History of Mississippi - EXPLORATION AND EARLY SETTLEMENTS
The first Europeans who entered the area now known as Mississippi
were from Spain. (See
Spanish
Exploration)
Hernando de
Soto is believed to have led his expedition westward across northern
Mississippi in late 1540. During the
Pontotoc
Battle of 1541,
many of de Soto's expedition were killed due to an
attack from the Chickasaws. As a result of his trek through the wilderness
the Native Americans who populated the area were devestated with disease,
causing their population to drop drasticaly in the years after the
Spainards visit.
In 1564 the King of Spain heard that French
colonists in search of freedom of religion had started a settlement
Fort
Caroline in that part of Spain's territory in the New World known
today as our state of Florida. This was felt as a direct threat to Spain
as they claimed all of North America (although at this time they didn't
know how huge the continent was) as theirs. The Spanish king lost no time
in sending Pedro Menendez and his band of soldiers to wipe out the tiny
French colony. The only protection the French had was a small fort which
they had built on the St. Johns River in Florida. It took no time for the
Spanish warriors to wipe out the small colony and only a few of the French
excaped by sea. The small French colony of Fort Caroline only lasted about
a year. (It should be noted that this was perhaps the beginning of the
fight between Spain, France, and Great Britain over the
"ownership"
of the area that would form the Mississippi Territory. Shortly after the
annilhation of Fort Caroline, Mendez and his Spaniards built the
Fort of St.
Augustine (1565). However, the French effort to enjoy freedom of
belief in the New World made a great impression on both Catholics and
Protestants who were being persecuted for their beliefs and immigration to
the New World thrived.
A period of approximately 130 years (from De
Soto's trek) went by with no further exploration of the inland frontier in
what is now the Deep South. In 1673
Jacques
Marquette and Louis Joliet, French explorers traveled down the
Mississippi River to the mouth of the Arkansas River. They were followed
nine years later by another French explorer
Robert Cavelier
de La Salle, who also traveled down the Mississippi and claimed all
the land drained by the river and its tributaries for France. La Salle
named that vast region Louisiane (in English translated to Louisiana) in
honor of his king, Louis IV. The
Mississippi
River played an important part in the settlement of this wilderness
area.
Soon came French settlers who built forts and communities
along the Gulf Coast from what is now Louisiana to
Florida, including the island "Surgeres", which later became known as
M. de Sauvolle de la Villantray. As a result
Old Biloxi in the area of present-day Ocean Springs
was formed. Biloxi became the first settlement in Louisiana.
You
may wish to read more detail and learn about
Mississippi
as a French Province.
As was before, the new settlers brought
disease to the area as shown by the death of Antoine Lemoyne Sauvolle in
Fort Maurepas on August 22, 1701. See
Yellow Fever
Epidemics in Mississippi
In 1702 Fort Maurepas was abandoned in
favor of a new settlement on the Mobile Bay in present-day Alabama. (See
also
First
Women Colonists.)Mobile
remained the capital and principal settlement of Louisiana until 1722 at
which time the center of government was moved to New Orleans.
The
royal colony of
Louisiana
struggled from its inception. The colonists were cut off from their mother
land of France for years at a time as a result of the fighting between
France and Great Britain during the
War
of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714). France was struggling
financially as a result of the war between France and Great Britain. For
this reason, they basically gave the right to develop the colony of
Louisiana to a wealthy French financier Antoine Crozat.
In 1716
Fort
Rosalie (Natchez
District) was formed, which was on the present-day site of
Natchez.
In 1717 the right to develop the slow-growing colony was
given to the Compagnie d'Occident (Company of
the West or "Western Company"), headed by Scottish financier
John Law. Law
gained great influence at the French court through his establishment of
what became the French national bank. Because the bank invested heavily in
the Company of the West and because Louisiana was the company's greatest
asset, Law needed to develop the colony rapidly to maintain public
confidence in the bank. He undertook a promotional campaign that brought
in several thousand settlers. Several hundred of them settled at or near
Fort Rosalie and along the nearby Gulf Coast.
It was then that John
Law pulled off maybe the first of many "land scams" (known as the
Mississippi
Bubble) in Mississippi's history. Law led potential immigrants to
believe that they would be wealthy and the land awaited them with an
abundance of natural resources. The immigrants were told of quick profits
to be realized from mining and other endeavors that would require little
effort and investment. Upon their arrival they realized a harsh world.
Many died because their basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter were
not met. In fact most of the survivors stayed only because they lacked the
funds to return home. Those who remained survived by the sweat of their
brow, most having only small garden like farms. Many were hunters who not
only provided meat for the family and neighbors, but also traded the fur.
After word of the horrible conditions in which the immigrant colonists
were living reached France, Law's scheme fell apart. The Company of the
West however continued to administer the colony until 1731 when, as a
result of the French war with the
Natchez
Indians, control of Louisiana was turned over again to the King of
France.
See also
Timeline of
Mississippi Territory
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