page_title: Louisiana (New France)
section_title: Lower Louisiana (Basse-Louisiane)
hierarchical_section_title: Louisiana (New France) / Boundaries, settlement and geography / Lower Louisiana (Basse-Louisiane)
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Carte de la Nouvelle-France
context_page_description: Louisiana or French Louisiana was an administrative district of New France. Under French control 1682 to 1762 and 1801 to 1803, the area was named in honor of King Louis XIV, by French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle. It originally covered an expansive territory that included most of the drainage basin of the Mississippi River and stretched from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Appalachian Mountains to the Rocky Mountains.
  Louisiana included two regions, now known as Upper Louisiana, which began north of the Arkansas River, and Lower Louisiana. 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.
  French exploration of the area began during the reign of Louis XIV, but French Louisiana was not greatly developed, due to a lack of human and financial resources. As a result of its defeat in the Seven Years' War, France was forced to cede the east part of the territory in 1763 to the victorious British, and the west part to Spain as compensation for Spain losing Florida.
context_section_description: Lower Louisiana consisted of lands in the Lower Mississippi River watershed, including settlements in what are now the U.S. states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. The French first explored it in the 1660s, and a few trading posts were established in the following years; serious attempt at settlement began with the establishment of Fort Maurepas, near modern Biloxi, Mississippi, in 1699. A colonial government soon emerged, with its capital originally at Mobile, later at Biloxi and finally at New Orleans (in 1722, four years after the city's founding). The government was led by a governor-general, and Louisiana became an increasingly important colony in the early 18th century.
  The earliest settlers of Upper Louisiana mostly came from French Canada, while Lower Louisiana was colonized by people from all over the French colonial empire, with various waves coming from Canada, France, and the French West Indies.
caption: 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)
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "G3300_1740_C37x, 5/24/04, 4:05 PM,  8C, 5384x6416 (168+699), 100%, A.I. Parchment,  1/80 s, R103.6, G93.4, B107.1", "Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image PageName": "5?633450044553750000?141711?0?1?0:700:587?C:\\Documents and Settings\\HP_Owner\\My Documents\\My Pictures\\La Nouvelle France 1.jpg", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop 7.0", "Image DateTime": "2004:07:12 15:40:31", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ReferenceBlackWhite": "[0, 255, 128, 255, 128, 255]", "Image ExifOffset": "398", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "676", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "573"}