The Louisiana Purchase and Westward Expansion

The Louisiana Purchase and Westward Expansion — page 5
CHAPTER ONE 1010 EUROPEAN EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT OF LOUISIANA The early history of the land that would become Louisiana is dominated by the French Although the Spanish first explored the region in the 1540s it was the French who later settled it They made it part of their North American colony known as New France which stretched from eastern Canada in the north to the Gulf of Mexico in the south Yet for all the vast territory that France laid claim to in North America New France was never effectively colonized Many permanent communities were founded but the main interest of the mother country was com mercial exploitation especially the fur trade Under French and later Spanish rule all these settlements including Baton Rouge and New Orleans in Louisiana