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 city		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
Today part of		Canada  United States

Louisiana (French: La Louisiane; La Louisiane française) or French Louisiana was an administrative district of New France. It was under French control 1682 to 1762 and 1801 (nominally) to 1803 when France sold it in the Louisiana Purchase. The area was named after King Louis XIV by French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. The area included most of the drainage basin of the Mississippi River, and it went from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, and it went from the Appalachian Mountains to the Rocky Mountains.

Louisiana included two regions. These regions are now known as Upper Louisiana (la Haute-Louisiane), which began north of the Arkansas River, and Lower Louisiana (la Basse-Louisiane). Most of the French people in Upper Louisiana came from Canada.

The U.S. state of Louisiana is named for the historical region. Although it is only a small part of the vast lands claimed by France.

Images for kids

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  The Mississippi River basin and tributaries

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  Lower Louisiana in the white area – the pink represents Canada – part of Canada below the great lakes was ceded to Louisiana in 1717. Brown represents British colonies (map before 1736)

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  A new map of the north parts of America claimed by France under the names of Louisiana in 1720 by Herman Moll

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  A map of Louisiana by Christoph Weigel, published in 1734

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  Jacques Marquette

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  Saint Louis Cathedral in New Orleans

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  The Code Noir, which was applied in Louisiana during the 18th century and, later, with some modifications, in the West Indies

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  Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, governor of Louisiana in the early 17th century

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  A coureur des bois

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  Profile of an American trapper (Missouri)

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  frameless

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  The Louisiana Purchase territory

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  Map of current U.S. states that were completely or mostly inside the borders of post-1764 colonial Louisiana at the time of Louisiana Purchase

See also

In Spanish: Luisiana (Nueva Francia) para niños