briefhistory


 * **A Brief History of Louisiana **

** Under 10 Flags **

|| **1519 ** ** Alonso Alvarez de Pineda led an expedition along the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico and discovered the mouth of a great river which may have been the Mississippi. **
 * 1542 ** ** The Spanish adventurer Hernando de Soto died on the shores of the Mississippi River near present-day Memphis while exploring the southeastern United States. Each year the Mississippi, an Ojibwa Indian word meaning "big river" carries 400,000,000 tons of sediment into the Gulf of Mexico and discharges more water than all European rivers combined. **
 * 1682 ** ** The French explorer Sieur de La Salle, the first to descend the Mississippi to its mouth, took possession "of the country known as Louisiana," and named it for the reigning king of France, Louis XIV. **

|| **1763 ** ** By the Peace of Paris Great Britain acquired from France its Louisiana territory east of the Mississippi and north of the Isle of Orleans. Spain ceded to Britain its territories of East and West Florida. Baton Rouge was fortified by the British and called New Richmond. ** || **1788 ** ** The first Saint Louis church, completed in 1727, was destroyed by the fire of 1788 which destroyed four-fifths of New 0rleans. When the city and church were rebuilt the architecture was, of Spanish rather than French style. In 1793, Louisiana and the two Floridas were formed into a new diocese and their headquarters was moved from Havana, Cuba to New Orleans. One year later, St. Louis church was dedicated as a cathedral. It underwent extensive renovations in 1850 and 1881. ** || **1779 ** ** War broke out between Spain and Britain; Spanish Governor Bernardo de Galvez conducted a surprise attack on the British fort at Baton Rouge and captured the outpost. As a result of this victory, the West Florida Parishes were returned to Spanish rule. ** || **1803 ** ** The United States purchased from Napoleon the territory of Louisiana for $15,000,000. Upon concluding the purchase Robert Livingston, America's Minister to France, said of the transfer, "We have lived long, but this is the noblest work of our whole lives ... From this day the United States will take their place among the powers of the first rank ... The instruments which we have just signed will cause no tears to be shed; they prepare ages of happiness for innumerable generations of human creatures." ** || **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;">1810 ****<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> The American citizens of Spain's West Florida territory, who had dramatically increased in number, took control of the Spanish government there and declared the territory a republic. The republic comprised the area of present-day Louisiana known as the Florida Parishes. ** || **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;">1812 ****<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Louisiana formally became the 18th state to join the union. William Charles Cole Claiborne was elected its first governor. The //New Orleans//, the first steamboat to navigate the Mississippi, arrived at New Orleans from Pittsburgh beginning the golden era of the steamboat. **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;">1714 ****<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Louis Juchereau de St. Denis founded Fort St. Jean Baptiste, present-day Natchitoches, the first permanent settlement in Louisiana. **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;">1717-31 ** **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Louisiana experienced a surge of growth and development as a colony of the Company of the West and, after 1719, its successor the Company of the Indies. The Company of the West was an elaborate colonization scheme of the Scotsman John Law, endorsed by the French government, which wreaked havoc on the entire economy of France. **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;">1718 ** **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Sieur de Bienville began building New Orleans as a company town for the Company of the West. By 1721 New Orleans had a population of more than 370 people, including 147 male colonists, 65 female colonists, 38 children, 28 servants, 73 slaves and 21 Indians. **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;">1762 ** **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">By the secret Treaty of Fontainebleau, France ceded its unprofitable and remote territories west of the Mississippi and the Isle of Orleans to Spain. It was 23 months later before the colonists in Louisiana learned they were no longer French subjects. **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Voltaire lamented the loss of Louisiana, saying that he could not conceive how Frenchmen could abandon "the most beautiful climate of the earth, from which one may have tobacco, silk, indigo, a thousand useful products." The average annual winter temperature for the state is 50.7 degrees, for the summer it is 82 degrees. Average annual rainfall is 55.45 inches. **
 * **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;">1769 ** **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Spanish Governor Alejandro O'Reilly finally established firm control of Louisiana for Spain. O'Reilly divided the province into 12 administrative districts called posts and 22 ecclesiastical parishes. The system of posts died with the end of Spanish rule, but parishes ultimately persisted as the primary county-level administrative unit under territorial and state governments. ** ||
 * **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;">1769 ** **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Spanish Governor Alejandro O'Reilly finally established firm control of Louisiana for Spain. O'Reilly divided the province into 12 administrative districts called posts and 22 ecclesiastical parishes. The system of posts died with the end of Spanish rule, but parishes ultimately persisted as the primary county-level administrative unit under territorial and state governments. ** ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;">1791 ****<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Refugee players from Santo Domingo presented in New Orleans the first professional theatrical production in Louisiana. **
 * **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;">1800 ** **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Spain officially returned the Louisiana territory West of the Mississippi to France by the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso to avoid the continued deficits the colony caused and the growing possibility that Spain might have to fight the restless Americans to retain control of the lands. (France did not actually take control until November 1803.) ** ||
 * **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;">1800 ** **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Spain officially returned the Louisiana territory West of the Mississippi to France by the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso to avoid the continued deficits the colony caused and the growing possibility that Spain might have to fight the restless Americans to retain control of the lands. (France did not actually take control until November 1803.) ** ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;">1804 ** **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> William Charles Cole Claiborne was appointed governor of the Territory of Orleans, which the area of present-day Louisiana was called. Before then he was governor of Mississippi Territory and the lone representative in Congress of Tennessee. Claiborne was selected as one of the commissioners to receive the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803. In 1812 Claiborne was elected the state's first governor, a position he held until 1816 when he was elected to the U.S. Senate. He died in 1817. **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;">1805 ****<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> The first Protestant church in Louisiana, an Episcopal church, was established in New Orleans. **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;">1808 ****<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> The first public schools in the state were established in Pointe Coupee Parish. **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;">1815 ** **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Andrew Jackson defeated the British at the Battle of New Orleans and saved control of the lower Mississippi for the United States. The British troops numbered about 8,000 to Jackson's 4,000 defenders. **