La Salle Claims the Mississippi for France: Louisiana Is Born
He stood knee-deep in muck, claiming a river for a king he'd never meet. La Salle dragged his men through swamps and disease, losing three hundred souls to the heat before they even saw the water's end. They planted a cross on muddy banks and named it Louisiana, a stretch of dirt that would become a nation. Today, you're eating gumbo in New Orleans because he gambled his life on a river nobody else wanted.
April 9, 1682
344 years ago
Key Figures & Places
France
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Mississippi River
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Louisiana
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René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle
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Louisiana (New France)
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René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle
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René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle
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Mississippi River
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Louisiana (New France)
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France
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Louisiana
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History of France
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French colonial empire
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