Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - (Page 58)

P hotographs of archaeological artifacts and illustrations printed here are drawn from a Web site chronicling the history of Los Adaes, a Spanish-colonial fortress in western Louisiana. Los Adaes was once the capital of Texas and the scene of a unique cooperation among the French, the Spanish and the indigenous Native Americans. Los Adaes was located at the edge of the "No Man's Land," an ungoverned territory along the contentious border between the French Louisiana Territory and New Spain. Today Los Adaes is a state historic site located outside Robeline. For more information:www.lastateparks.com/losades/l osadaes.htm or www.crt.state.la.us/ siteexplorer. Unless noted otherwise, all photographs are by Don Sepulvado, courtesy of the Williamson Museum, Northwestern State University, Natchitoches. 58 LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES\Fall 2005 De Soto's claim was superceded nearly 140 years later when ReneRobert Cavalier, the Sieur de la Salle, led his expedition from the New France Colony in present day Canada through the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River. On April 9, 1682, La Salle knelt at the Mississippi Delta and claimed all the land drained by the Mississippi River and its river system on behalf of King Louis XIV of France. He named it La Louisiane, “Land of Louis.” In 1718, France established New Orleans and the Louisiana Colony began to grow, but not as the French government had hoped. Battles with the Natchez and Chickasaw Indian tribes prevented trade from developing as planned. Swamplands and flooding precluded extensive agriculture. By 1762, Louis XV had reached the conclusion that Louisiana was an unnecessary drain to France's finances. He wanted it gone. Meanwhile, the British were claiming more and more control of North America. Spain, concerned about losing territory, didn't want its enemy taking any more of its land. Louisiana, it was thought, would make an excellent buffer between the British encroachment and the Spanish colony ndian t s were ribe encouraged by the Spanish t locat in the st o e rip Runaway slave were s atract by the lack of laws t ed that inhibit their freedom. ed I of Mexico (New Spain). Though advised against it by the Spanish Secretary of State, the Spanish crown agreed to accept Louisiana from France on November 3, 1762, in the secret Treaty of Fontainbleau (later made public in the Treaty of Paris that ended the Seven-Year War). The land ceded to Spain was specified only as the “previously held French territory west of the Mississippi” — a vague delineation at best. The lack of specific geographical reference would prove to be an important omission for all the nations with holdings in North America. For at least three years, Spain did nothing. The people of the former-French, newly-Spanish territory continued to conduct themselves as if they were French subjects. By the late 1760s, Spain’s forceful imposition of its government had the French residents of Louisiana planning to rebel — not for independence, but to return to French rule. Riots and rebellion did not sit well with the Spanish government. On August 18, 1769, General Alejandro O’Reilly and his force of more than 2,000 soldiers entered the city of New Orleans and announced that Spain had officially taken possession of the city. The French flag was struck, http://www.lastateparks.com/losades/losadaes.htm http://www.crt.state.la.us/siteexplorer http://www.lastateparks.com/losades/losadaes.htm http://www.crt.state.la.us/siteexplorer

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 Contents Editor’s Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Louisiana State Museum After Katrina and Rita Tabasco: Edmund McIlhenny and the Birth of a Louisiana Pepper Sauce Historic New Orleans Collection Louisiana Association of Museums New Orleans’ Coffee Connection No Man’s Land Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism Bookstand (Book Review by Thomas Uskali) Sound Advice (Music Review by Ben Sandmel) Forum (Commentary by Roy Blount, Jr. )

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005

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