{{Short description|French ethnic group in the United States}} {{Hatnote|This article refers to the French culture native to [[French Louisiana]] and [[U.S.|U.S. states]] established thereof. For the article only about Creole people from the [[State of Louisiana]], see [[Louisiana Creole people]].}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2023}} {{Infobox ethnic group | group = French Louisianians | native_name = {{native name|fr|Louisianais}} | flag = [[File:Royal flag of France.svg|200px]] | flag_caption = The flag of [[French Louisiana]] | image = | population = Indeterminable | popplace = [[Louisiana (New France)|Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin, California, Texas]]<ref>[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=lou "Louisiana French"], Ethnologue.com Website. Retrieved February 3, 2009</ref> | langs = [[Louisiana French language|Louisiana French]]<br/>[[Louisiana Creole]]<br/>[[Cajun English]]<br/>[[Missouri French]]<br/>[[Isleño Spanish]] (in Louisiana)<br/>[[Franglais]] | rels = [[Roman Catholic]] | related = [[Cajuns]], [[Louisiana Creole people|Louisiana Creoles]], [[Alabama Creole people|Alabama Creoles]], [[Arkansas Creoles]], [[French Americans]], [[French-Canadian Americans]], [[Haitians]], [[Latin Americans]] }} '''French Louisianians''' ({{langx|fr|link=no|Louisianais}}; {{langx|es|Luisianenses Franceses}}), also known as '''Louisiana French'''<ref name="southwesternjournalofeducation">{{cite book |title=Southwestern Journal of Education, Volume 9|year=1891|publisher=Wheeler & Osborn|location=United States of America|pages=11}}</ref><ref name="louisianauniqueplaces">{{cite book |title=Louisiana Off the Beaten Path, A Guide to Unique Places|author=Jackie Sheckler Finch, Gay N. Martin|year=2015|pages=69}}</ref> or '''French Creoles''' (French: ''Créoles''),<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.lameca.org/dossiers/new_orleans_creole/eng/p1.htm |title=Médiathèque Caraïbe (Lameca) - the creole people of New Orleans - 1. The Term "Creole" in Louisiana : An Introduction (By Kathe Managan) |access-date=December 8, 2022 |archive-date=December 4, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204035007/http://www.lameca.org/dossiers/new_orleans_creole/eng/p1.htm |url-status=dead }}, lameca.org. Retrieved December 5, 2013</ref><ref name="Creoles">Bernard, Shane K, [http://www.knowla.org/entry.php?rec=627 "Creoles"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612024149/http://www.knowla.org/entry.php?rec=627 |date=June 12, 2011 }}, "KnowLA Encyclopedia of Louisiana". Retrieved October 19, 2011</ref> refer to people of [[French Americans|French-American]] ethnicity native to the areas of the [[United States]] formerly comprising the [[colony]] of [[French Louisiana]]. Distinct regional subgroups include the [[Alabama Creole people|Alabama Creoles]] (including [[Alabama Cajans]]), [[Arkansas Creoles]], [[Louisiana Creole people|Louisiana Creoles]] (including [[Louisiana Cajuns]]), and the [[Missouri French]] (Illinois Country Creoles).
==Etymology== [[Image:Louisiana Territory versus current US States.png|left|thumb|States established from [[French Louisiana]].]] The term ''Créole'' was originally used by [[French Americans|French settlers]] in [[North America]] to distinguish people born in [[French Louisiana]] from those born elsewhere, thus drawing a distinction between [[Old World|Old-World]] [[European people|Europeans]] and [[Africans]] from their Creole descendants born in the [[Viceroyalty of New France]].<ref name="Managan">Kathe Managan, [http://www.lameca.org/dossiers/new_orleans_creole/eng/p1.htm The Term "Creole" in Louisiana : An Introduction] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204035007/http://www.lameca.org/dossiers/new_orleans_creole/eng/p1.htm |date=December 4, 2013 }}, lameca.org. Retrieved December 5, 2013</ref><ref name="Creoles"/> The term '''Louisanese''' ({{langx|fr|link=no|Louisianais}}) was used as a [[demonym]] for Louisiana French people prior to the integration of the [[Louisiana Territory]], but fell into disuse after the [[Orleans Territory]] gained admission into the American Union as the '''[[State of Louisiana]]''':
"The elegant olive-browned '''Louisianese'''- the rosy-cheeked maiden from ''[[Ohio|La belle riviere]]'' (La Belle Rivière is the native Louisiana French name for Ohio)..."<ref name="josephholtingraham">{{cite book |title=The South-west, Volume 1|author=Joseph Holt Ingraham|year=1835|location=United States of America|pages=210}}</ref>
==Louisiana French Language== [[File:Signalisation_routière_bilingue_à_l'entrée_de_la_Louisiane.jpg|thumb|upright=1|The [[State of Louisiana]]'s welcome sign.]] {{further|Louisiana French|Louisiana Creole|Missouri French}} The Louisiana French speak similar [[Varieties of French|dialects of French]], with regional varieties including [[Louisiana French|Lower Louisiana French]], [[Missouri French|Upper Louisiana French]], and [[Louisiana Creole]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Abney |first=Lisa |title=The linguistic Survey of North Louisiana: History and Progress |date=2019-08-15 |work=Language in Louisiana |pages=203–226 |url=https://academic.oup.com/mississippi-scholarship-online/book/34136/chapter/289440894 |access-date=2026-05-20 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |language=en |doi=10.14325/mississippi/9781496823854.003.0013 |isbn=978-1-4968-2385-4}}</ref>
==Alabama Creoles== {{further|Alabama Creole people|Mississippian culture}} [[File:Fort louis de la mobile.gif|left|thumb|upright=0.8|Fort Louis de la Mobile]] In early 1702, a party of French adventurers led by [[Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville]] moved from [[Fort Maurepas]] in [[Biloxi]], Mississippi to a wooded bluff on the west bank of the [[Mobile River]]. There they founded [[Old Mobile Site|Mobile]], which they named after the Maubilian Nation. The outpost was populated by French soldiers, [[French Canadians|French-Canadian]] [[Trapping|trappers]] and [[Fur trade|fur traders]], and a few [[Merchant|merchants]] and [[Artisan|artisans]] accompanied by their families. There the French had easy access to the Indigenous fur trade, and furs were Mobile's primary economic resource throughout its early history. Along with fur, some settlers also raised [[cattle]] and harvested timber for shipbuilding and the production of [[naval stores]].<ref name="meltonmclaurin">{{cite book |title=Mobile the life and times of a great Southern city|author=Melton McLaurin, Michael Thomason|year=1981|edition=1st|publisher=Windsor Publications|location=United States of America|pages=12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41. 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 88, 92, 105, 119, 120, 123}}</ref>
[[File:Mobile Cathedral, East view 20160712 1.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1|The [[Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception (Mobile, Alabama)|Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception]] in [[Mobile, Alabama]]]] [[File:ChoctawBelle.jpg|left|thumb|upright=0.6|Portrait of a [[Choctaw]] Woman from [[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile]]]] Indigenous nations gathered annually at Mobile to be received by the French, who offered them [[food]], [[drink]], and [[Gift|presents]]. During this time, as many as 2,000 [[Mobila]] would visit and could stay for as long as two weeks. Because of the close and friendly relationship between colonial French and Indigenous peoples, French colonists learned the Indigenous [[Lingua franca]] of the area, the [[Mobilian Jargon]], and intermarried with Indigenous women.<ref name="meltonmclaurin" />
In the 18th century, Mobile was a [[frontier]] on which a diverse array of peoples interacted: continental Frenchmen, French-Canadians, and various Indigenous peoples all mingled. Unusual in the context of early [[History of the United States|American history]], the greatest source of division between these groups and the one that most often resulted in violent conflict was not that which existed between the Europeans and the natives, as was most often in the [[British America|English settlement]], but amongst the Europeans themselves. The differences between continental Frenchmen and French-Canadians were so great that serious disputes occurred between the two groups.<ref name="meltonmclaurin" />
By the end of the [[17th century]], the French had begun to import [[History of slavery in Louisiana|African slaves]] into their mainland American colonies. In 1721, the first slaves arrived in Mobile, introducing elements of African and [[West Indies|West Indian]] French Creole culture, as many of the slaves who came to Mobile worked in the French West Indies. In 1724, the ''[[Code Noir]]'', a slave code based on [[Slavery in ancient Rome|ancient Roman laws]], was instituted in French colonies which allowed slaves a degree of legal and religious rights not found in those of either the British colonies or the United States.<ref name="meltonmclaurin" /> Under the ''Code Noir,'' ''[[Free people of color|affranchis]]'' (ex-slaves) were entitled to full citizenship and complete civil equality with other French subjects.
By the mid-[[18th century]], Mobile was populated by West Indian French Creoles, European Frenchmen, French-Canadians, Africans, and Indigenous people. Nevertheless, the practice of [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]] was widespread and largely transcended racial, ethnic, economic, and cultural boundaries. The town's inhabitants included a garrison of 50 soldiers and a mixed population of approximately 400 civilians including merchants, laborers, fur traders, artisans, and slaves. The descendants of this diverse group of people are called Creoles.<ref name="meltonmclaurin" />
===Mobile Alabama, the Athens of the South=== {{further|Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama}} [[File:Mobile Carnival Museum 02.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|The [[Mobile Carnival Museum]] in [[Mobile, Alabama]]. [[Mardi Gras]] traditions began in Mobile.]] Mobile contained approximately 40% of all of Alabama's free black population. Mobile's free people of color were known as the Creoles, a distinct group with it own schools, churches, fire company, and social organizations. Many Creoles were the descendants of free blacks at the time of Mobile's capture by American forces, and who retained their freedoms by treaty and treated by the American government as a unique people. Other Creoles were blood relatives of white Mobilians including those of prominent families.<ref name="meltonmclaurin" />
In the mid-19th century, Mobile grew prosperous. This is reflected in the nickname it would acquired around this time: "the Athens of the South." Immigrants from continental Europe and elsewhere in the United States arrived in growing number. By 1860, Mobile's population had grown to 30,000.<ref name="meltonmclaurin" />
[[File:Jacques Amans, Creole in a red headdress (Historic New Orleans Coll 2010.0306).jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.7|[[Jacques Amans]], ''Creole in a red headdress'' (c. 1840)]] In 1844, a Northern visitor described the city of Mobile as such: {{blockquote|"...clerks of all shapes and sizes, white and red haired men, staid thinking men and brainless flops. Here goes a staid, demeure-faced priest and behind him is a dashing gambler... Here is a sailor just on shore with a pocket full of rocks ready for devilment of any kind and there is a beggar in rags. '''Pretty Creoles''', pale-faced sewing girls, painted vice, big-headed and little-headed men, tall anatomies and short Falstaffs... a great country this is and make no mistake."<ref name="meltonmclaurin" />}}
Mobile was known for its society life. The town was home to a number of [[Social club|social clubs]], [[Gentlemen's club|gentlemen's clubs]], militia units, and other organizations that sponsored balls. A January 8th ball to commemorate the [[Battle of New Orleans]] was among the highlights of the [[social season]], as were [[Cotillion]] balls staged by private clubs.<ref name="meltonmclaurin" />
Spectating and [[Betting on horse racing|betting]] on [[Horse racing|horse races]] was an especially common pastime in 19th century Mobile and popular across all [[Social class|classes]] of [[society]]. [[The Mobile Jockey Club]] offered Mobilians the ability to place a bet on their favorite steeds. Cockfighting also became popular during the 1840s and 1850s.<ref name="meltonmclaurin" />
Like [[New Orleans]], Mobile was home to a vibrant theater scene. Blacks attended Mobile's theaters, and Mobilians were able to experience various plays and works by Shakespeare, contemporary comedies, and farce shows.<ref name="meltonmclaurin" />
'''[[Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama|Mardi Gras]]''' became of great importance as [[Mystic society|mystic societies]] began putting on masked parades with bands, floats, and horses after members attended grand balls. Elaborate floats depicted images of the ancient world. In 1841 Cowbellion's floats of Greek gods were described as "one of the most gorgeous and unique spectacles that was ever beheld in modern times."<ref name="meltonmclaurin" />
The Catholic community of primarily French Creole descent remained numerous and influential. In 1825, the Catholic community began the 15-year construction of the [[Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception (Mobile, Alabama)|Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception]]. For most of the antebellum era, friction between Protestants and Catholics was practically non-existent.<ref name="meltonmclaurin" />
The Creoles of Mobile built a Catholic school run by and for Creoles. Mobilians supported several literary societies, numerous book stores, and number of book and music publishers.<ref name="meltonmclaurin" />
==Arkansas Creoles== {{further|Quapaw|Métis|Arkansas Creoles}} [[File:Quapaw BH P6220180.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1|The [[Bathhouse Row|Quapaw Bathhouse]], [[State of Arkansas]].]] [[File:Robe dite aux trois villages, Qwapah, Arkansas, Musée du quai Branly.jpg|left|upright=0.7|thumb|Quapaw "Three Villages" Robe, Arkansas, 18th century. [[Musée du quai Branly]]]] The Quapaw reached their historical territory, the area of the [[confluence]] of the [[Arkansas River|Arkansas]] and [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]] rivers, at least by the mid-17th century. The Illinois and other [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]]-speaking peoples to the northeast referred to these people as the ''{{lang|mia|Akansea}}'' or ''{{lang|mia|Akansa}}'', referring to geography and meaning "land of the downriver people". As French explorers [[Jacques Marquette]] and [[Louis Jolliet]] encountered and interacted with the Illinois before they did the Quapaw, they adopted this [[exonym]] for the more westerly people. In their language, they referred to them as ''Arcansas''. English-speaking settlers who arrived later in the region adopted the name used by the French, and adapted it to English spelling conventions.
The '''Arkansas Post''' ({{langx|fr|Poste de Arkansea}}; {{langx|es|Puesto de Arkansas}}), officially the [[Arkansas Post National Memorial]], was the first [[European colonization of the Americas|European settlement]] located along the [[Mississippi River]], in the [[Mississippi Alluvial Plain]], and in the present-day [[U.S. state]] of [[Arkansas]]. In 1686, [[Henri de Tonti]] established it on behalf of [[Louis XIV|Louis XIV of France]] for the purpose of trading with the [[Quapaw|Quapaw Nation]].<ref name="enc">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Arkansas Post |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Arkansas]] |publisher=[[Central Arkansas Library System|The Butler Center]] |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/arkansas-post-3/ |access-date=March 19, 2012 |last=DuVal |first=Kathleen |date=May 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210425195209/https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/arkansas-post-3/ |archive-date=2021-04-25}}</ref>
During the [[fur trade]] years, Arkansas Post was protected by a series of fortifications. The forts and associated settlements were located at four known sites and possibly a fifth.
The [[Kingdom of France|French]], [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]], and [[Americans]], who acquired the territory in 1803 with the [[Louisiana Purchase]], considered the site of strategic value. It was the capital of [[Arkansas Territory|Arkansas]] from 1819 until 1821 when the territorial government relocated to [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]].
''[[Écore Fabre]]'' (Fabre's Bluff) was started as a trading post by the Frenchman Fabre and was one of the first European settlements in south-central Arkansas. While the area was nominally ruled by the Spanish from 1763 to 1789, following French defeat in the [[Seven Years' War]], they did not have many colonists in the area and did not interfere with the French. The United States acquired the [[Louisiana Purchase]] in 1803, which stimulated migration of English-speaking settlers to this area. They renamed ''Écore Fabre'' as [[Camden, Arkansas|Camden]].
During years of colonial rule of [[New France]], many of the ethnic French fur traders and ''[[voyageurs]]'' had an amicable relationship with the Quapaw, as they did with many other trading tribes.<ref>{{cite book | last=Havard| first=Gilles | title=Histoire de l'Amérique française | publisher= Flamarion| location=Paris| year = 2003 }}</ref> Many Quapaw women and French men married and had families together, creating a ''métis'' ([[Métis|mixed French and Indigenous]]) population known as [[Arkansas Creoles]]. [[Pine Bluff, Arkansas]], for example, was founded by [[Joseph Bonne]], a man of [[métis|Quapaw-French ''métis'']] ancestry.
==Indiana French== {{More citations needed|section|date=June 2023}} [[File:Natives guiding french explorers through indiana.jpg|thumb|Native Americans guide French explorers through Indiana, as depicted by [[Maurice Thompson]] in ''Stories of Indiana''.]]
In 1679, French explorer [[René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle]] was the first European to cross into Indiana after reaching present-day [[South Bend, Indiana|South Bend]] at the [[St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan)|St. Joseph River]].<ref>Allison, p. 17.</ref> He returned the following year to learn about the region. French-Canadian [[fur trade]]rs soon arrived, bringing blankets, jewelry, tools, whiskey and weapons to trade for skins with the Native Americans.
By 1702, [[Louis Juchereau de St. Denis|Sieur Juchereau]] established the first trading post near [[Vincennes, Indiana|Vincennes]]. In 1715, [[Jean-Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes|Sieur de Vincennes]] built [[Fort Miami (Indiana)|Fort Miami]] at [[Kekionga]], now [[Fort Wayne]]. In 1717, another Canadian, [[Picote de Beletre]], built [[Fort Ouiatenon]] on the [[Wabash River]], to try to control Native American trade routes from [[Lake Erie]] to the [[Mississippi River]].
In 1732, Sieur de Vincennes built a second fur trading post at Vincennes. French settlers, who had left the earlier post because of hostilities, returned in larger numbers. In a period of a few years, British colonists arrived from the East and contended against the French for control of the lucrative fur trade. Fighting between the French and British colonists occurred throughout the 1750s as a result.
The Native American tribes of Indiana sided with [[New France]] during the [[French and Indian War]] (also known as the [[Seven Years' War]]). With Britain's victory in 1763, the French were forced to cede to the British crown all their lands in North America east of the Mississippi River and north and west of the [[Thirteen Colonies|colonies]].
==Louisiana Creoles== {{further|Louisiana Creole people}}
===Lower Louisiana=== {{Main|Louisiana (New France)}}
[[File:Nouvelle-France map-en.svg|thumb|right|340px|Map of North America in 1750, before the [[French and Indian War]] (part of the international [[Seven Years' War]] (1756 to 1763)). Possessions of Britain (pink), France (blue), and Spain (orange).]]
Through both the French and Spanish (late 18th century) regimes, parochial and colonial governments used the term Creole for ethnic French and Spanish people born in the [[New World]] as opposed to Europe. Parisian French was the predominant language among colonists in early New Orleans.
Later the regional French evolved to contain local phrases and slang terms. The French Creoles spoke what became known as [[Colonial French]]. Because of isolation, the language in the colony developed differently from that in France. It was spoken by the ethnic French and Spanish and their Creole descendants.
The commonly accepted definition of Louisiana Creole today is a person descended from ancestors in Louisiana before the [[Louisiana Purchase]] by the United States in 1803.<ref name="Managan"/> An estimated 7,000 European immigrants settled in Louisiana during the 18th century, one percent of the number of European colonists in the Thirteen Colonies along the Atlantic coast. Louisiana attracted considerably fewer French colonists than did its West Indian colonies.
After the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, which lasted more than two months, the colonists had numerous challenges ahead of them in the Louisiana frontier. Their living conditions were difficult: uprooted, they had to face a new, often hostile, environment, with difficult climate and tropical diseases. Many of these immigrants died during the maritime crossing or soon after their arrival.
[[Hurricane]]s, unknown in France, periodically struck the coast, destroying whole villages. The [[Mississippi Delta]] was plagued with periodic [[yellow fever]] epidemics. Europeans also brought the Eurasian diseases of [[malaria]] and [[cholera]], which flourished along with mosquitoes and poor sanitation. These conditions slowed colonization. Moreover, French villages and forts were not always sufficient to protect from enemy offensives. Attacks by Native Americans represented a real threat to the groups of isolated colonists.
The [[Natchez people|Natchez]] massacred 250 colonists in Lower Louisiana in retaliation for encroachment by French settlers. The Natchez warriors took [[Fort Rosalie]] (now [[Natchez, Mississippi]]) by surprise, killing many settlers. During the next two years, the French attacked the Natchez in return, causing them to flee or, when captured, be [[deportation|deported]] as slaves to their Caribbean colony of [[Saint-Domingue]] (later Haiti).
In the colonial period of French and Spanish rule, men tended to marry later after becoming financially established. French settlers frequently took Native American women as their wives (see [[Marriage 'à la façon du pays']]), and as slaves began to be imported into the colony, settlers also took African wives. Intermarriage between the different groups of Louisiana created a large [[free people of color|multiracial Creole population]].
====Engagés and Casquette Girls==== {{further|Engagé#White Indentured Servitude in Louisiana|Casquette girl}} [[File:The Arrival of the French Girls at Quebec, 1667 - C.W. Jefferys.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Casquette girl]]s, or [[King's Daughters|Filles du Roi]] were girls sent to [[Louisiana (New France)|New France]] as wives for colonists. In Louisiana, they became known as '''Pelican girls'''.{{refneeded|date=March 2024}}]] Aside from French government representatives and soldiers, colonists included mostly young men who were recruited in French ports or in Paris. Some labored as ''[[engagé]]s'' (indentured servants), i.e. "temporary semi-slaves"; they were required to remain in Louisiana for a length of time, fixed by the contract of service, to pay back the cost of passage and board. Engagés in Louisiana generally worked for seven years, and their masters provided them housing, food, and clothing. They were often housed in barns and performed hard labor.<ref name="manieculbertson">{{cite book |title=Louisiana: The Land and Its People|author=Manie Culbertson|year=1981|publisher=Pelican Publishing|location=United States of America|pages=88}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199730414/obo-9780199730414-0113.xml |title=Atlantic Indentured Servitude|website=Oxford Bibliographies|access-date=November 4, 2022}}</ref>
Starting in 1698, French merchants were obliged to transport a number of men to the colonies in proportion to the ships' tonnage. Some of the men brought over were engaged on three-year indenture contracts under which the contract-holder would be responsible for their "vital needs" as well as provide a salary at the end of the contract term.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mauro |first=Frédéric |chapter-url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-94-009-4354-4_5 |title=Colonialism and Migration; Indentured Labour Before and After Slavery |date=1986 |publisher=Springer Netherlands |isbn=978-94-010-8436-9 |editor-last=Emmer |editor-first=P. C. |location=Dordrecht, Netherlands |pages=89–90 |language=en |chapter=French indentured servants for America, 1500–1800 |doi=10.1007/978-94-009-4354-4_5}}</ref> Under [[John Law's Company]], efforts to increase the use of ''engagés'' in the colony were made, notably including German settlers whose contracts were absolved when the company went bankrupt in 1731.<ref>{{Cite web |title=German Settlers in Louisiana and New Orleans |url=https://www.hnoc.org/research/german-settlers-louisiana-and-new-orleans |access-date=2022-11-08 |website=The Historic New Orleans Collection}}</ref>
During this time, to increase the colonial population, the government also recruited young Frenchwomen, known as ''[[Casquette girl|filles à la cassette]]'' (in English, ''casket girls'', referring to the casket or case of belongings they brought with them) to go to the colony to be wed to colonial soldiers. The king financed dowries for each girl. (This practice was similar to events in 17th-century Quebec: about 800 ''[[filles du roi]]'' (daughters of the king) were recruited to immigrate to [[New France]] under the monetary sponsorship of [[Louis XIV]].)
In addition, French authorities deported some female criminals to the colony. For example, in 1721, the ship ''La Baleine'' brought close to 90 women of childbearing age from the prison of [[Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital|La Salpêtrière]] in Paris to Louisiana. Most of the women quickly found husbands among the male residents of the colony. These women, many of whom were most likely prostitutes or felons, were known as ''The Baleine Brides''.<ref>''National Genealogical Society Quarterly,'' December 1987; vol.75, number 4: "The Baleine Brides: A Missing Ship's Roll for Louisiana"</ref> Such events inspired ''[[Manon Lescaut]]'' (1731), a novel written by the [[Abbé Prévost]], which was later adapted as an opera in the 19th century.
Historian Joan Martin maintains that there is little documentation that casket girls (considered among the ancestors of French Creoles) were transported to Louisiana. (The Ursuline order of nuns, who were said to chaperone the girls until they married, have denied the casket girl myth as well.) Martin suggests this account was mythical. The system of [[plaçage]] that continued into the 19th century resulted in many young white men having women of color as partners and mothers of their children, often before or even after their marriages to white women.<ref>Joan M. Martin, ''Plaçage and the Louisiana Gens de Couleur Libre,'' in [[Louisiana Creole|Creole]], edited by Sybil Kein, Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, 2000.</ref> French Louisiana also included communities of Swiss and German settlers; however, royal authorities did not refer to "Louisianans" but described the colonial population as "French" citizens.
====People of mixed French and Indigenous ancestry in Louisiana==== {{further|Métis|Choctaw|Mobilian Jargon|Mississippian culture}} [[File:PushmatahaVsTecumseh.jpg|thumb|left|[[Métis|French Indian]] chieftains of Louisiana.]] [[File:Louisiana Indians Walking Along a Bayou - Alfred Boisseau (New Orleans Mus of Art 56.34).jpg|thumb|right|Louisiana Indians walking along a bayou ([[Alfred Boisseau]], 1847)]]
New France wished to make Native Americans subjects of the king and good Christians, but the distance from Metropolitan France and the sparseness of French settlement prevented this. In official [[rhetoric]], the Native Americans were regarded as subjects of the [[Viceroyalty of New France]], but in reality, they were largely autonomous due to their numerical superiority. The local authorities of New France (governors, officers) did not have the human resources to establish French law and customs, and instead often compromised with the Indigenous people.
Indigenous nations offered essential support for the French: they ensured the survival of the New France's colonists, participated with them in the fur trade, and acted as guides in expeditions. The French alliance with Indigenous nations also provided mutual protection from hostile [[American Indian Wars|non-allied tribes]] and incursions on French and Indigenous peoples' land from enemy [[European colonization of the Americas|European powers]]. The French and Indigenous alliance proved invaluable during the later [[French and Indian War]] against the [[New England|New England colonies]] in 1753.<ref name="indianhistory">{{cite book |title=A Companion to American Indian History|author= Philip J. Deloria, Neal Salisbury|year=2004|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|pages=60 }}</ref>
The French & Indigenous peoples influenced each other in many fields: the French settlers learned the languages of the natives, such as [[Mobilian Jargon]], a [[Choctaw language|Choctaw-based]] Creole language that served as a trade language in use among the French and various Indigenous nations in the region. Indigenous people bought European goods (fabric, alcohol, firearms, etc.), learned French, and sometimes adopted their religion.
The ''coureurs des bois'' and soldiers borrowed canoes and moccasins. Many of them ate native food such as wild rice and various meats, like bear and dog. The colonists were often dependent on the Native Americans for food. [[Creole cuisine]] is the heir of these mutual influences: thus, ''sagamité'', for example, is a mix of corn pulp, bear fat and bacon. Today [[jambalaya]], a word of [[Seminole]] origin, refers to a multitude of recipes calling for meat and rice, all very spicy. Sometimes [[shamanism|shamans]] succeeded in curing the colonists thanks to traditional remedies, such as the application of fir tree gum on wounds and [[Osmunda spectabilis|Royal Fern]] on rattlesnake bites.
Many French colonists both admired and feared the military power of the Native Americans, though some governors from France scorned their culture and wanted to keep racial purity between the whites and Indigenous people.<ref name="danielrayot">{{cite book |title=Divided Loyalties in a Doomed Empire: The French in the West : from New France to the Lewis and Clark Expedition|author= Daniel Royot|year=2007|publisher=University of Delaware Press|pages=122 }}</ref> In 1735, interracial marriages without the approval of the authorities were prohibited in Louisiana. However, by the 1750s in New France, the idea of the Native Americans became one of the "Noble Savage," that Indigenous people were spiritually pure and played an important role in the natural purity of the New World. Native Americans did marry French settlers, with Indigenous women being consistently considered as good wives to foster trade and help create offspring. Their intermarriage created a large ''métis'' ([[Métis|mixed French and Indigenous]]) population in New France.<ref name="raceandethnicity">{{cite book |title=Race and Ethnicity in America: From Pre-contact to the Present [4 volumes]|author=Alan Taylor|year=2019|publisher=ABC-CLIO|pages=81, 82 }}</ref>
In spite of some disagreements (some Indigenous people killed farmers' pigs, which devastated corn fields), and sometimes violent confrontations ([[Fox Wars]], Natchez uprisings, and [[Chickasaw Wars|expeditions against the Chicachas]]), the relationship with the Native Americans was relatively good in Louisiana. French imperialism was expressed through some wars and the slavery of some Native Americans. But most of the time, the relationship was based on dialogue and negotiation.
====Africans in Louisiana==== {{further|History of slavery in Louisiana|Code Noir|Bambara people}} [[File:A Creole Mistress and her slaves.jpg|thumb|left|Africans contributed greatly to the creolization of Louisiana.]] [[File:Okra in a Bowl (Unsplash).jpg|thumb|right|Africans brought [[okra]] to Louisiana.]] [[File:Woman In Tignon.jpg|right|thumb|[[New Orleans]] Creole lady wearing a traditional [[tignon]].|upright=0.8]] Inability to find labor was the most pressing issue in Louisiana. In 1717, [[John Law (economist)|John Law]], the French Comptroller General of Finances, decided to import African slaves into Louisiana. His objective was to develop the [[plantation economy]] of Lower Louisiana. [[John Law's Company]] held a monopoly over the [[History of slavery|slave trade]] in the area. The colonists turned to [[Slavery in the colonial United States|sub-Saharan African slaves]] to make their investments in Louisiana profitable. In the late 1710s the [[Atlantic slave trade|transatlantic slave trade]] imported slaves into the colony. This led to the biggest shipment in 1716 where several trading ships appeared with slaves as cargo to the local residents in a one-year span.
Between 1723 and 1769, most slaves imported to Louisiana were from modern day Senegal, Mali and [[Congo Basin|Congo]]. A large number of the imported slaves from the Senegambia region were members of the [[Wolof people|Wolof]] and [[Bambara people|Bambara]] ethnic groups.<ref name="Roots">{{Cite news|url=https://tracingafricanroots.wordpress.com/2015/09/25/louisiana-most-african-diversity-within-the-united-states/|title=Louisiana: most African diversity within the United States?|date=September 25, 2015|work=Tracing African Roots|access-date=2017-09-27|language=nl-NL}}</ref> During the [[Louisiana (New Spain)|Spanish control of Louisiana]], between 1770 and 1803, most of the slaves still came from the Congo and the Senegambia region but they also imported more slaves from modern-day Benin.<ref name="Hall">{{cite book | last=Hall | first=Gwendolyn Midlo |authorlink= Gwendolyn Midlo Hall | year=1995 | title=Africans in Colonial Louisiana: The Development of Afro-Creole Culture in the Eighteenth Century | publisher= Louisiana State University Press | page=58}}</ref> Other ethnic groups imported during this period included members of the [[Nago people]], a [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]] subgroup.<ref name="histoleg">{{cite book|title=Creole: The History and Legacy of Louisiana's Free People of Color |chapter=The Origin of Louisiana Creole |first=Fehintola |last=Mosadomi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HSKsSihlN7IC |pages=233 |editor-first=Sybil |editor-last=Kein |year=2000 |publisher=Louisiana State University Press |location=Baton Rouge, Louisiana |isbn=0807126012 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
In Louisiana, the term ''Bambara'' was used as a generic term for African slaves. European traders used ''Bambara'' as a term for defining vaguely a region of ethnic origin. Muslim traders and interpreters often used ''Bambara'' to indicate Non-Muslim captives. Slave traders would sometimes identify their slaves as ''Bambara'' in hopes of securing a higher price, as Bambara slaves were sometimes characterized as being more passive.{{sfn|Mosadomi|2000|pp=228–229}}<ref name="routestoslavery">{{Cite book |title=Routes to Slavery: Direction, Ethnicity and Mortality in the Transatlantic Slave Trade|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|author=David Eltis, David Richardson|pages=102–105|isbn=9781136314667 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gZYQoLku53oC|via=Google Books}}</ref> Further confusing the name's indication of ethnic, linguistic, religious, or other implications, the concurrent [[Bambara Empire]] had notoriety for its practice of [[Slavery in Africa|slave-capturing]] wherein Bambara soldiers would raid neighbors and capture the young men of other ethnic groups, forcibly assimilate them, and turn them into slave soldiers known as ''Ton''. The Bambara Empire depended on war-captives to replenish and increase its numbers; many of the people who called themselves ''Bambara'' were indeed not ethnic Bambara.<ref name="routestoslavery"/>
Africans contributed to the creolization of Louisiana society. They brought [[okra]] from Africa, a plant common in the preparation of [[gumbo]]. While the ''[[Code Noir]]'' required that the slaves receive a Christian education, many practiced [[animism]] and often combined elements of the two faiths. The ''Code Noir'' also conferred ''[[Free people of color|affranchis]]'' (ex-slaves) full citizenship and gave complete civil equality with other French subjects.<ref name="carlbrasseauxglennconrad">{{Cite book |title=The Road to Louisiana: The Saint-Domingue Refugees, 1792–1809 |date=1992 |publisher=Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Southwestern Louisiana |isbn=0-940984-76-8 |editor-last=Brasseaux |editor-first=Carl A. |editor-link=Carl A. Brasseaux |location=Lafayette, Louisiana |oclc=26661772 |editor-last2=Conrad |editor-first2=Glenn R. |editor-link2=Glenn R. Conrad}}</ref>
Louisiana slave society generated its own distinct Afro-Creole culture that was present in religious beliefs and the [[Louisiana Creole]] language.<ref>{{Cite web|title=From Benin to Bourbon Street: A Brief History of Louisiana Voodoo|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/from-benin-to-bourbon-street-a-brief-history-of-louisiana-voodoo/|access-date=2020-10-28|website=Vice.com|date=October 5, 2014 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The True History and Faith Behind Voodoo|url=http://www.frenchquarter.com/true-history-faith-behind-voodoo/|access-date=2020-10-28|website=FrenchQuarter.com|language=en-US}}</ref> The slaves brought with them their cultural practices, languages, and religious beliefs rooted in spirit and [[ancestor worship]], as well as Roman Catholic Christianity—all of which were key elements of [[Louisiana Voodoo]].<ref name="Hall" /> In addition, in the early nineteenth century, many [[Saint-Domingue Creoles]] also settled in Louisiana, both free people of color and slaves, following the [[Haitian Revolution]], contributing to the Voodoo tradition of the state. During the American period (1804–1820), almost half of the slaves came from the [[Congo Basin|Congo]].<ref name="whitneyplantation">{{Cite web|url=http://www.whitneyplantation.com/the-louisiana-slave-database.html|title=The Louisiana Slave Database|website=www.whitneyplantation.com|language=en-US|access-date=2017-09-27|archive-date=March 3, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150303094927/http://www.whitneyplantation.com/the-louisiana-slave-database.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
====Cajuns in Louisiana==== {{further|Cajuns|Cajun-Creole}} [[File:CrowleyCrowdListening1938.jpg|thumb|left|220x220px|The [[Cajun-Creole]] population of [[Crowley, Louisiana|Crowley]] enjoying a Cajun Music Concert in 1938.]] [[File:Acadiana Louisiana region map.svg|right|thumb|upright=1|A map of [[Acadiana]], the [[Cajuns|Cajun Country]].]] In 1765, during Spanish rule, several thousand [[Acadians]] from the French colony of [[Acadia]] (now Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island) made their way to Louisiana after having been [[Expulsion of the Acadians|expelled]] from Acadia by British authorities after the French and Indian War. They settled chiefly in the southwestern Louisiana region now called [[Acadiana]]. The governor [[Luis de Unzaga y Amézaga]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cazorla-Granados |first=Francisco J. |title=El gobernador Luis de Unzaga (1717–1793) : precursor en el nacimiento de los EE.UU. y en el liberalismo |date=2019 |others=Frank Cazorla, Rosa María García Baena, José David Polo Rubio |isbn=978-84-09-12410-7 |location=Málaga |oclc=1224992294|pages=49, 52, 62, 74, 83, 90, 150, 207}}</ref> eager to gain more settlers, welcomed the Acadians, who became the ancestors of Louisiana's [[Cajun]]s.
=====Americanization of the Cajun Country===== When the United States of America began assimilating and Americanizing the parishes of the Cajun Country between the 1950s and 1970s, they imposed segregation and reorganized the inhabitants of the Cajun Country to identify racially as either "white" Cajuns or "black" Creoles.<ref name="nicholeestandford">{{cite book |title=Good God but You Smart!: Language Prejudice and Upwardly Mobile Cajuns|author=Nichole E. Stanford|year=2016|publisher=University Press of Colorado|location=United States of America|pages=64, 65, 66}}</ref> As the younger generations were made to abandon speaking French and French customs, the White or mixed Indigenous and Cajun people assimilated into the [[Anglo-America|Anglo-American]] host culture, and the Black Cajuns assimilated into the African American culture.<ref name="georgeepozzetta">{{cite book |title=Immigrants on the Land: Agriculture, Rural Life, and Small Towns|author=George E. Pozzetta|year=1991|publisher=Taylor & Francis|location=United States of America|pages=408}}</ref>
Cajuns looked to the [[Civil Rights Movement]] and other Black liberation and empowerment movements as a guide to fostering Louisiana's French cultural renaissance. A Cajun student protester in 1968 declared "We're slaves to a system. Throw away the shackles... and be free with your brother."<ref name="shanekbernard">{{cite book |title=The Cajuns: Americanization of a People|author=Shane K. Bernard|year=2016|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi|location=United States of America|pages=35, 36, 37, 38}}</ref>
====Refugees from Saint-Domingue in Louisiana==== {{further|Saint-Domingues Creoles}} [[File:Persac New Orleans Riverfront 1858.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1|[[New Orleans]], the metropolis of the [[Louisiana Creole people|Creole State]]]] [[File:Elisabeth_Tinchant_Colorized.jpg|left|thumb|upright=0.8| Saint-Domingue Creole [[Elisabeth Dieudonné Vincent]] with her granddaughter. Vincent fled to [[New Orleans, Louisiana]] with her parents as a child.]] [[File:Flag of New Orleans, Louisiana.svg|thumb|right|The flag of [[New Orleans]], Louisiana]] In the early 19th century, floods of Creole refugees fled [[Saint-Domingue]] and poured into [[New Orleans]], nearly tripling the city's population. Indeed, more than half of the refugee population of Saint-Domingue settled in Louisiana. Thousands of refugees, both [[White people|white]] and [[gens de couleur libres|Creole of color]], arrived in New Orleans, sometimes bringing [[slaves]] with them. While Governor [[William C.C. Claiborne|Claiborne]] and other Anglo-American officials wanted to keep out additional [[free black]] men, Louisiana Creoles wanted to increase the French-speaking Creole population. As more refugees were allowed in Louisiana, those who had first gone to [[Cuba]] had also arrived.<ref name="AAM"/> Officials in Cuba deported many of these refugees in retaliation for [[Bonapartist]] schemes in Spain.<ref>''The Bourgeois Frontier : French Towns, French Traders and American Expansion,'' by Jay Gitlin (2009). Yale University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-300-10118-8}}, pg 54</ref>
Nearly 90 percent of early 19th century immigrants to the territory settled in New Orleans. The 1809 deportation from Cuba brought 2,731 whites, 3,102 Creoles of color and 3,226 slaves, which, in total, doubled the city's population. The city became 63 percent black in population, a greater proportion than [[Charleston, South Carolina]]'s 53 percent.<ref name="AAM">[http://www.inmotionaame.org/migrations/topic.cfm?migration=5&topic=3 "Haitian Immigration: 18th & 19th Centuries"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612141448/http://www.inmotionaame.org/migrations/topic.cfm?migration=5&topic=3 |date=June 12, 2018 }}, ''In Motion: African American Migration Experience,'' New York Public Library. Retrieved May 7, 2008</ref>
The Saint-Domingue Creole specialized population raised Louisiana's level of culture and industry, and was one of the reasons why Louisiana was able to gain statehood so quickly. A quote from a Louisiana Creole who remarked on the rapid development of his homeland:{{blockquote|"Nobody knows better than you just how little education the Louisianians of my generation have received and how little opportunity one had twenty years ago to procure teachers... Louisiana today offers almost as many resources as any other state in the American Union for the education of its youth. The misfortunes of the French Revolution have cast upon this country so many talented men. This factor has also produced a considerable increase in the population and wealth. The evacuation of Saint-Domingue and lately that of the island of Cuba, coupled with the immigration of the people from the East Coast, have tripled in eight years the population of this rich colony, which has been elevated to the status of statehood by virtue of a governmental decree."<ref name="carlbrasseauxglennconrad"/>}}
====Louisiana Creole Exceptionalism==== [[File:Creole women of color out taking the air, from a watercolor series by Édouard Marquis, New Orleans, 1867.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|left|[[Bourgeoisie|Bourgeois]] [[Louisiana Creole people|Louisiana Creole]] girls.]] [[File:Portrait of a Black Man by Julien Hudson 1835.jpg|right|thumb|A Creole gentleman of [[New Orleans]] with an exquisite Creole turban.|upright=0.8]] Louisiana's development and growth was rapid after its admission as a member state of the American Union.
By 1850, 1/3 of all Creoles of color owned over $100,000 worth of property.<ref name="frankwsweet">{{cite book |title=Legal History of the Color Line: The Rise And Triumph of the One-drop Rule|author=Frank W. Sweet|year=2005|edition=7th|publisher=Backintyme|pages=388 }}</ref> Creoles of color were wealthy businessmen, entrepreneurs, clothiers, real estate developers, doctors, and other respected professions; they owned estates and properties in French Louisiana.<ref name="marygehman">{{cite book |title=The Free People of Color of New Orleans|author= Mary Gehman|year=2017|edition=7th|publisher=D'Ville Press LLC|location=New Orleans|pages=59, 69, 70 }}</ref> Aristocratic Creoles of Color were very wealthy, such as Aristide Mary who owned more than $1,500,000 of property in the [[State of Louisiana]].<ref name="frankwsweet"/>
Nearly all boys of wealthy Creole families were sent to France where they received an excellent classical education.<ref name="libraryofsouthernliterature">{{cite book |title=Library of Southern Literature: Biography|author= Joel Chandler Harris, Charles William Kent|year=1909|pages=388}}</ref>
Being a French, and later Spanish colony, Louisiana maintained a [[casta|three-tiered society]] that was very similar to other Latin American and Caribbean countries, with the three tiers: [[aristocracy]] (''grands habitants''), [[bourgeoisie]], and [[habitants|peasantry]] (''petits habitants''). The blending of cultures and races created a society unlike any other in America.
== Minnesota French == {{Main|History of Minnesota}} The history of the French language in Minnesota is closely linked with that of Canadian settlers, such as explorer [[Louis Hennepin]] and trapper [[Pierre Parrant]], who contributed very early on to its use in the area.
As early as the mid-17th century, evidence shows the presence of French expeditions, settlements and villages in the region, in particular thanks to Frenchmen [[Pierre-Esprit Radisson]] and [[Médard Chouart des Groseilliers|Médard des Groseilliers]], who likely reached Minnesota in 1654 after exploring Wisconsin.<ref name="Minnesota French">2004 : ''Minnesota French Facts'' {{p.|}} ([http://courseweb.stthomas.edu/mlwolsey/mnaatf/MNFrenchFacts.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051107094014/http://courseweb.stthomas.edu/mlwolsey/mnaatf/MNFrenchFacts.pdf|date=November 7, 2005}})</ref> [[File:Pierre_Parrant.jpg|left|thumb|upright|Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant, first settler in Saint Paul, Minnesota]] A few years later, explorer [[René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle|Cavelier de la Salle]] charted the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]], ending his voyage in the neighboring state of North Dakota. He gave this region the nickname of "''L'étoile du Nord''" (Star of the North), which eventually became the motto of the State of Minnesota.<ref>''State Names, Seals, Flags, and Symbols: A Historical Guide'', third edition – Barbara S. Shearer and Benjamin F. Shearer, Greenwood Press, 2002</ref> [[File:Minnesota-StateSeal.svg|thumb|Former state seal]]
The exploration of the northern territories and areas surrounding the Great Lake, including Minnesota, was encouraged by [[Louis de Buade de Frontenac|Frontenac]], the Governor of [[New France]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.aqaf.eu/2017/03/letoile-du-nord-du-gouverneur-frontenac/ |title=L'étoile du Nord du gouverneur Frontenac |publisher=AQAF |date=March 15, 2017 |access-date=September 12, 2017 |archive-date=September 12, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912193439/https://www.aqaf.eu/2017/03/letoile-du-nord-du-gouverneur-frontenac/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
In the early days of Minnesota's settlement, many of its early European inhabitants were of Canadian origin, including [[Pierre Parrant]], a trapper and fur trader born in [[Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan|Sault Ste. Marie (Michigan)]] in 1777.
The [[Red River Colony|Red River]] [[Métis in Canada|Métis]] community also played an important part in the use of French in Minnesota.
Since 1858, when the State of Minnesota was established, the Great Seal of the State of Minnesota bears [[René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle|Cavelier de la Salle]]'s French motto "L'étoile du Nord".
In present-day Minnesota, French is maintained alive through bilingual education options and French-language classes in universities and schools. It is also promoted by local associations and groups such as AFRAN (Association des Français du Nord), who support events such as the Chautauqua Festival in [[Huot, Minnesota|Huot]], an event celebrating the French heritage of local communities.<ref name="Article RC">Pierre Verrière, 2017 : ''Franco-Américains et francophones aux Etats-Unis'' {{p.|}} ([http://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1052926/fait-francais-minnesota-quebec-francophonie])</ref>
In 2012, a Franco-fête Festival was held in Minneapolis. Similar events take place every year throughout the state of Minnesota.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://fahfminn.org/events/|title=Events}}</ref>
Since Minnesota shares a border with French-speaking areas of Canada, French exchanges remain common. In 2004, an estimated 35% of Minnesota's production was being exported to Francophone countries (Canada, France, Belgium and Switzerland).<ref name="Minnesota French"/>
==Mississippi Creoles== In April 1699, French colonists established the first European settlement at ''[[Fort Maurepas]]'' (also known as Old Biloxi), built in the vicinity of present-day [[Ocean Springs, Mississippi|Ocean Springs]] on the Gulf Coast. It was settled by [[Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville]]. In 1716, the French founded [[Natchez, Mississippi|Natchez]] on the Mississippi River (as ''[[Fort Rosalie]]''); it became the dominant town and trading post of the area. The French called the greater territory "[[Louisiana (New France)|New France]]"; the Spanish continued to claim part of the [[Gulf coast]] area (east of [[Mobile Bay]]) of present-day southern Alabama, in addition to the entire area of present-day Florida. The British assumed control of the French territory after the [[French and Indian War]].
===Biloxi, First Capital of French Louisiana=== {{further|Biloxi, Mississippi}} [[File:Scherer House.jpg|thumb|upright=1|[[Biloxi, Mississippi|Mississippi Creole]] architecture in the Biloxi Downtown Historic District, built in 1846.]] Old Biloxi was completed on May 1, 1699<ref name="CathPLM"> "Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville" (biography), ''Catholic Encyclopedia'', 1907, webpage: [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07614b.htm CathEnc-7614b]: gives dates: February 13, 1699, went to the mainland Biloxi, with fort completion May 1, 1699; sailed for France May 4. </ref><ref name="FM"> "Fort Maurepas", Mississippi Genealogy, 2002–2008, webpage: [http://www.mississippigenealogy.com/history/<!-- -->fort_maurepas.htm Mgenealogy-maurepas]. </ref> under direction of French explorer [[Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville]], who sailed for France on May 4.<ref name=CathPLM/> He appointed his teenage brother [[Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville]] as second in command after the French commandant [[Sauvolle|Sauvolle de la Villantry]] (c.1671–1701).<ref name=CathPLM/><ref name=FM/>
[[Image:Gallica Biloxy map zoom biloxy.jpg|thumb|300px|left|Vieux Biloxi (Fort Maurepas) on the Biloxi Coast (site B on the map)]] M. d'Iberville originally intended to establish a French colony along the [[Mississippi River]].<ref name=FM/> However, because of its flooding, he had been unable to find a suitable location during his first voyage of discovery up the Mississippi in March 1699.<ref name=FM/> He returned from his river journey on April 1, and spent another week in searching the shores adjacent to [[Ship Island]], where the fleet had been anchored.
On Tuesday, April 7, 1699, d'Iberville and Surgeres observed "an elevated place that appeared very suitable". This spot was on the northeast shore of [[Biloxi Bay]]. They had found the bay was 7–8 feet (2 m) deep. They decided to construct the fort there, as they "could find no spot more convenient, and our provisions were failing, we could search no longer". On Wednesday, April 8, they commenced to cut away the trees preparatory for construction of the fort. All the men "worked vigorously", and by the end of the month, the fort had been finished. They also carved what is known as the [[Iberville stone]], claiming the site for France. This is now held by the Louisiana State Museum.<ref name="lastate">[http://www.crt.state.la.us/louisiana-state-museum/online-exhibits/the-cabildo/colonial-louisiana/ Online Exhibits: ''The Cabildo: Two Centuries of Louisiana History'', "Colonial Louisiana"], Louisiana State Museum, 2017; accessed May 30, 2017</ref>
The expedition journal reported:<ref name=FM/>
{{blockquote|In the meantime, the boats were actively engaged transporting the powder, guns, and ammunition, as well as the live stock, such as bulls, cows, hogs, fowls, turkeys, etc. . . . The fort was made with four bastions, two of them squared logs, from 2–3 feet [1 m] thick, placed one upon the other, with embrasures for port holes, and a ditch all around. The other two bastions were stockaded with heavy timbers which took four men to lift one of them. Twelve guns were mounted.|Historical Jour, of d'Iberville's expedition<ref name=FM/>}}
The best men were selected to remain at the fort,<ref name=FM/> including detachments of soldiers to place with the Canadians (the French also had a colony in what is now Quebec and along the upper Mississippi River) and workmen, and sailors to serve on the gunboats. Altogether about 100 people were left at Fort Maurepas while Iberville sailed back to France on May 4, 1699. Those remaining included:<ref name=FM/> * M. de Sauvolle de la Villantry, lieutenant of a company and naval ensign of the frigate ''Le Marin'', was left in command as governor. * Bienville, king's lieutenant of the marine guard of the frigate ''La Badine'' was next in command. * [[Le Vasseur de Boussouelle]], a Canadian, was major. * De Bordenac was chaplain, and M. Care was surgeon. * Also: two captains, two cannoniers, four sailors, eighteen filibusters, ten mechanics, 6 masons, 13 Canadians, and 20 sub-officers and soldiers who comprised the garrison.<ref name=FM/> Few of the colonists were experienced with agriculture,<ref name=FM/> and the colony never became self-sustaining. The climate and soil were different than they were familiar with. On the return of d'Iberville to Old Biloxi in January 1700, he brought with him sixty Canadian immigrants and a large supply of provisions and stores. On this second voyage, he was instructed:
<blockquote>to breed the Buffalo at Biloxi; to seek for pearls; to examine the wild [[mulberry]] with the view to silk [silk worms on leaves]; the timber for shipbuilding, and to seek for mines.<ref name=FM/> Expeditions in search of gold, jewels and valuable furs were the main goals of the colonists. They made thorough explorations of the Mississippi River and the surrounding country.<ref name=FM/></blockquote>
In 1700, Le Sueur was sent to the upper Mississippi with 20 men<ref name=FM/> to establish a fort in the [[Lakota people|Sioux]] country. His government intended to take over the copper mines of the Sioux nations in the interests of France. Meanwhile, the French had established forts and settlements in the [[Illinois country]]. Learning of the French colony at Old Biloxi, Canadians came by the boatload down the Mississippi from the upper country (today's Quebec).
[[File:Historic Biloxi, Mississippi (27852622996).jpg|thumb|left|upright=1|[[Biloxi, Mississippi|Mississippi Creole]] architecture in the Biloxi Downtown Historic District.]] Fathers Davion and Montigny, accompanied by a few Frenchmen, were the first visitors at the fort, having made the journey downriver in canoes. In May 1700, the settlers were visited by M. Sagan, a traveler from Canada. He carried a request from the French minister to the governor M. de Sauvolle, asking that Sagan be furnished with 24 [[pirogue]]s and 100 Canadians to explore the [[Missouri River]] and its branches, a major tributary of the Mississippi that has its confluence at what later developed as Saint Louis. During the absence of d'Iberville, his young brother Bienville made further expeditions to try to secure the prosperity of the colony. But the colonists suffered from tropical diseases of the region: many died from [[yellow fever]], including the governor, M. de Sauvolle, who died in the summer of 1700. Bienville became ranking chief in command, and acted as commandant.<ref name=FM/>
On September 16, 1700, a party of [[Choctaw]] warriors arrived at Biloxi, asking for French troops to help them fight against the [[Chickasaw]], their traditional enemies among native groups.<ref name=FM/> The Choctaw during this period had 40 villages, with more than 5,000 warriors. On October 25, 20 Mobile natives arrived at Fort Maurepas. They were said to have about 400 fighting men.
On December 18, 1700, a [[shallop]] arrived from the Spanish settlement at [[Pensacola, Florida|Pensacola]] to the east, with the news that d'Iberville and Serigny had reached there with the king's ships, the ''Renommée'' of fifty guns, and the ''Palmier'' of 44 guns. This was welcome news to the garrison, which had been living for more than 3 months on little more than corn. They had lost more than 60 men due to disease, leaving only 150 persons in the colony. Bienville was ordered to evacuate Biloxi, and move to a settlement on the [[Mobile River]].
On January 5, 1701, Bienville departed for the Mobile River, leaving 20 men under the command of M. de Boisbriant as garrison at the fort. At [[Dauphin Island]], Bienville met with his brothers de Serigny and Chateaugue, who had arrived with a detachment of sailors and workmen. They were to build a magazine for storage of goods and provisions which had been brought from France. On the [[Friendship|Kith]], he commenced to build the ''[[Fort Louis de la Mobile]]'', about 12 leagues above the present city of [[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile]], on the right bank of the river. It was the official center of the Gulf Coast colony for the next nine years, until the new Fort Conde was built. (Mobile city developed around it.)<ref name=FM/>
[[File:HowardAve at LamuseSt (Biloxi, MS).jpg|thumb|left|upright=1|Lameuse street, [[Biloxi, Mississippi]].]] In 1717, when the channel at Dauphine island (present-day [[Dauphin Island]]) had become choked with sand,<ref name="Mforts"> "Fort Maurepas", Mississippi Genealogy, 2002–2008, webpage: [http://www.mississippigenealogy.com/history/<!-- -->fort_maurepas.htm Mgenealogy-maurepas]. </ref> de l'Épinay and de Bienville decided to make use of the harbor at [[Ship Island]]. They ordered a new fort to be constructed on the mainland opposite, selecting a place one league west of Old Biloxi for a site across Biloxi Bay. The transport ship ''Dauphine'', commanded by M. Berranger, had arrived with many carpenters and masons. They built the new fort,<ref name=Mforts/> known as New Biloxi (''Nouveau-Biloxi'') and also as ''Fort Louis''.<ref name=Mforts/> In 1719, Fort Maurepas (at Old Biloxi) was burned; it was never reconstructed by the French.<ref name=Mforts/> Another fort and magazines were also constructed on Ship Island, in the [[Gulf of Mexico]].<ref name=Mforts/>
In 1719, the administrative capital of [[Louisiana (New France)|French Louisiana]] was moved to Old Biloxi from [[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile]] (or ''Mobille''), during the [[War of the Quadruple Alliance]] (1718–1720) against Spain.<ref name=FM/> Due to hurricanes and shifting [[sand bar]]s blocking [[harbor]] waters during the early 18th century, the capital of French Louisiana was moved from Mobile to ''Nouveau-Biloxi'' (present-day [[Biloxi]]), across [[Biloxi Bay]]. However, later in the same year, Fort Maurepas (at Old Biloxi) burned. It was never reconstructed.<ref name=Mforts/>
Later, during June–August 1722, the capital was moved again, by colonial governor [[Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville|Bienville]], from Biloxi to deeper waters in the [[Mississippi River]] at a new inland harbor town named ''La Nouvelle-Orléans'' ([[New Orleans]]), built for the purpose during 1718–1722.
=== Natchez, Mississippi === {{Main|History of Natchez, Mississippi}}
[[File:Mississippi River in Natchez, Mississippi LCCN2010630373.tif|thumb|upright=1|[[Natchez, Mississippi]], facing the [[Mississippi River]].]] [[File:Natchez4Sept2008BalconyG.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1|[[Natchez, Mississippi|Mississippi Creole]] architecture in the [[Natchez On-Top-of-the-Hill Historic District|Historic District of Natchez]].]] Established by [[French colonization of the Americas|French colonists]] in 1716, Natchez is one of the oldest and most important Louisiana French settlements in the lower [[Mississippi River Valley]]. After the French lost the [[French and Indian War]] (Seven Years' War), they ceded Natchez and near territory to [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] in the [[Treaty of Paris of 1763]]. (It later traded other territory east of the Mississippi River with Great Britain, which expanded what it called West Florida). The British Crown bestowed land grants in this territory to officers who had served with distinction in the war. These officers came mostly from the colonies of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. They established plantations and brought their upper-class style of living to the area.
Beginning 1779, the area was under Spanish colonial rule. After defeat in the American Revolutionary War, Great Britain ceded the territory to the United States under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1783). Spain was not a party to the treaty, and it was their forces who had taken Natchez from the British. Although Spain had been allied with the American colonists, they were more interested in advancing their power at the expense of Britain. Once the war was over, they were not inclined to give up that which they had acquired by force.
In 1797 Major Andrew Ellicott of the United States marched to the highest ridge in the young town of Natchez, set up camp, and raised the first American Flag claiming Natchez and all former Spanish lands east of the Mississippi above the 31st parallel for the United States.
After the United States acquired this area from the Spanish, the city served as the capital of the [[Mississippi Territory]] and then of the state of Mississippi. It predates [[Jackson, Mississippi|Jackson]] by more than a century; the latter replaced Natchez as the capital in 1822, as it was more centrally located in the developing state. The strategic location of Natchez, on a [[Beach ridge|bluff]] overlooking the [[Mississippi River]], ensured that it would be a pivotal center of trade, commerce, and the interchange of ethnic Native American, European, and African cultures in the region; it held this position for two centuries after its founding.
==Missouri French, Illinois Creoles== {{further|Missouri French}} [[File:Wpdms illinois country settlements 1763.png|right|thumb|upright=1|Illinois Creole settlements of the [[Illinois Country]].]] [[File:The Jean-Baptiste Valle House.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1|[[Illinois Country|Illinois Creole]] architecture.]] French colonization of the region began in earnest during the late 17th century by ''[[coureurs des bois]]'' from what is now modern-day Canada. With French colonial expansion into the North American interior, various missions, forts and trading posts were established under the administration of [[New France]].
One of the first settlements to be established in the region was that of Cahokia in 1696, with the foundation of a French mission. The town quickly became one of the largest in the region with booming commerce and trade to assist its growth. [[Jesuit]] missionaries also established a mission to the south along the [[Kaskaskia River]] in 1703, followed by a stone church built in 1714. During that time, [[French Canadians|Canadien]] settlers had moved in and begun to farm. Some also mined for lead west of the Mississippi River. The fertile land of the [[American Bottom]] was tended to by ''[[habitants]]'' who moved from [[Prairie du Rocher, Illinois|Prairie du Rocher]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Colonial Ste. Genevieve: An Adventure on the Mississippi Frontier|url=https://archive.org/details/colonialstegenev00ekbe|url-access=registration|last=J. Ekberg|first=Carl|publisher=The Patrice Press|year=1985|location=Gerald, MO|isbn=9780935284416}}</ref> Soon the meager French post of [[Kaskaskia, Illinois|Kaskaskia]] became the capital of [[Upper Louisiana]], and [[Fort de Chartres]] was constructed nearby.
[[File:George Caleb Bingham 001.jpg|thumb|left|[[Fur Traders Descending the Missouri]], 1845; a depiction of [[Métis people|''métis'' French Indian]]s.]] Since its inception, Kaskaskia possessed a diverse population, a majority of whom were [[Illinois Confederation|Illinois]] or other Native American groups, with a minority of French [[voyageurs]]. Many of the Canadiens and their descendants would eventually become voyageurs and [[coureurs des bois]]. Continued immigration of Canadien settlers and natives of Illinois Country, as well as a need for other resources resulted in some founders establishing [[Sainte-Geneviève, Missouri|Sainte-Geneviève]] in 1735 on the west side of the Mississippi in what is now Missouri.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:Holy Family Log Church Cahokia 063.jpg|thumb|right|French [[Church of the Holy Family (Cahokia)|Church of the Holy Family]] in [[Cahokia, Illinois]].]] In 1732, following a short-lived French trading post for buffalo hides, [[Vincennes, Indiana|Vincennes]] was established as a French fur trading post for the [[French Indies Company]] under the leadership of [[François-Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes]]. The trade was primarily with the [[Miami people|Miami]], and was so lucrative that more [[French Canadians|Canadiens]] were attracted to the post. In addition, marriages took place between French settlers (usually men) and women from the local Native American tribes. Both sides considered such unions to be to their advantage for long-term allianes and trading relationships.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Vincennes: Portal to the West. Englewood Cliffs|url=https://archive.org/details/vincennesportalt00derl|url-access=registration|last=Derleth|first=August|publisher=Prentice-Hall|year=1968|location=Englewood Cliffs, N.J.|lccn=68020537}}</ref>
Originally granted as a French trading post in 1763, St. Louis quickly developed into a settlement under [[Pierre Laclède]]. By this time, the French had established several footholds along the upper Mississippi River such as [[Cahokia, Illinois|Cahokia]], [[Kaskaskia, Illinois|Kaskaskia]], [[St. Philippe, Illinois|St. Philippe]], [[Fort de Chartres|Nouvelle Chartres]], [[Prairie du Rocher, Illinois|Prairie du Rocher]], and [[Ste. Genevieve, Missouri|Ste. Genevieve]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Carrière|first=Joseph Médard|date=April 1939|title=Creole Dialect of Missouri|jstor=451217|journal=American Speech|volume=14|issue=2|pages=109–119|doi=10.2307/451217}}</ref> Even so, after the British victory in the [[French and Indian War]] in 1763, many [[French language|francophone]] residents of Illinois Country moved west of the Mississippi River to [[Ste. Genevieve, Missouri|Ste. Genevieve]], [[St. Louis]], and elsewhere. Additionally, following France's loss in the War, Louisiana was ceded to Spain in [[Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762)|Treaty of Fontainebleau]]. Several hundred French refugees from the Midwest were resettled at Ste. Genevieve by the Spanish in 1797.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Gold|first=Gerald L.|date=1979|title=Lead Mining and the Survival and Demise of French in Rural Missouri|journal=Cahiers de géographie du Québec|volume=23|issue=59|pages=331–342|doi=10.7202/021441ar|doi-access=free}}</ref> From the end of the French and Indian War through the early 19th century, francophones began settling in the [[Ozark]] highlands further inland, particularly after French Louisiana was [[Louisiana Purchase|sold to the United States]] in 1803.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last=Carrière|first=Joseph Médard|date=May 1941|title=The Phonology of Missouri French: A Historical Study|jstor=380369|journal=The French Review|volume=14|issue=5|pages=410–415}}</ref>
=== Upper Louisiana === {{further|Upper Louisiana|Illinois Country}} It is speculated that Native Americans may have already begun to process lead in the Upper Louisiana Valley by the 18th century, in part due to interaction with ''[[Coureur des bois|coureurs des bois]]'' and European expeditions.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/howgeorgerogersc01thwa|title=How George Rogers Clark Won the Northwest And Other Essays in Western History|last=Thwaites|first=Reuben Gold|publisher=A.C. McClurg & Co.|year=1903|location=Chicago, IL|pages=[https://archive.org/details/howgeorgerogersc01thwa/page/229 229]–331}}</ref> French demand for lead quickly outstripped available labor despite French colonial reliance on Native Americans, freelancer miners, and 500 African slaves shipped from [[Saint-Domingue]] in 1723 to work in the area of [[Potosi, Missouri|Mine à Breton]], under control of Philippe François de Renault .<ref name=":3" /> With large quantities of ore visible from the surface, entire Creole families moved inland to exploit such plentiful resources.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Schroeder|first=Walter A|date=2003|title=The Enduring French Creole Community of Old Mines, Missouri|journal=Historical Geography|publisher=Geoscience Publications|volume=31|pages=43–54}}</ref> When [[Moses Austin]] settled in [[Potosi, Missouri|Potosi]], formally Mine à Breton, he introduced serious mining operations into Missouri in 1797 and stimulated growth of the francophone community in the area. Mining communities such as [[Old Mines, Missouri|Old Mines]] ({{langx|fr|link=no|La Vieille Mine}}), [[Mine La Motte, Missouri|Mine La Motte]], and St. Michel (St. Michaels), which were established further inland, remained well-connected to Ste. Genevieve through trade, familial ties, and a formed common identity.<ref name=":3" />
====Fort de Chartres, Louisiana French Castle==== {{main|Fort de Chartres}}
[[File:Fort de Chartres 02Aug2007-32.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Fort de Chartres]], a [[French Louisiana|Louisiana French]] castle.]] On January 1, 1718, a trade monopoly was granted to [[John Law's Company]]. Hoping to make a fortune mining precious metals in the area, the company with a military contingent sent from New Orleans built a fort to protect its interests. Construction began on the first [[Fort de Chartres]] (in present-day Illinois) in 1718 and was completed in 1720.
The original fort was located on the east bank of the Mississippi River, downriver (south) from [[Cahokia]] and upriver of [[Kaskaskia]]. The nearby settlement of [[Prairie du Rocher, Illinois]], was founded by French-Canadian colonists in 1722, a few miles inland from the fort. [[File:Ft de Chartres-bastion-1.jpg|left|thumb|200px|A [[bartizan]] at the corner of one of the reconstructed [[bastion]]s]]
The fort was to be the seat of government for the Illinois Country and help to control the [[Meskwaki]], which was seen as a threat. The fort was named after [[Louis Duke of Orléans (born 1703)|Louis, duc de Chartres]], son of the regent of France. Because of frequent flooding, another fort was built further inland in 1725. By 1731, the Company of the Indies had gone defunct and turned Louisiana and its government back to the king. The garrison at the fort was removed to [[Kaskaskia, Illinois]] in 1747, about 18 miles to the south. A new stone fort was planned near the old fort and was described as "nearly complete" in 1754, although construction continued until 1760.
The new stone fort was headquarters for the French Illinois Country for less than 20 years, as it was turned over to the British in 1763 with the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris]] at the end of the [[French and Indian War]]. The British Crown declared almost all the land between the [[Appalachian Mountains]] and the Mississippi River from Florida to [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]] a Native American territory called the [[Indian Reserve (1763)|Indian Reserve]] following the [[Royal Proclamation of 1763]]. The government ordered settlers to leave or get a special license to remain. This and the desire to live in a [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] territory caused many of the [[Missouri French|Illinois Creoles]] to cross the Mississippi to live in [[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]] or [[Ste. Genevieve, Missouri]]. The British soon relaxed its policy and later extended the [[Province of Quebec (1763–1791)|Province of Quebec]] to the region.
The British took control of Fort de Chartres on October 10, 1765, and renamed it [[Fort Cavendish]]. The British softened the initial expulsion order and offered the Creole inhabitants the same rights and privileges enjoyed under French rule. In September 1768, the British established a Court of Justice, the first court of [[common law]] in the Mississippi Valley (the French law system is called [[Civil law (legal system)|civil law]]).
After severe flooding in 1772, the British saw little value in maintaining the fort and abandoned it. They moved the military garrison to the fort at Kaskaskia and renamed it [[Fort Gage]]. Chartres' ruined but intact [[Magazine (artillery)|magazine]] is considered the oldest surviving European structure in Illinois and was reconstructed in the 20th century, with much of the rest of the Fort.
==== Americanization of the Illinois Country ==== [[File:Creole House in Prairie du Rocher.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1|An Illinois Creole house of [[Prairie du Rocher, Illinois]].]] The [[Louisiana Purchase]] brought about a marked change: francophones of [[Ste. Genevieve, Missouri|Ste. Genevieve]] and [[St. Louis]] assimilated more rapidly into English-speaking American society because of interaction with new settlers, while the inland mining communities remained isolated and maintained their French heritage.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" /> ''[[Mining#Americas|Piocheurs]]'' held fast to primitive techniques, using hand tools and simple pit mining. They performed smelting over crude, chopped-wood fires. Soon, ethnic French families in St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve, as well as American companies, purchased the land occupied by the Creoles. They created a division between an increasingly [[English-speaking world|anglophone]] authority and [[French language|francophone]] labor.<ref name=":4" /> By the 1820s production of lead had declined in the area of Old Mines. Following the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], new mining technologies left the community impoverished.
The eventual decline of Illinois Country French did not occur at the same rates as it inevitably did in other areas. Most attribute the survival of the language in [[Old Mines, Missouri|Old Mines]] primarily due to its relative isolation, as compared to other communities such as [[St. Louis]] or [[Ste. Genevieve, Missouri|Ste. Genevieve]].<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5" />
In 1809, the French street signs of St. Louis were replaced, but the population remained largely ethnic French through the 19th century. Migration of francophones from [[New Orleans]], [[Kaskaskia, Illinois|Kaskaskia]], and Detroit bolstered the French-speaking population.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://stlgs.org/research-2/community/ethnic/french|title=French in St. Louis|website=St. Louis Genealogical Society|access-date=July 4, 2018}}</ref> Two French-language newspapers, ''Le Patriote'' (''text=The Patriot'') and ''La Revue de l'Ouest'' (''text=The Review of the West'') were published during the second half of the 19th century, with an intended audience of the "French-language population of 'The West'", but the papers fell out of print before the turn of the century.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.slcl.org/content/name-index-st-louis-french-newspapers |title=Name index to St. Louis French newspapers |website=St. Louis County Library |access-date=July 4, 2018}}</ref>
Outside of St. Louis, French survived into the 20th century but the francophone population of settlements near the Mississippi River had dropped dramatically: {{Blockquote|text=... few Créoles to be found today in the towns along the river, with the exception of Festus and Crystal City, where many of them are employed in the factories. Sainte-Geneviève has no more than a score of families which have remained definitely French.|sign=Ward Allison Dorrance|source=The Survival of French in the Old District of Sainte-Geneviève, 1935}} French did not fare far better in distant Vincennes where German immigration in the 1860s had severely weakened the French community and by 1930 there were only a small population of elderly francophones left.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Folk Songs of Old Vincennes |publisher=H. T. Fitzsimons Company |author=O'Flynn, Anna C. |author2=Carrière, J. M. |author3=Burget, Frederic |display-authors=etal |year=1946 |location=Chicago }}</ref>
In the 1930s and 1940s, use of new [[Excavator|excavation equipment]] by mineral companies almost entirely pushed French-speaking Creoles from mining, leaving them without income. French became associated with poverty, lack of education, and backwardness.<ref name=":4" /><ref>Taussig, Mary Bolland. "School Attendance in Washington County, Missouri: A Study of Certain Social and Economic Factors in the Lives of Children in the Tiff Area of Washington County, Missouri, in Relation to the School Attendance." M.A. thesis, [[Washington University in St. Louis]], 1938.</ref> Harassment and intolerance from English speakers left many Missouri French speakers ashamed of their language and hesitant to speak.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|last=Miller|first=W. M.|date=January 1930|title=Missouri's "Paw-Paw" French|jstor=380091|journal=The French Review|volume=3|issue=3|pages=174–178}}</ref> Use of French on school property was prohibited and it was not uncommon for students to face [[corporal punishment]] by [[Monolingualism|monolingual]], English-speaking teachers for using the language.<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://youtube.com/watch?v=_iS1mhjsUsY# |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/_iS1mhjsUsY |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=French Dialect of Colonial Illinois and Missouri|date=April 23, 2017|people=Dennis Stroughmatt|version=(in English, Missouri French)|publisher=St. Genevieve TV|location=St. Genevieve, MO|access-date=July 5, 2018|format=video|medium=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
In 1930, French professor W. M. Miller visited this area of rural Missouri, finding the largest remaining concentration of Missouri French speakers in a small pocket south of [[De Soto, Missouri|De Soto]] and north of [[Potosi, Missouri|Potosi]]. He estimated their population to be about 2,000, all [[Multilingualism|bilingual]]. There were rumors that at least a few elderly, French monolingual speakers remained, but few young people spoke the language and their children were all monolingual English speakers.<ref name=":6" /> From 1934 to 1936, [[Joseph Médard Carrière]] made several trips to the Old Mines area to study the Missouri French dialect and to collect folktales from local ''[[storytelling|conteurs]]''. Carrière estimated a total of 600 families still used the dialect. He noted the increased influence of English, particularly among younger speakers, and felt this was a sign of eventual [[Language shift|displacement]].<ref name=":2" />
In 1977, Gerald L. Gold visited the community to document how movement away from family and child labor in lead and [[baryte]] mining coincided with the loss of Missouri French as a maternal language.<ref name=":3" /> He suggests that the 1970 census statistic of 196 native French speakers in [[Washington County, Missouri|Washington County]] underrepresented the true number of speakers. In 1989, Ulrich Ammon estimated that only a handful of elderly speakers remained in isolated pockets.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Status and Function of Languages and Language Varieties|last=Ulrich|first=Ammon|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|year=1989|isbn=0899253563|series=Grundlagen Der Kommunikation Und Kognition|pages=306–038}}</ref> In 2014 news media reported that fewer than 30 Missouri French speakers remained in Old Mines, with others being able to remember a few phrases.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=58108219&itype=CMSID|title=History buffs race to preserve dialect in Missouri|last=Zagier|first=Alan Scher|date=June 24, 2014|work=[[The Salt Lake Tribune]]|access-date=July 3, 2018}}</ref>
==Ohio French==
===La Belle Rivière=== {{further|Ohio Country}} [[File:Wpdms ohio country.png|thumb|left|A map of the original [[Ohio Country]]]] In the 17th century, the French were the first modern Europeans to explore what became known as [[Ohio Country]].<ref>See [https://books.google.com/books?id=_YbBqcACm48C&dq The Ohio Country], p. 1.</ref> In 1663, it became part of [[New France]], a royal province of [[French colonial empire|French Empire]], and northeastern Ohio was further explored by [[Robert La Salle]] in 1669.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b-uLUVJtHKkC|title=Encyclopedia of the French & Indian War in North America, 1754–1763|first=Donald I.|last=Stoetzel|date=August 17, 2017|publisher=Heritage Books|page=371|isbn=9780788445170|access-date=August 17, 2017|via=Google Books}}</ref>
During the 18th century, the French set up a system of trading posts to control the [[fur trade]] in the region, linked to their settlements in present-day Canada and what they called the [[Illinois Country]] along the [[Mississippi River]]. [[Fort Miami (Michigan)|Fort Miami]] on the site of present-day [[St. Joseph, Michigan]] was constructed in 1680 by New France Governor-General [[Louis de Buade de Frontenac]].<ref name="OH">{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1ZAAYEZf70sC|title=Ohio History|date=August 17, 1890|pages=301–302|access-date=August 17, 2017|via=Google Books}}</ref> They built [[Fort Sandoské]] by 1750 (and perhaps a fortified trading post at [[Junundat]] in 1754).<ref name="OH" />
By the 1730s, population pressure from expanding European colonies on the Atlantic coast compelled several groups of Native Americans to relocate to the [[Illinois Country]]. From the east, the [[Lenape|Delaware]] and [[Shawnee]] arrived, and [[Wyandot people|Wyandot]] and [[Ottawa (tribe)|Ottawa]] from the north. The [[Miami tribe|Miami]] lived in what is now western Ohio. The [[Mingo]] formed out of Iroquois who migrated west into the Ohio lands, as well as some refugee remnants of other tribes.
By the mid-18th century, British traders were rivaling French traders in the area.<ref>See [https://books.google.com/books?id=7Mum6vMM5YwC&dq The great frontier war: Britain, France, and the imperial struggle for North America, 1607–1755], p. 177</ref> They had occupied a trading post called [[Fort Loramie|Loramie's Fort]], which the French attacked from Canada in 1752, renaming it for a Frenchman named Loramie and establishing a trading post there. In the early 1750s [[George Washington]] was sent to the Ohio Country by the [[Ohio Company]] to survey, and the fight for control of the territory would spark the [[French and Indian War]]. It was in the Ohio Country where George Washington lost the [[Battle of Fort Necessity]] to [[Louis Coulon de Villiers]] in 1754, and the subsequent [[Battle of the Monongahela]] to Charles Michel de Langlade and Jean-Daniel Dumas to retake the country 1755. The [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris]] ceded the country to [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] in 1763. During this period the country was routinely engaged in turmoil, with massacres and battles occurring between the Indian tribes.
==Wisconsin French== [[File:Jean Nicolet.jpg|thumb|left|[[Jean Nicolet]], depicted in a 1910 painting by Frank Rohrbeck, was probably the first European to explore Wisconsin. The mural is located in the [[Brown County Courthouse (Wisconsin)|Brown County Courthouse]] in Green Bay.]]
The first European to visit what became Wisconsin was probably the French explorer [[Jean Nicolet]]. He canoed west from [[Georgian Bay]] through the [[Great Lakes]] in 1634, and it is traditionally assumed that he came ashore near [[Green Bay, Wisconsin|Green Bay]] at [[Red Banks, Brown County, Wisconsin|Red Banks]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Jean Nicolet|url=http://www.uwgb.edu/wisfrench/library/articles/nicolet.htm|author=Rodesch, Gerrold C.|year=1984|publisher=[[University of Wisconsin–Green Bay]]|access-date=March 13, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117084337/http://www.uwgb.edu/wisfrench/library/articles/nicolet.htm|archive-date=January 17, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Pierre Radisson]] and [[Médard des Groseilliers]] visited Green Bay again in 1654–1666 and [[Chequamegon Bay]] in 1659–1660, where they traded for fur with local Native Americans.<ref>{{cite web|title=Turning Points in Wisconsin History: Arrival of the First Europeans|url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/tp-006/?action=more_essay|publisher=[[Wisconsin Historical Society]]|access-date=March 13, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319211019/https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/tp-006/?action=more_essay|archive-date=March 19, 2022|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1673, Jacques Marquette and [[Louis Jolliet]] became the first to record a journey on the [[Fox-Wisconsin Waterway]] all the way to the [[Mississippi River]] near [[Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin|Prairie du Chien]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Jaenen|first=Cornelius|year=1973|title=French colonial attitudes and the exploration of Jolliet and Marquette|journal=Wisconsin Magazine of History|volume=56|issue=4|pages=300–310|url=http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/ref/collection/wmh/id/26553|access-date=January 31, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202080523/http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/ref/collection/wmh/id/26553|archive-date=February 2, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Frenchmen]] like [[Nicholas Perrot]] continued to ply the [[fur trade]] across Wisconsin through the 17th and 18th centuries, but the French made no permanent settlements in Wisconsin before Britain won control of the region following the [[French and Indian War]] in 1763. Even so, French traders continued to work in the region after the war, and some, beginning with [[Charles de Langlade]] in 1764, settled in Wisconsin permanently, rather than returning to British-controlled Canada.<ref name="Wisconsin Historical Society">{{cite web|title=Dictionary of Wisconsin History: Langlade, Charles Michel|url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id=2266&search_term=Langlade%2C+Charles+Michel|publisher=[[Wisconsin Historical Society]]|access-date=March 13, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204150014/http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id=2266&search_term=Langlade%2C+Charles+Michel|archive-date=December 4, 2010|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Tank Cottage Heritage Hill June 2014.jpg|thumb|right|French-Canadian [[Voyageurs|voyageur]] Joseph Roi built the [[Tank Cottage]] in [[Green Bay, Wisconsin|Green Bay]] in 1776. Located in [[Heritage Hill State Historical Park]], it is the [[List of the oldest buildings in Wisconsin|oldest standing building]] from Wisconsin's early years and is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="NRHP">{{cite news|last1=Anderson |first1=D. N. |title=Tank Cottage| url={{NRHP url|id=70000028}} |access-date=March 21, 2020|work=[[NRHP]] Inventory-Nomination Form|publisher=National Park Service|date=March 23, 1970}}</ref>]]
The British gradually took over Wisconsin during the French and Indian War, taking control of Green Bay in 1761 and gaining control of all of Wisconsin in 1763. Like the French, the British were interested in little but the fur trade. One notable event in the fur trading industry in Wisconsin occurred in 1791, when two free African Americans set up a fur trading post among the Menominee at present day [[Marinette, Wisconsin|Marinette]]. The first permanent settlers, mostly [[French Canadian]]s, some Anglo-[[New England]]ers and a few African American freedmen, arrived in Wisconsin while it was under British control. Charles de Langlade is generally recognized as the first settler, establishing a trading post at Green Bay in 1745, and moving there permanently in 1764.<ref name="Wisconsin Historical Society"/> Settlement began at Prairie du Chien around 1781. The French residents at the trading post in what is now Green Bay, referred to the town as "La Baye". However, British fur traders referred to it as "Green Bay", because the water and the shore assumed green tints in early spring. The old French title was gradually dropped, and the British name of "Green Bay" eventually stuck. The region coming under British rule had virtually no adverse effect on the French residents as the British needed the cooperation of the French fur traders and the French fur traders needed the goodwill of the British. During the French occupation of the region licenses for fur trading had been issued scarcely and only to select groups of traders, whereas the British, in an effort to make as much money as possible from the region, issued licenses for fur trading freely, both to British and to French residents. The fur trade in what is now Wisconsin reached its height under British rule, and the first self-sustaining farms in the state were established as well. From 1763 to 1780, Green Bay was a prosperous community which produced its own foodstuff, built graceful cottages and held dances and festivities.<ref>Wisconsin, a Guide to the Badger State page 188</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
{{Ethnicity in Louisiana}} {{French Americans by location}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Louisiana Creole People}}
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