A Brief History of Louisiana
by J. Burton LeBlanc
November, 2005
Natives
Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, Louisiana was the home of a number of Indian tribes.
The Atakapa lived around the present parishes of Lafayette and Calcasieu, in southwest Louisiana. The Chitimachas lived around the parishes of Iberia, St. Mary and Orleans in southeast Louisiana.
The Bayougoulas were found in Parishes from Iberville to St. Tammany. The Houmas or Oumas were found in Iberville, the Felicianas and Pointe Coupee Parishes. Avoyelles and Concordia were home to the Avoyel, part of the Natchez nation. The northeastern parishes around Tensas were home to the Tunica tribe.
The remainder of current day central and north Louisiana was home to a substantial portion of the Caddo nation. The population of the Indian tribes was about ten thousand.
After the arrival of the Spanish, and later the French, diseases brought by them, such as small pox, and to which the Indians had no immunity, wiped out a large portion of them. The Bayou Goulas were almost eliminated.
Spanish
For some reason after the discovery of the huge land mass, later known as the Americas, by Columbus, the Spanish undertook the progressive development of what became known as South America, with the exception of Brazil, which was developed by the Portuguese. The Papal Bulls of the period, attempting to define the areas to be occupied by the Spanish and Portuguese may have had some influence. The Spanish expanded largely along the Pacific coast of South America and in Mexico, under Cortez and Pissaro, and later along the Pacific coast in North America. The huge area of North America that later became known as the Louisiana Territories was largely untouched and unexplored.
In 1541, the Spaniard, DeSoto was the first European to view the Mississippi River, and did some exploring east of the Mississippi River, and died from a fever contracted, presumably on its banks, in 1542. However the Spanish made few expeditions thereafter, only two of significance, which were both made west of the Mississippi River. They manifested an indifference to the bulk of North America.
French
LaSalle was the first to explore the River from the Illinois country to its mouth in 1682.
After that, France laid claim to the sovereignty over this large territory, basically the Mississippi Valley. LaSalle named it Louisiana after Louis XIV. The administration of this territory by France was rather dismal.
Colonization in Louisiana was a slow process. There were dormant periods and spurts of development.
In 1698 Iberville led an expedition to go to the mouth of the Mississippi and some distance upstream in a colonizing effort. There he chose the first slightly higher piece of land above the mouth, which was also accessed from the rear by a large lake which had direct access to the Gulf of Mexico, as a good location for a settlement. This was to be the future site of Nouvelle Orleans.
He also went up the River some distance. Bienville accompanied him.
In 1699 Louisiana became a French royal colony with the establishment of its first settlement at what is now Ocean Springs, or east Biloxi, Mississippi, by Pierre LeMoyne, Sieur d’Iberville. It became the capital of Louisiana. In 1702 the capital moved to Fort Louis de Mobile. Iberville was the governor of the colony.
Iberville established good relations with the Indian tribes. From his first contacts with them he sought a peaceful relationship, which he inaugurated by the method of large-scale gift giving.
After Iberville’s death in 1706, Bienville became governor of the colony.
Bienville was an excellent administrator and he elaborated upon Iberville’s policy of cultivating good relations with the Indians. He established forts near them, which became trading posts for the exchanges with them of European products including muskets for furs and fish and food produced by the Indians.
Bienville developed a rapport with ten Indian tribes and in the process learned several Indian languages.
He was tolerant toward slaves for he seemed to be philosophically opposed to slavery.
Since the French had mostly come looking for gold and furs and had little inclination for agricultural development, they were largely dependent on the Indians for sustenance. Bienville encouraged the development of agriculture on the part of the colonists.
In 1712 France gave exclusive trading rights to Antoine Crozat. This made the colony a proprietary colony instead of a royal colony. It became a different type of operation. Crozat, like his predecessors, with the exception of Bienville, was primarily interested in gold and furs. Bienville was replaced by Cadillac as governor who was sterner with the Indians and a poor administrator.
Crozat had risen from peasant stock to become one of the most successful financiers in France. Louis XIV gave him exclusive trading rights over the Louisiana Territory. Crozat had believed that he could find gold and silver and develop trading ventures, particularly in furs, with the Indians.
After a few years of effort, accompanied by financial losses, he relinquished his rights. He made no effort to stimulate agricultural production and brought very few settlers to the region.
In 1714 Louis Jucereau St. Denis had established the town of Natchitoches. It was the first permanent town in Louisiana and was the farthest northwest point of settlement.
In 1718 Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, the governor of the colony had begun building New Orleans.
Bienville established the city of Nouvelle Orleans, New Orleans, at the site previously selected by his brother, Iberville.
In 1722 New Orleans became the capital of Louisiana. In 1717, the Duke of Orleans, who was then Regent, assigned exclusive rights to John Law, a Scotch promoter, who did comply with his obligation to supply 6,000 European settlers and 3,000 African slaves. It is estimated that between 1717 and 1721, 7,100 European settlers arrived. Some were indentured servants who were promised freedom after a time, usually three years. The Africans were nearly all from Senegal because the Compagnie du Senegal, held a monopoly on the French slave trade. In a way, this was fortunate, because the Senagales had expertise in agricultural and accompanying trades, particularly in the raising of rice and since Senegal had been heavily influenced by France, the Senegalese were more adapted to the French culture of Louisiana. Law engaged in elaborate financial manipulations, soliciting investors and establishing a bank. He wound up disgraced, but his successor, the Company of the West, later the Company of the Indies, was allowed to run the colony until 1731, when it was turned over to the French monarchy.
The census dated January 1, 1726, reported exactly 4,000 colonists, servants and slaves throughout Louisiana. The Illinois Country added 513 persons to the total population of Louisiana in 1726. As a result of faster urban growth than rural growth in this period, the proportion of Louisianans living in New Orleans rose. It overtook Mobile as the largest urban place in the colony.
The increase in the population of New Orleans from 343 in 1721 to 773 in 1726 was a by-product of the failure of the concession, their replacement by plantations under private initiative, and the transition from indentured servants to slaves as the main work force on the plantations. Already evident in the 1721-23 censuses, the transition to black slave labor accelerated over the next half decade. By 1726, the number of engage’s and deported convicts enumerated in all regions except the Illinois Country fell from 693 to 260 and Indian slaves from 183 to 161, while black slaves increased from 950 to 1,401. All the increase in blacks was absorbed by the countryside. The number of black slaves in New Orleans declined from 89 in 1723 to77 in 1726. p.213
On September 2, 1755, English soldiers marched into the Gasperaux valley, near Port Royal, Acadia-Nova Scotia and began rounding up the Acadians. Their properties were seized and they were ordered deported. Some 4000 of them arrived in Louisiana. These Cajuns, as they came to be called, who settled mostly in the southwestern part of the State, became one of its most influential segments.
The great mystery about the French regime is why there were practically no attempts at exploring, much less developing, the bulk of the Territory.
The French seemed to be more interested in the Caribbean Islands that they possessed. The administration by the French was at best haphazard.
There was a period when various enthusiasts published optimistic prognostications including the projection of mineral discoveries to rival Potosi in Peru. A leading geographer showed a sea on the western boundary of the Territory, which communicated with the Pacific Ocean.
For various reasons the French government sparsely developed Louisiana. The main reason was that France during most of this period was embroiled in confrontation with Britain with which it was preoccupied.
The head of the French foreign office and the dominant figure during much of the time involved, was consumed with the goal of expanding the French naval forces to a position that would at least equal that of the larger British Navy. Not only was France financially pressed but one of its prime objectives was to maintain an alliance with Spain in their common cause against the British.
An additional element, attributed by some authors for the lack of adventuring, was the rise of scientific objectivism which required hard facts in publications as opposed to speculation based on unsupported ideas that had been floated in the first prognostications.
Demographics
[Much of the statistical information obtained herein is obtained from “French Colonial Louisiana and the Atlantic World” from a symposium edited by Bradley G. Bond, published by the Louisiana State University Press. James Pritchard authored the population studies from which there are quotes.]
Adding 200 Indian slaves to my estimates of 2,500 whites and 4,800 blacks throughout Louisiana in 1731, I arrive at an estimated total colonial population of 7,500 persons.
From a high point of the estimated 4,000 colonists and slaves in 1721, a sharp decline occurred. From 1726 to 1731, I postulate another surge in population, this time primarily as a result of the importation of 3,682 African slaves, marking for that reason the transition from a predominantly European to predominately black population. After 1731, a second decline in population is reflected in the 1737 census.
Thus the French colonial period of Louisiana history was not one of continuous population growth. Particularly during the two decades between 1718 and 1737, surges upward produced by large inflows of immigrants alternated with declines resulting from the unusually high mortality of newcomers. The first predominantly European migration was at least twice as large as the second predominantly African migration. Nevertheless, the magnitude of the increases from 1718 to 1722 and from 1726 to 1731 are comparable, largely because seasonal mortality was much higher for whites than for blacks. For the same reasons, the population decline after the second inflow was not quite as pronounced as that which followed the first.
The census dated January 1, 1726, reported exactly 4,000 colonists, servants and slaves throughout Louisiana.
The Illinois Country added 513 persons to the total population of Louisiana in 1726. As a result of faster urban growth than rural growth in this period, the proportion of Louisianans living in New Orleans rose. It overtook Mobile as the largest urban place in the colony.
The increase in the population of New Orleans from 343 in 1721 to 773 in 1726 was a by-product of the failure of the concession, their replacement by plantations under private initiative, and the transition from indentured servants to slaves as the main work force on the plantations. Already evident in the 1721-23 censuses, the transition to black slave labor accelerated over the next half decade. By 1726, the number of engage’s and deported convicts enumerated in all regions except the Illinois Country fell from 693 to 260 and Indian slaves from 183 to 161, while black slaves increased from 950 to 1,401. All the increase in blacks was absorbed by the countryside. The number of black slaves in New Orleans declined from 89 in 1723 to77 in 1726
An important migration into Louisiana occurred much later when Napoleon having defeated Spain returned Louisiana to France which sold it three years later to the United States.
During this period, France having controlled Haiti and the Dominican Republic for many years witnessed a slave revolt, resulting in the defeat of its twenty thousand soldiers. As a result many of the whites and free slaves migrated to Louisiana, doubling the population of New Orleans.
The Dominicans brought with them expertise in the growing of sugar cane and other skills. They were largely influenced by French culture and fit into the New Orleans scenery very well.
Though the population of Louisiana was still small at the time the French ceded the territory to Spain, a positive basis had been laid for the future development of Louisiana.
The importance of New Orleans as a world port and an as an outlet for the products of the upper continent had been established.
The plantations upriver from New Orleans had become productive and had become an integral part of the region. There was considerable cultural advancement evidenced in various art forms and the construction of attractive buildings.
Spanish – Second Period of Control
Louisiana had been a French colony from 1682, but the French had done little to develop it other than the Isle of Orleans. It was still sparsely developed when France signed the secret Treaty of Fontainbleau in 1762 with Spain in order to get them to enter into the Seven Years War, or the French and Indian War, as an ally. In that Treaty, France secretly ceded to Spain the Louisiana territories west of the Mississippi River and the Isle of Orleans which included New Orleans and the adjacent river properties south of Bayou Manchac.
However, Britain won the war in 1763 and gained control of all the land of Louisiana east of the Mississippi River, with the exception of the Isle of Orleans. In 1764 the French colonists learned of the transfer to Spain and became very angry. Then a band of Frenchmen drove out the Spanish governor, Ulloa.
In 1769 Spain sent in troops and took control of the colony and placed O’Reilly in charge. In its effort to retain the assistance of the Spanish government in its confrontation with the English, France had transferred the Louisiana Territories to Spain. For the first few years there was resistance among the Louisiana colonists. But as the Spanish administration took hold with some efficiency, Louisianians adapted to the change. Spanish surveyors were excellent and constructive attitudes were taken by the Spanish administration including the construction of the Cabildo in New Orleans and other attractive buildings.
Isle of Orleans
The “Isle of Orleans” was always a special part of French Louisiana. In 1763 Britain had gained control of all Louisiana east of the Mississippi River, except the “Isle of Orleans”.
Jefferson tried to buy the Isle of Orleans from Napoleon who countered in offering to sell all of Louisiana. Between Bayou Manchac and New Orleans, on both sides of the River, lay some of the most fertile lands in the world, alluvial deposits of the River laid down over an expanse of time. It was these lands that developed into the plantations that lined the River. In addition to the City of New Orleans the most significant development of Louisiana was this property along the River above New Orleans.
There were developed the plantations which formed an important part of the history of the region under the French, Spanish and American governments. There arose a planter class composed of the owners of the land whether under French or Spanish land grants or United States patents. The first attempt was in raising indigo, but this prove unsuccessful. But after sugar cane became a profitable crop due to the efforts of DuBos and others, and later rice, the economic importance of the region became manifest. The means settled upon for the production of these crops was the use of slaves, many imported from Senegal. The earlier use of indentured servants from Europe had proved ineffectual.
In general the slaves were treated with consideration and became integrated into the economic process of which they were an essential part. They were provided all the essential economic necessities and many other privileges. It was in the planter’s interest to keep them happy and as long as the economy was prosperous all drew a measure of benefit from it.
In any event the plantation section of the Isle of Orleans was an important part of it.
The Plantation Country
At the time of integration into the United States, the population in the entire Louisiana Territory was still small.
There were three areas of settlement. There was New Orleans which had grown into the largest city in the South, and whose port had become the second largest in the integrated United States. There was the Illinois country which had begun to attract habitants of the Eastern shore.
And there was the plantation country, the lush area of land, extending from New Orleans to Bayou Manchac and on the western side of the River extending to the Pointe Coupee area.
Although the French administrations, with the exception of Bienville, who was never able to realize his dreams, were only interested in gold and furs, the French government, and later, the Spanish government, began to issue land grants to many of the settlers, who were mostly of French descent. At a later date, a group of Germans settled, mostly on the west bank of the River, which was called the German coast. However, they became more Francofied than even the original settlers, adopting the French language and the existing culture. A stipulation in the Louisiana purchase by the United States provided that all of these land grants would be recognized by the United States, which they did. In fact, the United States began to issue its own land patents to other potential planters.
This plantation section of first the French Louisiana Territory and afterwards the Spanish, followed by the United States aegis, became a unique part of their governments. The development of a plantation class produced a group of people, who had great influence with the executives of whatever country reigned over it. The Spanish government treated them with respect, as did W.C.C. Claiborne, the friend of Jefferson, who became the first governor of Louisiana.
The plantation was an economic entity which was the most practical way of extracting from the fertile land its riches and spreading it out to the populace.
In hindsight it is easy to mentally reconstruct better systems, but the authors of such systems were not confronted with the difficulties which then existed, in a world which only had the benefit of mule power and human labor.
It is a fact that the first attempt of colonists to cultivate by the use of European labor was a failure.
The Europeans could not handle the heat and sun and were disease prone. When African slaves were imported, mostly from Senegal, they provided a practical solution to the cutting of sugar and harvesting of rice.
When the first French settlements were made, the French only being interested in gold and furs at that time and having no interest in agriculture obtained their food partially in shipments from France, but primarily from the native Indians.
First, an attempt was made to plant indigo, which was unsuccessful. Only after the raising of sugar cane was rendered successful by the efforts of DuBos and others was there a turn around.
The cultivation of sugar cane was enhanced by the immigration of thousands of Santo Domincans as a result of slave uprising there and their defeat of Napoleon’s army, which brought many whites and free blacks with experience in raising sugar cane.
Most Louisiana planters were kind and considerate to their “hands” for one reason because their own prosperity depended upon willing and contented laborers, and for the additional reason that, in general, mutual feeling of regard and dependence between the planters and their families and the tillers of the soil who lived on the same plantation.
As related by Paul Lachance, in the symposium referred to, between 1726 and 1731, the annual rate of growth of the population in New Orleans was 2.6 per cent and 4.2 percent in the Illinois country, but on the banks of the Lower Mississippi, the increase had been at the rate of 18.6 per cent.
“The number of farms and plantations in this region increased from 174 to 282, partially as a result of a land reform in 1728 rescinding grants during Bienville’s first tenure as governor and limiting plantation size to 20 arpents frontage.”
For the year 1766, he gives the population of New Orleans at 4,973, Lower Mississippi River at 6,198, Upper and Interior at 1,150, and Illinois Country 713 or a total for the Louisiana Territory of 11,034.
The plantation country of Louisiana located principally along the banks of the Lower Mississippi became relatively prosperous under the French and Spanish regimes, but it really took off after integrating into the United States.
The plantation owners constructed fine homes of unusual architectural attractiveness and became very influential in State and national politics. The principal plantation owners were dominant in local affairs and operated their plantations as self governing entities. The “hands” who were at first slaves, and then free laborers, were well fed and adequately housed with fireplaces and other amenities. In general, they were contented and enjoyed their Sunday gatherings at their own Baptist church and Mardi Gras, which they celebrated in a distinctive fashion and other holidays.
Accompanying this prosperity there was a cultural development which added to the amenities of the inhabitants.
St. Gabriel
An important settlement in the plantation country was St. Gabriel.
St. Gabriel was strategically located near Bayou Manchac, the northern boundary of the Isle of Orleans. It is believed that the site was selected by Iberville as the most northern and upriver site in the Isle of Orleans at which to erect a settlement.
It is thought, for the records are scarce, that Bienville followed up on that, as he had with New Orleans, and established a settlement there. The site had relatively straight frontage on the River and was on the deep channel side of it. The deeper part, or channel of the River migrated from side to side in its coursing.
In any event, we used to always say that St. Gabriel is as old as New Orleans, but that one had just grown faster than the other.
The properties along the River were composed of relatively high ground near the river which was in effect an alluvial levee, deposited by the River, which gradually dropped off to the cypress swamp in the rear. The River had there deposited rich alluvial soils, borrowed from Tennessee and Illinois and other contributors. The cultivable land of the plantations varied along the River. Some went to the forty arpent line. At St. Gabriel most of the cultivable land went to the eighty arpent line.
This was an ancient home of the Houmas or Oumas Indians. Across the River had lived the Bayou Goulas. Both the Bayou Goula and the Houmas Indians were largely wiped out by the diseases they contracted from the Europeans, mostly the French. Their immune systems did not cover the diseases that were new to them, such as smallpox.
It was a good place to grow up amidst the vestiges of plantation life, which must have been rewarding in its heyday.