Chapter 5:
French Louisiane
Early Exploration
European nations began sending
explorers to the New World in
hopes of finding riches.
Hernando De Soto
1. In 1541, De Soto and about 600 men landed in Florida to
search for gold.
2. They wandered across the southeastern United States
3. Treated Indians brutally as they hunted for riches.
4. he discovered the Mississippi River, crossed into
Arkansas, discovered Hot Springs, and then traveled
down the Ouachita River.
5. De Soto died from fever in southeast Arkansas
6. Few of his men survived and they had no gold or riches
7. Europeans did not send another expedition for over 100
years.
De Soto’s route
European Colonization
• Late 1600s, Spain, England, and France
had established colonies in North America.
• Spain had colonies in Texas and Mexico.
• English were establishing colonies along
the Atlantic seaboard.
• France had created New France in
Canada.
La Salle, the Opportunist
1. French explorers Marquette and Joliet
discovered the upper Mississippi River which
exploring the Great Lakes region.
2. La Salle realized this was the river De Soto had
found.
3. He wanted France to establish a colony at the
mouth of the River.
4. He thought the Gulf Coast would be an ideal
location for a French naval base.
Louisiane
1. Lower Mississippi had to be explored before a
colony could be established.
2. King Louis XIV of France gave La Salle
permission to lead an exploration party down
the river.
3. They traveled from Canada to the Gulf in two
months.
4. In 1682, LaSalle declared that France owned
the land drained by the Mississippi River and
would be known as Louisiane “Louis’s land”.
La Salle’s
claims
How big was
Louisiana?
Fort Louis
1. La Salle returned to France to gather settlers,
supplies, and ships to set up a Mississippi
colony.
2. On his return trip he missed the mouth of the
River and ended up lost in Texas.
3. He and his men built Fort Louis, but starvation
and hostile Indians took their toll.
4. LaSalle was killed by his own men in East
Texas.
Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur de Iberville
• France and England were enemies.
• France learned the English were planning
on building a colony at the mouth of the
river.
• France was worried about the English
invading Canada by traveling up the River.
• It became a race for control of the
Mississippi River.
GLEs: 65, 66, 72, 78
Iberville Comes to Louisiane
1. French Minister
Pontchartrain choose
Sieur de Iberville to lead
the expedition.
2. Iberville and his brother
Bienville arrived in the
Gulf of Mexico and
anchored at Ship Island.
Finding the Mississippi
1. Iberville and Beinville
explored the mainland and
met Biloxi Indians.
2. They searched for and
found the Mississippi River
on March 3—Mardi Gras.
Baton Rouge and Pontchartrain
1. Iberville and some friendly Indian guides found a red
pole sticking out of the ground.
2. Iberville called it baton rouge or “red stick”.
3. Iberville and his guides also found a shortcut to the Gulf
and discovered the largest lake he had ever seen –
Pontchartrain after his superior, Count Pontchartrain.
4. He named the smaller lake after his son—Count
Maurepas.
5. They established Fort Maurepas, the first French
settlement in Louisiane.
6. He had to return to France twice for supplies.
English Turn
1. Bienville entered the Mississippi River and
spotted a large English ship anchored in the
river.
2. Bienville lied and told them it was too late to
start a colony because France had already
established one and French troop were nearby.
3. He claimed the French would attack if they did
not leave.
4. The English turned the ship around and this is
how it got it’s name—English Turn.
English Turn
Fort de la Boulaye
Bienville established this fort on land
50 miles upstream from the mouth to
the Mississippi.
Fort Louis de la Mobile and
Dauphin Island
1. Fort Louis de la Mobile became the colony’s
capital, and most of the settlers moved there.
2. Dauphin Island was another post built for the
French.
Early Louisiana settlements
The Early Colonists
1. The major problem was the small
population.
2. Population was made up of soldiers,
sailors, explorers, voyageurs, and 13
Caribbean pirates.
3. Voyageurs made their living paddling
canoe, pirogues, and other boats for
explorers and traders.
Voyageurs
A New Governor
• Since they were short on supplies, Iberville
returned to France where he found the
French at war.
• He was unable to send supplies and died
in Cuba on the return voyage in 1706.
• Bienville became governor at age 22.
GLEs: 64, 66, 72, 73, 74, 76, 78, 80, 81
The Coureurs de Bois
1. There was a lack of European women in the
colony which was a major problem.
2. Coureurs de bois or “runner of the woods”
were hunters and trappers who depended upon
Indians to keep them alive.
3. They often dressed and acted like them, even
marrying Indian women.
4. Bienville wanted these men to marry French
Christian women and farm the land to end the
chronic food shortage in the colony.
The Pelican Girls
•
23 young women sent from Paris to
marry and help the population grow.
•
Nearly all the Pelican Girls found
husbands and the population quickly
rose to 195.
Bienville Stays
1. Bienville practiced nepotism, appointed family
members to important positions and used the
colony’s money and supplied as if they were
his own.
2. He flaunted his power and wealth and feuded
with the commissary.
3. As a result, he was convicted of corruption and
he ordered back to France.
4. He eventually used his influence and was
reappointed to his former position.
Economics in Louisiane
Mercantilism was the belief that each
country or empire should have access to,
and control of, raw materials needed to
build and maintain a healthy economy.
Mercantilism
Mercantilism
1. It was a closed system, so Louisiane was not
allowed to trade with any country but France.
2. France sent finished goods such as clothing,
furniture, and ink to the colony.
3. Louisiane shipped raw materials such as fur,
timber, and indigo back to France.
4. It was not a very profitable system and since it
was easier and cheaper to trade with the
Spanish, illegal trade with them was common.
The Fur Trade
1. Fur trade was the main economic activity.
2. It was not very profitable.
Bartering
Farming
1. There was never enough food.
2. Lack of knowledge, poor soil, flooding,
and few seeds contributed to the
problem, and the period became known
as the Starvation Times.
3. Indians taught the French how to grow
corn, squash, and beans and how to
hunt and fish.
French Government in the
Colony
•
The top official was a governor, chosen
carefully by the French government.
The Commissary
1. This official was in charge of
warehouses, trade, and supplies, while
the governor was responsible for
everything else.
2. The governor and the commissary began
feuding over power.
A Proprietor
• The King Louis XIV was tired of sinking
money into the colony and getting nothing
except trouble in return.
• He needed to retain control of the
Mississippi River, or England could travel
up it and threaten Canada.
• He began looking for a proprietor, an
individual who took economic
responsibility for the colony.
GLEs: 65, 66, 70, 71, 72, 75, 77, 81
Antoine Crozat
1. A monopoly is when a person or group has
exclusive control over the production or sale of
a product or service.
2. King Louis gave such power to Antoine Crozat.
3. Crozat was able to keep all the profits, appoint
officials, and remain exempt from trade tariffs
for 15 years if he met certain conditions.
4. He had to give the king 1/5 of any gold found in
the colony, send a few settlers to Louisiane
each year, buy goods from France, and govern
by French law.
B. Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac
1. He was a LA Governor who was a hungry,
pompous, and corrupt man who loved fancy
clothes and wigs.
2. He was very unpopular but succeeded in
improving the colony and its leadership while
serving as its governor.
3. The Superior Council began as an advisory
group composed of the colony’s leading officials.
4. Its power grew and eventually it served as a
legislature able to pass laws.
Melrose plantation
Louis Juchereau de St. Denis
and Natchitoches
1. St. Denis explored much of Louisiane and learned Indian
languages and customs.
2. Several tribes honored him by tattooing his legs.
3. The Caddo called him “Big Leg”.
4. He established an outpost in the western part of the
colony to protect the border against the Spanish in Texas
and Mexico.
5. The trading post he established on the Red River in 1714
was Fort St. Jean Baptiste.
6. It became Natchitoches, the oldest permanent settlement
in the entire Louisiana Purchase territory.
Fort St. Jean Baptiste
The First Natchez War
1. Natchez murdered four French traders.
2. Governor Cadillac sent Bienville and
soldiers to punish the Natchez.
3. The Natchez were forced to execute the
guilty warriors, live near Fort Rosalie,
and cut the 2,500 logs required to build
the fort.
4. The Natchez hatred of the French grew
even more.
Bousillage
A New Proprietor - John Law
1.
2.
3.
4.
John Law came from Scotland
He gambled and he killed a man in a duel.
He traveled to France.
While there, he established a taxation system and started a
national bank that slowed inflation.
5. He created the Company of the West and received a 25year monopoly over both Louisiana and Canada. He kept all
the profits.
6. He used a variety of methods to bring people to Louisiane.
7. His business interest met with both success and failure.
8. Law was involved in many scandals.
9. He lost all his money and died penniless in Italy.
10.He reinstated Bienville as Governor.
Populating the Colony
1. Law had to populate the colony with 6,000 white settlers and
3,00 slaves.
2. Law offered large land grants called concessions to wealthy
Europeans.
3. Those purchasing concessions would pay for settlers to travel
to Louisiane and work the land for them.
4. Poor Europeans who couldn’t afford to travel on their own
become redemptioners.
5. They worked for a merchant or land-owner for three years to
repay their passage to the colony.
6. During that time the employer had to provide free room and
board.
7. At the end of the contract the employer was to provide land,
tools, and supplies for the redemptioner so he could start his
own farm.
Criminals Come to Louisiana
1. France didn’t want to lose its best people,
so they began gathering people France
didn’t want to send to Louisiana.
2. People began to view the colony as a penal
(prison) colony.
Mississippi Bandits
1. Law hired gangs of thugs to seize homeless,
drunk, and street people from the slums of
Paris and other large cities.
2. The “Mississippi Bandits” forced them onto
ships bound for Louisiane in order to
increase the population.
A New Capital
1. The capital at Mobile was too far away.
2. The capital was moved to Isle of Orleans
and the city New Orleans developed in the
area.
A New Governor
• Bienville was ordered back to France and
forbidden to return to Louisiane due to
corruption.
• Etienne de Périer became the New
governor.
GLEs: 65, 66,
72, 77
A Difficult Life
1. Food shortages, crime, threats of Indian
attacks and diseases took a tremendous toll.
2. Dangerous wild animals were also a threat.
The Company of the Indies
1. Law gained control of the East Indies
Company, which had a monopoly on
France’s Far East trade.
2. He merged the East and West companies
and soon had a monopoly over the French
African slave trade.
3. People bought stock in the company.
The Colony Grows
• The colony’s population grew and led to
the need of a local government.
• Officials divided Louisiana into nine
districts.
• Each district had a fort and settlement, a
commandant, and soldiers for protection.
GLEs: 64, 65, 66, 70, 72, 73, 74, 75, 78, 80
The Ursuline Nuns
1. They established the first charity hospital
and began the colony’s first school for
girls.
Ursuline
Convent
The Code Noir-Marriage
1. Forbade blacks and whites to live together
and to get married.
2. Any children born through interracial unions
were slaves.
3. Blacks and French colonists could marry
Indians.
The Code Noir-Freedom
1. The Superior Council had to give
approval if a Frenchman wanted to free
his common-law wife and children.
2. Freed slaves who had some French
blood were called les gens de couleur
libres.
The Code Noir-Cruelty
1. Slaves could not be educated, congregate in
large numbers in public, or carry weapons.
2. Recaptured runaways could be branded,
beaten, or have their ears cut off.
3. A slave who struck his master or ran away
three times could be killed.
4. Since slaves were unable to testify in court,
owners had little fear of punishment.
The Code Noir-Slave Rights
1. The Code recognized slaves as humans, so
slaves could not be prevented from marrying.
2. A child under 14 could not be separated from
his mother.
3. Slaves could not be forced to work on Sundays
or religious holidays.
4. Owners had to provide adequate food, clothing,
shelter, and medical attention and care for the
slave if he or she was no longer able to work.
The Code Noir-Equal Rights
1. Freed slaves were equal to whites.
2. They could buy slaves, own property,
and serve in the government or military.
3. Because of these rights, many free
people of color were wealthy and
influential.
Slave Culture
1. Due to a long interaction with Africa, the
French did not consider Africans racially
inferior and did not try to destroy slaves’
native culture like the English did.
2. African names, customs, food, language,
and clothing survived better in Louisiana
than in most American colonies.
Creoles
• The meaning has changed over the years.
• Originally, a Creole was an African slave from
Louisiane.
• Children born to French or Spanish Louisianians
were called Creoles.
• Finally it came to mean someone of mixed
blood.
• Creole is also the name of a language that
evolved in south Louisiana and a term used to
describe buildings or foods of Louisiana origin.
Religion
1. Only the Catholic Church was allowed.
2. All slaves had to be baptized.
3. The Code forbade Jews from entering the
colony.
Voodoo
• A religion based on a mix of Catholic and
African beliefs.
• Nature and natural objects have life.
• There are many spirits.
• Magic, chants, spells, potions and charms
are used.
Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau’s tomb
The Fort Rosalie Massacre
1. Occurs when Perier is governor.
2. Great Sun and a small group of Natchez
warriors snuck into the fort on November 28,
1729.
3. The Natchez sneaked weapons into the fort
and attacked the French.
4. Over 200 people died.
The Second Natchez War
1. The entire colony was a part of the war.
2. It was civil war for Louisiane’s Indians.
3. Support was split among Native American
tribes.
4. Slaves also fought in the war on each side.
5. War lasted two years.
6. The Natchez were defeated and Great Sun
and his people were sent away as slaves.
The Natchez Surround Fort St.
Jean Baptiste
1. Natchez who had escaped, surrounded the
fort to lure St. Denis out
“Death to the Natchez!”
1. When St. Denis did attack with his warriors,
they defeated the Natchez.
2. 10 percent of the French population was killed.
3. Homes and villages were burned.
4. The Natchez Indians were nearly destroyed.
5. Other smaller Indian tribes were wiped out.
6. The Company of the Indies went bankrupt.
7. Louisiane was dangerously under populated.
8. The economy was in turmoil.
Bienville Returns
• After the Natchez war the King needed
Bienville to return as governor to help
bring order to the colony.
The Chickasaw
1. The Chickasaw were friends with the
English and united with the Natchez to
attack Pointe Coupee.
2. Bienville demanded the Chickasaw
Indians living in northern Mississippi turn
over the Natchez living with them.
3. When they refused, the colony was once
again at war.
Chickasaw warriors
The End of the Natchez
1. Bienville recruited slaves to fight,
promising them freedom in return.
2. After three years, peace was finally
achieved when the surviving Natchez
were turned over by the Chickasaw and
then sent to Saint-Dominique.
Saint-Domingue
The End of the Bienville
1. He was tired from war and asked to be
replaced as governor.
2. He returned to France.
Pierre François Rigaud
Cavagnal, Marquis de Vaudreuil
• New governor, served for 10 years.
• Easy going, fun-loving, and popular with the
upper class.
• He was called the “Grand Marquis”.
• Improved the levee system
• Created the Era of Good Feelings
• Introduced elaborate Mardi Gras parties that
have remained an important part of Louisiana’s
social life
GLEs: 65, 66, 72, 73, 76, 77, 78, 81
Louis Billouart, Chevalier de Kerlerec
• Governor during the French and Indian War.
• He needed to feed starving citizens living in the
colony, and the captain who went through the
English Blockade who came with supplies was a
Jew.
• To do so he had to violate the Code Noir
adopted by the Superior Council, which forbade
Jews from entering the colony.
• 10 years later he was recalled to France, and
found guilty of violating the Code Noir.
The End of French Louisiane
• France went to war with England.
• France lost the war.
• French rule was ended by the French and
Indian War.
• King and proprietors weren’t making any
money.
A. The Treaty of Fontainebleau
1. In a secret Treaty of Fontainebleau,
France signed this treaty with Spain,
which gave the Spanish Louisiane.
2. This was kept secret from the English.
B. The Treaty of Paris
1. Treaty between the French and English
putting Canada under England’s control.
2. At this point the England controlled all
the land east of the Mississippi River,
except the Isle of Orleans.
3. Spain gave up Florida and owned the
Isle of Orleans and the lands west of the
river.
Louisiana’s borders after the French
and Indian War