Louisiana (New France) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids French colonial Louisiana La Louisiane
District of New France
1682–1763 1801–1803
Flag of New France (until 1760) Coat of arms
New France before the Treaty of Utrecht
Capital	Mobile (1702–1720) Biloxi (1720–1722) La Nouvelle-Orléans (after 1722)
History
• Established	1682
• Split west to Spain	1762
• Split east to Great Britain	1763
• Spanish retrocession	21 March 1801
• Louisiana Purchase	30 April 1803
• Transferred to the United States	20 December 1803
Political subdivisions	Upper Louisiana; Lower Louisiana
Preceded by Succeeded by Louisiana (New Spain) Indian Reserve (1763) Louisiana (New Spain) Indian Reserve (1763) Louisiana Purchase
Today part of	Canada  United States

Louisiana (also called La Louisiane or French Louisiana) was a huge area of land in North America. It was once controlled by France. This land was part of New France, which was a large French colony.

France ruled Louisiana from 1682 to 1762. They also owned it again briefly from 1801 to 1803. In 1803, France sold this land to the United States in a deal called the Louisiana Purchase.

The French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle named the area. He named it after King Louis XIV.

Where Was French Louisiana Located?

French Louisiana was enormous. It covered most of the land that drained into the Mississippi River. This means it included all the land where water flowed into the Mississippi River.

Its borders stretched far and wide:

• From the Great Lakes in the north.
• All the way down to the Gulf of Mexico in the south.
• From the Appalachian Mountains in the east.
• To the Rocky Mountains in the west.

This made it a very important and large part of North America.

Parts of French Louisiana

French Louisiana was divided into two main parts:

• Upper Louisiana (called la Haute-Louisiane in French). This northern part started north of the Arkansas River. Many French people living here came from Canada.
• Lower Louisiana (called la Basse-Louisiane in French). This was the southern part of the territory.

Today, the U.S. state of Louisiana is named after this historical region. However, the modern state is only a small piece of the much larger area France once claimed.

Images for kids

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  The Mississippi River basin and its smaller rivers.

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  Lower Louisiana is shown in white. The pink area is Canada, which was also part of New France. The brown areas were British colonies before 1736.

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  A map of Louisiana from 1720 by Herman Moll.

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  A map of Louisiana by Christoph Weigel, published in 1734.

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  Jacques Marquette was a French explorer and missionary.

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  Saint Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. New Orleans became the capital of French Louisiana after 1722.

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  The Code Noir was a set of laws about slavery used in Louisiana during the 18th century.

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  Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville was an early governor of Louisiana.

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  A coureur des bois was a French-Canadian fur trader.

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  A profile of an American trapper from Missouri.

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  The back of the Louisiana state quarter from 2002.

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  A map showing the territory of the Louisiana Purchase.

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  This map shows the U.S. states that were part of colonial Louisiana at the time of the Louisiana Purchase.

See also

In Spanish: Luisiana (Nueva Francia) para niños