Chapter 5 French Louisiane

Themes:• Louisiana and the World Timeline (pp. 96-97)• Early Explorations; La Salle Claims

Louisiane (pp. 98-100)• Pierre Le Moyne; Sieur de Iberville (pp. 100-

104)• A New Governor; Economics; French

Government (pp. 104-107) • A Proprietor (pp. 107-109)

Themes:• A Proprietor; Growth (pp. 110-114)• The Code Noir (pp. 115-117)• A New Governor; Bienville Returns (pp.

118-120)• Vaudreuil; Kerlerec; End of French

Louisiane (pp. 121-122)• Review (p. 123)

I. Early Exploration• European nations began sending

explorers to the New World in hopes of finding riches.

GLEs:66, 71, 73, 78

A. Hernando De Soto• De Soto and approximately 600 men landed in

Florida to search for gold. • They wandered across the southeastern United

States and treated Indians brutally as they hunted for riches.

• De Soto discovered the Mississippi River, crossed into Arkansas, discovered Hot Springs, and then traveled down the Ouachita River.

• De Soto died from fever in southeast Arkansas.• Few of his men survived, and they had no gold or

riches.• Europeans did not send another expedition for over

100 years.

De Soto’s Route

The_Expeditions_of_Hernando_de_Soto_

II. La Salle Claims Louisiane• In the late 1600s, Spain, England, and

France established colonies in North America.

• Spain had colonies in Texas and Mexico.

• The English were establishing colonies along the Atlantic seaboard.

• France had created New France in Canada.

La Salle Claims the New World for France

A. La Salle, the Opportunist• French explorers Marquette and Joliet

discovered the upper Mississippi River while exploring the Great Lakes region.

• La Salle realized he had found the same river De Soto had found.

• La Salle wanted France to establish a colony at the mouth of the River.

• He thought the Gulf Coast would be an ideal location for a French naval base.

• What did La Salle think would fit perfectly on the Gulf Coast?

• A: A French Naval Base

B. Louisiane• The lower Mississippi had to be explored

before a colony could be established. • King Louis XIV of France gave La Salle

permission to lead an exploration party down the river.

• They traveled from Canada to the Gulf in two months.

• La Salle declared that France owned the land drained by the Mississippi River and said it would be known thereafter as Louisiane, which means “Louis’s land.”

The_Expeditions_of_the_Sieur_de_La_Salle__1669_1687

C. Fort Louis• La Salle returned to France to gather settlers,

supplies, and ships to establish a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi.

• On his return trip, he missed the mouth of the river and ended up lost in Texas.

• He and his men built Fort Louis, but starvation and hostile Indians took their toll.

• La Salle was killed in East Texas by his own men.

Last Expedition

**Henri de Tonti (Read more about it on page 100)

III. Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur de Iberville• France and England were enemies.• The French learned the English were

planning to build a colony at the mouth of the river.

• France was worried about that the English would travel up the river and invade Canada.

• Soon France and England were racing to gain control of the Mississippi River.

GLEs: 65, 66, 72, 78

A. Iberville Comes to Louisiane• French Minister Pontchartrain chose Sieur

de Iberville to lead the expedition. • Iberville and his brother, Bienville, arrived in

the Gulf of Mexico and anchored at Ship Island.

B. Finding the Mississippi• Iberville and Bienville explored the mainland

and met the Biloxi Indians.• They searched for and found the Mississippi

River on March 3—Mardi Gras Day!

• On what historic day did Iberville and Bienville enter the MS River?

• A: Mardi Gras Day, March 3

**What’s in a Name?(Read more about it on page 101)

C. Baton Rouge and Pontchartrain• Iberville and a group of Indian guides who were

helping him found a red pole sticking out of the ground.

• Iberville called the area Baton Rouge, or “red stick.” • Iberville and his guides also found a shortcut to the

Gulf and the largest lake he had ever seen. Iberville named the lake Pontchartrain after his superior, Count Pontchartrain.

• Iberville named the smaller lake after his son, Count Maurepas, and established Fort Maurepas, the first French settlement in Louisiane.

• Twice, Iberville had to return to France for supplies.

Biloxi Bay

Ft. Maurepas

http://www.louisiana101.com/rr_fortmaurepas.html

**The Isle of Orleans (Read more about it on page 102)

D. English Turn• Bienville entered the Mississippi River and

spotted a large English ship anchored in the river.• Bienville told the ship’s officers that it was too late

to start a colony because France had already established one. He also told the English that they were in danger because French troops were nearby.

• Bienville claimed the French would attack if they did not leave.

• The English turned the ship around and left. This is how that section of the river became known as English Turn.

E. Fort de la Boulaye• Bienville established this fort on land 50

miles upstream from the Gulf of Mexico.

F. Fort Louis de la Mobile and Dauphin Island

• Fort Louis de la Mobile became the colony’s capital, and most of the settlers moved there.

• Dauphin Island was another post built for the French.

**Life at Old Fort Louis (Read more about it on page 103)

Early Louisiana Settlements

**Naming Early Forts (Read more about it on page 103)

• Give the names of two of Louisiana’s early French forts. Include both their military and Indian names.

• A: Fort Maurepas / Biloxi

• Fort Louis de la Mobile/ Mobile

• Fort St. Jean Baptiste/Nachitoches

• Fort Rosalie/Natchez

G. The Early Colonists• The most significant problem of the period

was the low population, which consisted of soldiers, sailors, explorers, voyageurs, and 13 Caribbean pirates.

• Voyageurs made their living by paddling canoes, pirogues, and other boats for explorers and traders.

Voyageurs

**Louisiana Pirogues (Read more about it on page 104)

IV. A New Governor • Short on supplies, Iberville returned to

France and found the French at war.

• He was unable to send supplies, and then he died in Cuba on the return voyage in 1706.

GLEs: 64, 66, 72, 73, 74, 76, 78, 80, 81

A. Bienville Takes Charge• Iberville’s younger brother, Bienville,

became governor at age 22.

B. The Coureurs de Bois• The lack of European women in the colony was

a major problem.• Coureurs de bois or “runners of the woods”

were hunters and trappers who depended upon Indians to keep them alive.

• They often dressed and acted like Native Americans and often married Indian women.

• Bienville wanted these men to marry French Christian women and farm the land to end the chronic food shortage in the colony.

• What did Bienville feel the coureurs de bois must do to save their souls?

• A: marry French Christian women

C. The Pelican Girls• The Pelican Girls were 23 young women

sent from Paris to marry the early explorers and help the population grow.

**Louisiane’s Fashionistas (Read more about it on page 105)

V. 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

A. A Closed System• Mercantilism was a closed system, so

colonists in Louisiane could not trade with any country other than France.

• Louisiane shipped raw materials such as fur, timber, and indigo to France.

• France sent finished goods such as clothing, furniture, and ink back to the colony.

• It was not a very profitable system, and since it was easier and cheaper to trade with the Spanish, illegal trade was common.

• Mercantilism was what kind of early economic system?

• A: Closed

B. The Fur Trade• Fur trading was the main economic

activity, but it was not very profitable.

Bartering

French Fur Trade

C. Farming• There was never enough food.

• Lack of knowledge, poor soil, flooding, and few seeds contributed to the problem, and the period became known as the Starvation Times.

• Indians taught the French how to grow corn, squash, and beans and how to hunt and fish.

VI. French Government in the Colony

• The top official in the colony was a governor who was chosen carefully by the French government.

A. The Commissary• This official was in charge of

warehouses, trade, and supplies.

• Meanwhile, the governor was responsible for everything else.

• The governor and the commissary began battling over power.

B. Bienville Stays • He practiced nepotism. Bienville was not

popular. He appointed family members to important positions and used the colony’s money and supplied as if they were his own.

• He flaunted his power and wealth and feuded with the commissary.

• As a result, he was ordered back to France.• He eventually used his influence and was

reappointed to his former position.

VII. A Proprietor• The French king grew tired of sinking

money into the colony and getting nothing but trouble in return.

• He needed to retain control of the Mississippi River, or England could travel up it and threaten Canada.

• The king began looking for a proprietor, an individual who took economic responsibility for the colony.

GLEs: 65, 66, 70, 71, 72, 75, 77, 81

A. Antoine Crozat• A monopoly is when a person or group has

exclusive control over the production or sale of a product or service.

• King Louis gave exclusive control of the Louisiane colony to Antoine Crozat.

• Crozat was able to keep all the profits, appoint officials, and remain exempt from trade tariffs for 15 years if he met the following conditions:– He had to give the king 1/5 of any gold found in the

colony.– He had to send settlers to Louisiane each year.– He had to buy goods from France and govern the

colony according to French law.

B. Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac• Cadillac was a hungry, pompous, corrupt man

who loved fancy clothes and wigs.• He was very unpopular but succeeded in

improving the colony and its leadership while serving as governor.

• The Superior Council began as an advisory group composed of the colony’s leading officials.

• The Superior Council’s power grew and eventually it served as a legislature and was able to pass laws.

**Marie Therese Coin Coin (Read more about it on page 108)

Melrose Plantation

• Which large plantation owning family became known as the Cane River Creoles?

• A: the family of Marie Therese Coin Coin and Frenchman Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer

C. Louis Juchereau de St. Denis and Natchitoches• St. Denis explored much of Louisiane and learned

Indian languages and customs• Several tribes honored him by tattooing his legs.• The Caddo called him “Big Leg.”• St. Denis established an outpost in the western

part of the colony to protect the border against the Spanish in Texas and Mexico.

• The trading post he established on the Red River in 1714 was Fort St. Jean Baptiste.

• It became Natchitoches, the oldest permanent settlement in the entire Louisiana Purchase territory.

Fort St. Jean Baptiste (Natchitoches)

D. Los Adaes• Los Adaes was built to protect Spanish

missions.

• It served as the capital of Spanish Texas for 50 years and created an island of Spanish culture in western Louisiana.

E. The First Natchez War• The Natchez murdered four French traders.• Governor Cadillac sent soldiers to punish the

Natchez.• Soldiers forced the Natchez to execute the

guilty warriors, live near Fort Rosalie, and cut the 2,500 logs required to build the fort.

• The effect of these punishments is that Natchez resentment toward the French grew even stronger.

**Bousillage Construction (Read more about it on page 109)

Bousillage

VIII. A New Proprietor

A. John Law• He was from Scotland.• He gambled.• He killed a man in a duel.• He traveled to France, established a taxation system,

and started a national bank that slowed inflation.• He created the Company of the West and received a

25-year monopoly over both Louisiana and Canada. • He used a variety of methods, some illegal, to bring

people to Louisiane.• His business interest met with both success and

failure.• Law was involved in many scandals• He lost all his money and died penniless in Italy.

B. Populating the Colony• Law offered large land grants, or concessions, to

wealthy Europeans.• Those purchasing concessions paid settlers to travel

to Louisiane and work the land for them. • Poor Europeans who couldn’t afford to travel on their

own become redemptioners. • They worked for a merchant or land-owner for three

years to repay their passage to the colony. • During that time, the employer had to provide free

room and board. • 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.

C. Criminals Come to Louisiana• France didn’t want to lose its best people, so

they began gathering people France didn’t want and sending them to Louisiane.

• People began to view the colony as a penal (prison) colony.

**The German Coast (Read more about it on page 111)

• What group of hardworking Europeans moved to Louisiane and settled along the Mississippi River?

• A: Germans

**Mississippi River Long Lots (Read more about it on page 111)

D. Mississippi Bandits• John Law hired gangs of thugs to seize

homeless, drunk, and street people from the slums of Paris and other large cities.

• The thugs, known as the “Mississippi Bandits,” forced them onto ships bound for Louisiane.

E. A Difficult Life• Food shortages, crime, threats of Indian

attacks and diseases took a tremendous toll. • Dangerous wild animals were also a threat.

F. A New Capital• The capital at Mobile was too far away.• Once New Orleans was established, it

became the new capital.

New Orleans

G. The Company of the Indies• John Law gained control of the East Indies

Company, which had a monopoly on France’s Far East trade.

• Law merged the East and West companies and soon had a monopoly over the French African slave trade.

**The Mississippi Bubble (Read more about it on page 113)

IX. The Colony Grows• The colony’s population grew and soon

needed 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

• Name 5 Louisiane districts that had forts, settlements, commandants, and soldiers fro protection.

• A: New Orleans, Natchitoches, Natchez, Biloxi, Mobile, Alabamons, Arkansas, Yazoo, and Illinois

A. The Ursuline Nuns• The Ursuline Nuns established the first

charity hospital and began the colony’s first school for girls.

Ursuline Convent

**The Casket Girls (Read more about it on page )

X. The Code Noir

GLEs: 64, 73, 74, 75, 81

A. Marriage• According to the Code Noir, blacks and

whites could not live together or get married.• Any children born through interracial unions

were slaves.• Blacks and French colonists were allowed to

marry Indians.

B. Freedom• The Superior Council had to give

approval if a French man wanted to free his black wife and children.

• Freed slaves who had some French blood were called les gens de couleur libres.

C. Cruelty• Slaves could not be educated, gather in

large numbers in public, or carry weapons.

• Recaptured runaways could be branded, beaten, or have their ears cut off.

• A slave who struck his master or ran away three times could be killed.

• Since slaves were unable to testify in court, owners had little fear of punishment for their cruel treatment of slaves.

D. Slave Rights• The Code recognized slaves as humans, so

slaves could not be prevented from marrying. • A child under 14 could not be separated from

his or her mother. • Slaves could not be forced to work on Sundays

or religious holidays. • Owners had to provide adequate food, clothing,

shelter, and medical attention and care for a slave when he or she was no longer able to work.

E. Equal Rights• Freed slaves were equal to whites.

• They could buy slaves, own property, and serve in the government or military.

• Because of these rights, many free people of color were wealthy and influential.

F. Slave Culture• Due to centuries of association with

Africa and Africans, the French did not consider Africans racially inferior; therefore, the French did not try to destroy slaves’ native culture like the English did.

• African names, customs, food, language, and clothing survived better in Louisiane than in most American colonies.

**Creoles (Read more about it on page 116)

• The meaning of the term “Creole” has changed over the years.

• Originally, a Creole was an African slave from Louisiane.

• Then, children born to French or Spanish Louisianians were called Creoles.

• Finally, it meant someone of mixed blood. • Today, 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.

Gumbo

G. Religion• Colonists were allowed only one religion:

Catholicism• All slaves had to be baptized. • The Code forbade Jews from entering the

colony.

**Voodoo (Read more about it on page 117)

• Voodoo is a religion based on a mixture of Catholic and African beliefs.

• Voodooists believe:– Nature and natural objects have life. – There are many spirits.– Magic, chants, spells, potions and charms

have great power.

Vodoo_and_Catholicism__A_Melding_of_Faiths

Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau’s Tomb

Marie Laveau Tomb

• http://www.spellmaker.com/marie.htm

XI. A New Governor• Due to corruption, Bienville was ordered

back to France and forbidden to return to Louisiane.

GLEs: 65, 66, 72, 77

A. Etienne de Périer • Perier became the colony’s new governor

during the French and Natchez Indian War.

B. The Fort Rosalie Massacre• Great Sun and a small group of Natchez

warriors snuck into the fort on November 28, 1729, and attacked the French.

C. The Second Natchez War• The entire colony was a part of the war.• This second war was a civil war for

Louisiane’s Indians because support for the war was split among Native American tribes.

• The war lasted two years.• The Natchez were defeated, and Great Sun

and his people were sent away as slaves.

D. The Natchez Surround Fort St. Jean Baptiste

• The Natchez who had escaped gathered around the fort and tried to persuade St. Denis to come out of the fort.

E. “Death to the Natchez!”• St. Denis and the Indian warriors who

supported him fought back and defeated the Natchez.

• Ten percent of Louisiane’s colonial population were killed.

• Homes and villages were burned.• The Natchez were nearly destroyed.• Other smaller Indian tribes were wiped out.• The Company of the Indies was bankrupt.• Louisiane was once again under populated.• The economy was in turmoil.

• What war nearly ruined the struggling Louisiane colony? How?

• A: The second Natchez War. The colony had struggled to build its population, but the war destroyed nearly 10% of the French population.

XII. Bienville Returns• After the Natchez War, the King needed

Bienville to return to the colony as its governor and help bring order to the colonists.

A. The Chickasaw• The Chickasaw were friendly with the

English and opposed to the French, so they united with the Natchez to attack Pointe Coupee.

• Bienville demanded the Chickasaw Indians living in northern Mississippi give up the Natchez living with them.

• When they refused, the colony was once again at war.

Chickasaw Warriors

B. The End of the Natchez

• Bienville recruited slaves to fight and promised them freedom in return for their service.

• After three years, peace was finally achieved when the Chickasaw turned over the surviving Natchez.

• The colonists then sent the Natchez to Saint-Dominique as slaves.

C. The End of the Bienville1. Bienville was exhausted after three years

of war and asked to be replaced as governor.

2. He then returned to France.

XIII. Pierre François Rigaud Cavagnal, Marquis de Vaudreuil• Vaudreuil followed Bienville as governor and

served for 10 years.• He was easy going, fun loving, popular with the

upper class, and known as the “Grand Marquis.” • He led the effort that defeated the Chickasaw.• He improved the levee system.• His term was called the Era of Good Feelings.• Vaudreuil 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

• Whose era as governor was fondly remembered as the Era of Good Feelings?

• A: Pierre François Rigaud Cavagnal, Marquis de Vaudreuil

XIV. Louis Billouart, Chevalier de Kerlerec

• Kerlerec was governor during the French and Indian War.

• Citizens in New Orleans were starving. A ship with supplies arrived, but the captain was forbidden by law to enter the colony because he was Jewish.

• Kerlerec allowed the Jewish captain to bring supplies into the colony. Ten years later, Kerlerec was recalled to France and found guilty of violating the Code Noir.

XV. The End of French Louisiane • The French and Indian War ended French

rule of Louisiane.

Saint-Domingue

Louisiana’s Borders After the

French and Indian War

A. The Treaty of Fontainebleau • France signed this treaty with Spain,

which gave control of the colony of Louisiane to the Spanish.

• What two reasons did France have for signing the secret Treaty of Fontainebleau?

• A: To keep Louisiane from falling into English hands, to repay Spain for help during the war.

B. The Treaty of Paris• This treaty between France and England

gave control of Canada to the English.

• At this point, the English controlled all the land east of the Mississippi River except the Isle of Orleans.

• Spain owned the Isle of Orleans and the lands west of the river.

The_French_and_Indian_War__the_Seven_Years__War__and_the_Treaty_of_Paris

**The Florida Parishes (Read more about it on page 122)

America_in_1750__A_Land_Reconfigured

Chapter Review

GLEs: 11