de la slles settlement

René Robert Cavelier

, Sieur de La Salle, established a French settlement on the Texas coast in summer 1685, the result of faulty geography that caused him to believe the Mississippi River emptied into the Gulf of Mexico in the Texas coastal bend.

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What was La Salle's settlement in Texas?

La Salle's Texas Settlement. René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, established a French settlement on the Texas coast in summer 1685, the result of faulty geography that caused him to believe the Mississippi River emptied into the Gulf of Mexico in the Texas coastal bend.

Why did La Salle want to colonize the Mississippi River?

With Spain and France at war, La Salle planned to establish a colony sixty leagues up the river as a base for striking Mexico, afflicting Spanish shipping, and blocking English expansion, while providing a warmwater port for the Mississippi valley fur trade.

Why did La Salle leave Fort Saint Louis?

To maintain the new colony, he sought help from Quebec, but Frontenac had been replaced by a governor hostile to La Salle’s interests, and La Salle received orders to surrender Fort-Saint-Louis. He refused and left North America to appeal directly to the king.

What impact did La Salle have on Spain's settlement of Texas?

The La Salle expedition shifted the focus of Spanish interest from western Texas to eastern Texas. The French began exploring this area, too. Men from La Salle's colony became explorers and set up settlements in the South and Southwest.

What happened to La Salle's colony?

As conditions deteriorated, La Salle realized the colony could survive only with help from the French settlements in Illinois Country to the north, along the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. His last expedition ended along the Brazos River in early 1687, when La Salle and five of his men were murdered during a mutiny.

What did La Salle claim for France?

French explorer, Rene-Robert Cavelier de La Salle, sailed from the Great Lakes up the St. Lawrence River, through the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, to the mouth of the Mississippi River in 1682. There he raised a French flag and claimed all the lands drained by the Mississippi for France.

What did the expedition of La Salle cause the Spanish to do?

With Spain and France at war, La Salle planned to establish a colony sixty leagues up the river as a base for striking Mexico, afflicting Spanish shipping, and blocking English expansion, while providing a warmwater port for the Mississippi valley fur trade.

Who settled in Texas first?

Spanish missionariesContents. Spanish missionaries were the first European settlers in Texas, founding San Antonio in 1718.

Was Texas ever owned by France?

During the period of recorded history from 1519 AD to 1848, all or parts of Texas were claimed by five countries: France, Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, and the United States of America, as well as the Confederacy during the Civil War.

What is La Salle famous for?

He is best known for an early 1682 expedition in which he canoed the lower Mississippi River from the mouth of the Illinois River to the Gulf of Mexico; there, on 9 April 1682, he claimed the Mississippi River basin for France after giving it the name La Louisiane.

What are 3 facts about La Salle?

La Salle built a fort on Lake Ontario in 1673. He started a fur trade that made him a lot of money. Then he built a ship. La Salle sailed across Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan....Quick FactsFull nameRene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La SalleNationalityFrenchOccupation(s)fur trader, explorer3 more rows

Why was La Salle important?

René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, better known as Robert de La Salle, was a French explorer best remembered for sailing the length of the Mississippi River and claiming the lands around it for France, thus creating the territory of Louisiana, which he had named La Louisiane after King Louis XIV.

How did Spain react to La Salle's expedition?

Spain learned of La Salle's mission in 1686. Concerned that the French colony could threaten Spain's control over New Spain and the southern part of North America, the Crown funded multiple expeditions to locate and eliminate the settlement.

How did Spain react to La Salle's expedition?

Spain learned of La Salle's mission in 1686. Concerned that the French colony could threaten Spain's control over New Spain and the southern part of North America, the Crown funded multiple expeditions to locate and eliminate the settlement.

What Indian tribe destroyed Sieur de La Salle's Fort St Louis?

The Indians deserted the village because a recent outbreak of smallpox had killed most of the tribe. In late April, 1689, Léon found the remains of La Salle's settlement, Fort Saint Louis, on Garcitas Creek about five miles above its mouth....Document Number:AJ-019Citable URL:www.americanjourneys.org/aj-019/4 more rows

What did La Salle accomplish?

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle was an explorer best known for leading an expedition down the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. He claimed the region watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries for France and named it Louisiana after King Louis XIV.

Which of the following challenges did La Salle and his colonists encounter when they tried to set up a French colony at the mouth of the Mississippi river?

Which of the following challenges did La Salle and his colonists encounter when they tried to set up a French colony at the mouth of the Mississippi River? i. They were attacked by the Iroquois.

How old was La Salle when he died?

Robert de La Salle was killed in 1687 by his own men in present-day Texas. He was only 43 at that time.

What did Robert La Salle discover?

Robert de La Salle was sometimes credited with being the first European on record to reach the Ohio River. This was proven untrue. He was, however,...

What was Robert de La Salle's main accomplishment?

Robert de La Salle's greatest accomplishment was finding a way down the Illinois and the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. He called the ter...

What was the most important result of La Salle's expedition?

The most important result of de La Salle's expedition was the expansion of the French realm to the mouth of the Mississippi River. The territory wo...

Where did La Salle settle?

LA SALLE'S TEXAS SETTLEMENT. René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, established a French settlement on the Texas coast in summer 1685, the result of faulty geography that caused him to believe the Mississippi River emptied into the Gulf of Mexico in the Texas coastal bend. The settlement on the right bank of Garcitas Creek in southern Victoria County has been called Fort St. Louis, but in fact it had no name, only a description. La Salle himself referred to it as "the habitation on the riviére aux Boeufs [Buffalo River] near the baye Saint-Louis."

How did La Salle leave the colony?

The grueling labor of establishing the colony, combined with exposure, disease, bad treatment, and poor diet, reduced the number of colonists by more than half within six months. From October 1685 to January 1687 La Salle left the colony on three occasions to explore his surroundings. During his first long absence—a journey to the west—his one remaining ship, Belle, was wrecked in Matagorda Bay, leaving the colony marooned. On his final departure, supposedly to seek rescue from his Fort-Saint-Louis-des-Illinois, he left twenty-three men, women, and children, in the colony of six crude structures. The expedition's historian, Henri Joutel, on leaving the settlement with La Salle, declared, "there was only the house . . . , having eight cannon at the four corners, unfortunately without cannonballs," and "when we left, there was nothing else in the nature of a fort." As Joutel reveals, there was never a palisade.

How many people were in the La Salle colony?

In February 1685 La Salle had landed 180 colonists at Matagorda Bay in Spanish-claimed territory. That number included half a dozen young women, two families with a total of seven children, and several youths scarcely out of their teens. The first house to rise on the Garcitas creek bank was a two-story structure of four rooms, built of hewn logs and timbers salvaged from La Salle's wrecked supply ship, Aimable. The roof was of the ship's planking covered with buffalo hides. Although this "main house" served as a lookout post, it was never considered a fort. Recent artists' portrayal notwithstanding, it is nowhere described in the historical record as a blockhouse. Five other houses, quarters for the colonists, had walls of vertical stakes set side by side in the ground and plastered with mud. Roofs were of buffalo hides or thatch. One of these was a chapel, the scene of the first Catholic religious service held in Texas outside the El Paso area. The first European child of record born in Texas is believed to have been christened there.

Who established the French settlement on the Texas coast?

LA SALLE'S TEXAS SETTLEMENT. René Robert Cavelier , Sieur de La Salle, established a French settlement on the Texas coast in summer 1685, the result of faulty geography that caused him to believe the Mississippi River emptied into the Gulf of Mexico in the Texas coastal bend. The settlement on the right bank of Garcitas Creek in southern Victoria County has been called Fort St. Louis, but in fact it had no name, only a description. La Salle himself referred to it as "the habitation on the riviére aux Boeufs [Buffalo River] near the baye Saint-Louis."

What happened to La Salle's expedition?

When the six men deserted La Salle’s expedition on Saint Domingue in 1684, they turned to piratry. After a year of plundering, Spaniards captured them. [13] One of their number, Denis Thomas, attempted to spare himself from the gallows and informed his captors of La Salle’s designs to establish a military settlement along the Mississippi—land Spaniards tenuously claimed as their own. [14] Although La Salle had kept his colonization mission shrouded in secrecy, Thomas had eavesdropped during the trip across the Atlantic. [15] After Spaniards acquired this information for themselves, and after hanging Thomas, they frantically searched for La Salle’s colony for three years. Their searches were unsuccessful and the French threat was written off as the ramblings of a doomed pirate. [16]

What did Sieur de La Salle do for Native Americans?

Sieur de La Salle understood the importance of forging cordial relationships with Native Americans from his experience voyaging down the length of the Mississippi River in 1682. He initially made good progress with the Clamcoehs, a tribe of the Karankawa Indians, when landing on the shores of Matagorda Island. Trouble began when La Salle’s ship Aimable became grounded and split-up in the Bay. Cargo intended to construct Fort Saint-Louis and maintain its inhabitants—clothing, foodstuffs, and tools—dispersed out into the waves.

What did the Spaniards see at Fort Saint Louis?

[19] As Fray Massanet writes, they saw “many dead pigs ….unburied bodies….and a great lot of shattered weapons.” [20] Mission accomplished, De León prepared for his return to New Spain. But before his homecoming, De León learned of ten French nationals, including the Talon children, living among the Indians of the region. De León, could only acquire two of the intruders who voluntarily turned themselves in to the Spanish Don. But a year later, Alonso de León returned to the Fort Saint Louis area to forcibly collect the remaining French living among Native groups. The first two Frenchmen living among the Caddos, came easily. The children living among the Karankawas, less so. Only able to force the Karankawas to bring three of the six children (Marie-Madelaine, Robert, and Lucien Jr. Talon), the well-armed Spanish party offered horses and clothing in exchange for the kids. The Karankawas begrudgingly agreed. Yet after the initial transfer, hostilities broke out.

What did La Salle see after Aimable grounded?

Some days after Aimable grounded, La Salle’s men saw the Clamcoehs with “bolts of Normandy blankets” and other goods from the shipwreck. [1] A small number of hotheaded Frenchmen (unwisely chosen by La Salle) went to the Karankawas’ camp with their weapons on display. The natives promptly fled. In the empty village, the detachment of Europeans reclaimed what the Clamcoehs had salvaged and some additional items more.

Why did the Clamcoehs march to Garcitas Creek?

Eighty-five soldiers followed by a train of Native Americans, missionaries, and a throng of stock animals, marched toward Garcitas Creek in order to destroy Fort Saint-Louis, negligent to the fact that it had already been destroyed. [12]

Why did the Téran Massanet expedition leave crosses in their wake?

The Téran-Massanet expedition weaved through tremendous herds of buffalo and left crudely built crosses in their wake so that any Native American apostates “might resume their conversion and reduction into the bosom of the church.”

Why were the six settlers executed?

The six settlers who deserted the expedition in Saint Domingue ultimately were executed for piracy by the Spanish. The rest of the settlers who now resided in a beautiful country filled with “fields of wildflowers,” an “infinite number of bison,” and “lakes and rivers full of fish,” fared only a little better. [6]

What was the effect of La Salle's entry on the United States?

La Salle's entry also gave the United States leverage, tenuous though it was, to claim Texas as part of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase and gave rise to a protracted border dispute between the United States and Spain that was settled only with the Adams-Onís treaty of 1819.

Who were the Frenchmen who left La Salle?

Among them were La Salle's brother, Abbé Jean Cavelier, Anastase Douay, and Henri Joutel, each of whom later wrote of the expedition. Six other Frenchmen, including two deserters who had reappeared, remained among the East Texas Indians.

What was the significance of the La Salle expedition?

The La Salle expedition, as the first real European penetration of the Texas-Louisiana Gulf shore since Narváez and De Soto , had far-reaching results. Primarily, it shifted the focus of Spanish interest from western Texas—where Juan Domínguez de Mendoza and Fray Nicolás López had urged missions for the Edwards Plateau region—to eastern. Underscoring the Spaniards' own geographical ignorance, it brought a rebirth of Spanish exploration of the northern Gulf shore, which had faltered for almost a century, and advanced the timetable for occupation. Additionally, it established in the minds of the French a claim to Texas that refused to die; thenceforth, until the French were eliminated from colonial rivalry, virtually every Spanish move in Texas and the borderlands came as a reaction to a French threat, real or imagined. La Salle's entry also gave the United States leverage, tenuous though it was, to claim Texas as part of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase and gave rise to a protracted border dispute between the United States and Spain that was settled only with the Adams-Onís treaty of 1819.

How many people were on the La Salle voyage?

This new voyage of four ships and more than 300 people at the start was a follow-up to La Salle's 1682 exploration of the Mississippi from the mouth of the Illinois River to the Gulf of Mexico. Having first departed from La Rochelle on July 24, the fleet was forced to make port at Rochefort for repairs to the Royal Navy escort vessel Joly.

Where did La Salle go in Texas?

As La Salle's Texas settlement rose on Garcitas Creek in what is now Victoria County, La Salle set out to explore the surrounding country. He was absent from the settlement from October 1685 to March 1686, and there is evidence that he traveled far to the west, reaching the Rio Grande and ascending it as far as the site of present-day Langtry. At last realizing that the bay he was on lay west of the Mississippi, he made two easterly marches, to the Hasinai, or Tejas, Indians, hoping to find the river and proceed to his Fort St. Louis of the Illinois. On the second of these he was slain in an ambush by a disenchanted follower, Pierre Duhaut, six leagues from one of the Hasinai villages, on March 19, 1687. The bloodletting, already begun in a hunting camp, claimed the lives of seven others.

Who were the brothers of La Salle?

Among them were La Salle's brother, Abbé Jean Cavelier, Anastase Douay, and Henri Joutel, each of whom later wrote of the expedition.

Who was the leader of the La Salle expedition?

La Salle Expedition. Robert S. Weddle General Entry. La Salle Expedition. René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, sailed from Rochefort, France, on August 1, 1684, to seek the mouth of the Mississippi River by sea. This new voyage of four ships and more than 300 people at the start was a follow-up to La Salle's 1682 exploration ...

Why did La Salle attempt to build Fort Niagara?

La Salle’s attempt failed when the fort accidentally burned to the ground before its completion.

Why did De Brisay build Fort Denonville?

De Brisay built a fort called Fort Denonville (where Fort Niagara stands) to further establish roots in the region, as well as to offer better protection for themselves. During the winter, the Seneca Native Americans surrounded the fort. This forced the French to starve to death without supplies.

Why did La Salle ask to be released from the Jesuit Society?

He asked to be released from the Jesuit Society citing “moral weaknesses.”. The Seminary of St. Sulpice had laid claim to areas on the island of Montreal and was granting land to settlers for protection against the Iroquois. Soon after his arrival, La Salle received a land grant.

Where did the La Salle ship land?

La Salle and the marine commander argued over navigation. One ship was lost to pirates in the West Indies. When the fleet finally landed at Matagorda Bay (near present-day Houston, Texas), they were 500 miles west of their intended destination. There, a second ship sunk and a third headed back to France.

Who Was René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle?

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle was an explorer best known for leading an expedition down the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. He claimed the region watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries for France and named it Louisiana after King Louis XIV. His last expedition to establish fur trading posts failed and cost La Salle his life in 1687.

What did La Salle build?

Though La Salle failed in his last mission, his expeditions built a network of forts from Canada, across the Great Lakes and along the Ohio, Illinois and Mississippi rivers. This defensive front line established the French territory in North America and defined its commercial and diplomatic policy for almost a century.

Why did La Salle travel to France?

La Salle sold his settlement and in 1673 traveled to France to obtain permission from French King Louis XIV to explore the region between Florida, Mexico and New France. By 1677, La Salle had prospered, controlling a large share of the fur trade, but relentless ambition drove him to seek more.

Why was the mission of La Salle suspended?

The mission had to be suspended due to the loss of Le Griffon, most likely in a storm, and a mutiny by the sailors. (La Salle was reputedly callous in his treatment of those he deemed subordinate.) In February 1682, La Salle led a new expedition down the Mississippi River.

How many ships did La Salle have?

On July 24, 1684, La Salle set out for North America with a large contingent of four ships and 300 sailors to establish a French colony on the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Mississippi River and challenge Spanish rule in Mexico. The expedition encountered problems nearly from the start.

Why did La Salle leave the colony?

By the time La Salle left the colony in January 1687 to seek relief, less than 50 colonists remained of the 180 who had landed two years previously. The Little "Fort" that Wasn't. Such was the settlement that has come to be called Fort Saint Louis. In reality, the little colony had no official name.

How did La Salle's colony impact the 17th century?

When the Spanish learned of La Salle's colony, they launched a “search and destroy” expedition to find the intruder and prevent future French claims in New Spain. In the years following, they built a series of presidios, missions, and villas in south Texas as a show of strength and to solidify their claims for Spain.

What is the name of the creek that La Salle fought to establish?

The tranquil Garcitas Creek today belies the dramatic events that played out at the site of La Salle's ill-fated colony. Then known as "Riviere aux Boeufs," in reference to the many buffalo that roamed the grassy prairies, the brackish creek saw French settlers struggling to exist in a foreign wilderness amid hostile natives. Photo courtesy Texas Historical Commission.

Why was La Salle hampered?

La Salle was hampered by inaccurate maps and navigational devices. Karankwa Indians had lived in the coastal area for centuries prior to the arrival of the French. The Indians brutally attacked the settlement in 1689, following a series of misunderstandings and news of the death of the French leader, La Salle.

How many cannons did La Salle have?

It was the remarkable discovery of La Salle's eight cannons that set archeologists from the Texas Historical Commission to work, uncovering the buried secrets of Presidio Nuestra Señora de Loreto de La Bahía on the site of the so-called Fort Saint Louis.

Why did the Spanish build a series of presidios, missions, and villas in south Texas?

In the years following, they built a series of presidios, missions, and villas in south Texas as a show of strength and to solidify their claims for Spain.

Where was the first European settlement?

On a bluff overlooking Garcitas Creek in present-day Victoria County, Texas, lies the site of the earliest European settlement on the entire Gulf coast between Pensacola, Florida, and Tampico, Mexico. Most often called Fort St. Louis, through historical error, this meager outpost came into existence not only as the bitter fruit of one man's vision, ...

What was La Salle's status?

With a grant of land at the western end of Île de Montréal, La Salle acquired at one stroke the status of a seigneur (i.e., landholder) and the opportunities of a frontiersman. The young landlord farmed his land near the Lachine Rapids and, at the same time, set up a fur-trading outpost.

What was La Salle's plan for the Spanish?

He planned to accomplish all this with some 200 Frenchmen, aided by buccaneers and an army of 15,000 Indians —a venture that caused his detractors to question his sanity. But the king saw a chance to harass the Spaniards, with whom he was at war, and approved the project, giving La Salle men, ships, and money.

What did La Salle and Tonty do to help them?

But he had to deny himself the chance to explore it. Hearing that Tonty and his party were in danger, he turned back to aid them. After many vicissitudes, La Salle and Tonty succeeded in canoeing down the Mississippi and reached the Gulf of Mexico.

How did La Salle's expedition end?

The expedition was doomed from the start. It had hardly left France when quarrels arose between La Salle and the naval commander. Vessels were lost by piracy and shipwreck, while sickness took a heavy toll of the colonists. Finally, a gross miscalculation brought the ships to Matagorda Bay in Texas, 500 miles west of their intended landfall. After several fruitless journeys in search of his lost Mississippi, La Salle met his death at the hands of mutineers near the Brazos River. His vision of a French empire died with him.

What did La Salle do to help others?

Proud and unyielding by nature, La Salle tried to bend others to his will and often demanded too much of them, though he was no less hard on himself. After several disappointments, he at last reached the junction of the Illinois with the Mississippi and saw for the first time the river he had dreamed of for so long.

What did La Salle do in 1669?

Having sold his land, La Salle set out in 1669 to explore the Ohio region.

What was La Salle's great scheme of carrying cargo in sailing vessels like the “Griffon” on the lakes?

La Salle’s great scheme of carrying cargo in sailing vessels like the “Griffon” on the lakes and down the Mississippi was frustrated by the wreck of that ship and by the destruction and desertion of Fort-Crèvecoeur on the Illinois River, where a second ship was being built in 1680.