi, and free navigation of the river for U.S. commerce. Livingston was authorized to pay up to $2 million.

An official transfer of Louisiana to French ownership had not yet taken place, and Napoleon's deal with the Spanish was a poorly kept secret on the frontier. On October 18, 1802, however, Juan Ventura Morales, Acting Intendant of Louisiana, made public the intention of Spain to revoke the right of deposit at New Orleans for all cargo from the United States. The closure of this vital port to the United States caused anger and consternation. Commerce in the west was virtually blockaded. Historians believe that the revocation of the right of deposit was prompted by abuses of the Americans, particularly smuggling, and not by French intrigues as was believed at the time. President Jefferson ignored public pressure for war with France, and appointed James Monroe special envoy to Napoleon, to assist in obtaining New Orleans for the United States. Jefferson also raised the authorized expenditure to $10 million.

On April 11, 1803, Talleyrand, the French Foreign Minister, asked Robert Livingston how much the United States was prepared to pay for the entirety of Louisiana. Livingston was confused, as his instructions only covered the purchase of New Orleans and the immediate area, not the entire territory. James Monroe agreed with Livingston that Napoleon might withdraw this offer at any time. To wait for approval from President Jefferson might take months, so Livingston and Monroe decided to open negotiations immediately.

By April 30, they closed a deal for the purchase of the entire 828,000 square miles (2,145,000 km²) Louisiana territory for 60 million Francs (approximately $15 million). Part of this sum was used to forgive debts owed by France to the United States. The payment was made in United States bonds, which Napoleon sold at face value to the Dutch firm of Hope and Company, and the British banking house of Baring, at a discount of 87 1/2 per each $100 unit. As a result, France received only $8,831,250 in cash for Louisiana. Dutiful banker Alexander Baring conferred with Marbois in Paris, shuttled to the United States to pick up the bonds, took them to Britain, and returned to France with the money - and Napoleon used these funds to wage war against Baring's own country.

When news of the purchase reached the United States, Jefferson was surprised. He had authorized the expenditure of $10 million for a port city, and instead received treaties committing the government to spend $15 million on a land package which would double the size of the country. Jefferson's political opponents in the Federalist Party argued that the Louisiana purchase was a worthless desert, and that the Constitution did not provide for the acquisition of new land or negotiating treaties without the consent of the Senate. What really worried the opposition was the new states which would inevitably be carved from the Louisiana territory, strengthening Western and Southern interests in Congress, and further reducing the influence of New England Federalists in national affairs. President Jefferson was an enthusiastic supporter of westward expansion, and held firm in his support for the treaty. Despite Federalist objections, the U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana treaty in the autumn of 1803.

A transfer ceremony was held in New Orleans on November 29, 1803. Since the Louisiana territory had never officially been turned over to the French, the Spanish took down their flag, and the French raised theirs. The following day, General James Wilkinson accepted possession of New Orleans for the United States. A similar ceremony was held in St. Louis on March 9, 1804, when a French tricolor was raised near the river, replacing the Spanish national flag. The following day, Captain Amos Stoddard of the First U.S. Artillery marched his troops into town and had the American flag run up the fort's flagpole. The Louisiana territory was officially transferred to the United States government, represented by Meriwether Lewis.

The Louisiana Territory, purchased for less than 3 cents an acre, doubled the size of the United States overnight, without a war or the loss of a single American life, and set a precedent for the purchase of territory. It opened the way for the eventual expansion of the United States across the continent to the Pacific, and its consequent rise to the status of world power.

Resources:

* Acadian to Cajun: Transformation of a People, 1803-1877, Carl Brasseaux,(1992) * Creoles of Color in the Bayou Country [with Keith Fontenot and Claude F. Oubre] Carl Brasseaux (1994) * The Founding of New Acadia: The Beginnings of Acadian Life in Louisiana, 1765-1803, Carl Brasseaux(1987) * French, Cajun, Creole, Houma: A Primer on Francophone Louisiana, Carl Brasseaux (2005) * "Scattered to the Wind": Dispersal and Wanderings of the Acadians, 1755-1809, Carl Brasseaux (1991) * Stir the Pot: A History of Cajun Cuisine [with Marcelle Bienvenu and Ryan A. Brasseaux] Carl Brasseaux (2005) Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism "Cajun Country", Barry Ancelet, Jay Edwards, Glen Pitre

Wikipedia, Louisiana

French Louisiana 1682-1803, by the French Ministry of Culture and Communications, click on "English"

Histoire de la Louisiane française, History of French Louisiana

History of French Louisiana , Marcel Giraud

NEW History of Louisiana: The French Domination, Charles Gayarre, Firebird Pr

Louisiana History, Destination 360

The standard history of the state, though only through the Civil War, is Charles Gayarré's History of Louisiana (various editions, culminating in 1866, 4 vols., with a posthumous and further expanded edition in 1885).

François Xavier Martin's History of Louisiana (2 vols., New Orleans, 1827–1829, later ed. by J. F. Condon, continued to 1861, New Orleans, 1882) is the first scholarly treatment of the subject, along with François Barbé-Marbois' Histoire de la Louisiane et de la cession de colonie par la France aux Etats-Unis (Paris, 1829; in English, Philadelphia, 1830).

Alcée Fortier's A History of Louisiana (N.Y., 4 vols., 1904) is the most recent of the large-scale scholarly histories of the state.

The official works of Albert Phelps and Grace King should also be mentioned among the more important, as well as the publications of the Louisiana Historical Society and several works on the history of New Orleans (q.v.), among them those by Henry Rightor and John Smith Kendall.