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138-522: Nashville is located in the northwestern portion of the Central Basin. The basin extends for approximately forty-five to sixty miles to the east of Nashville and about eighty miles to the south, near the Tennessee– Alabama state line. Travelers leaving Nashville in a northerly or easterly direction will soon begin the climb up the escarpment that marks the bordering geographic / geologic province ,

276-469: A Northwest Passage to China; to exploit the territory's natural resources, such as fur and mineral ores; and to convert the native population to Catholicism. Fur traders began exploring the pays d'en haut (upper country around the Great Lakes) at the time. In 1659, Pierre-Esprit Radisson and Médard Chouart des Groseilliers reached the western end of Lake Superior . Priests founded missions , such as

414-486: A poll tax and literacy test . The 1901 constitution required racial segregation of public schools. By 1903 only 2,980 African Americans were registered in Alabama, although at least 74,000 were literate . This compared to more than 181,000 African Americans eligible to vote in 1900. The numbers dropped even more in later decades. The state legislature passed additional racial segregation laws related to public facilities into

552-556: A French fur-trading center, connected to trading posts on the Missouri and Upper Mississippi rivers, leading to later French settlement in that area. In the 1762 Treaty of Fontainebleau , France ceded Louisiana west of the Mississippi River to Spain, its ally in the war, as compensation for the loss of Spanish Florida to Britain. Even after France had lost its claim to Louisiana, francophone settlement of Upper Louisiana continued for

690-538: A French monopoly on trade. Colbert wanted to reduce the expenditure of the monarchy. It was, however, necessary to invest much money and to mobilize important human resources retain the American colony. Much work was done on the economic infrastructure (factories, ports) in metropolitan France, but the investment was not enough in Louisiana. No plan to facilitate the movement of goods or men was ever carried out. The French budget

828-650: A few days, it joined the Confederate States of America . The Confederacy's capital was initially at Montgomery. Alabama was heavily involved in the American Civil War . Although comparatively few battles were fought in the state, Alabama contributed about 120,000 soldiers to the war effort. A company of cavalry soldiers from Huntsville, Alabama, joined Nathan Bedford Forrest 's battalion in Hopkinsville, Kentucky . The company wore new uniforms with yellow trim on

966-537: A fundamental place in the control of the territory. Soldiers built forts and frequently negotiated with the Native Americans. The coureurs des bois (literally "runners of the woods") played an important part, though not well documented, in the expansion of French influence in North America. By the end of the 17th century, these adventurers had journeyed the length of the Mississippi River. They were motivated by

1104-517: A game of political alliances greatly marked the history of Louisiana, in direct and indirect ways. Within those shifting conditions, the French desire to limit British influence in North America was a constant issue in royal politics. Louis XIV took care to limit the appearance of intermediary bodies and countervailing powers in North America. He did not want an assembly of notables or parliament . In

1242-505: A hideout of Jesse James ; Stephens Gap Cave, in Jackson County , which has a 143-foot pit and two waterfalls and is one of the most photographed wild cave scenes in America; Little River Canyon, near Fort Payne, one of the nation's longest mountaintop rivers; Rickwood Caverns , near Warrior , which has an underground pool, blind cave-fish, and 260-million-year-old limestone formations; and

1380-561: A lawsuit and court order. Beginning in the 1940s, when the courts started taking the first steps to recognize the voting rights of black voters, the Alabama legislature took several counter-steps designed to disfranchise black voters. The legislature passed, and the voters ratified [as these were mostly white voters], a state constitutional amendment that gave local registrars greater latitude to disqualify voter registration applicants. Black citizens in Mobile successfully challenged this amendment as

1518-639: A length of time fixed by the contract of service to pay off their passage. During this time, they were "temporary semi-slaves". To increase the colonial population, the crown sent filles à la cassette ("casket girls," referring to the small trunks they arrived with), young Frenchwomen, to marry the soldiers. They were given a dowry financed by the King. This practice built upon the 17th-century precedent when Louis XIV paid for transport and dowries for about 800 filles du roi (King's Daughters) to emigrate to New France to encourage marriage and formation of families in

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1656-911: A map showing the Mississippi as much farther west than it really was. With four ships and 320 emigrants, Cavelier set sail for Louisiana. Cavelier did not find the river's mouth in the Mississippi River Delta and tried to establish a colony on the Texas coast. Cavelier was assassinated in 1687 by members of his exploration party, reportedly near what is now Navasota, Texas . [REDACTED]   Kingdom of France 1718–1763 [REDACTED]   Kingdom of Spain 1763–1802 [REDACTED]   French First Republic 1802–1803 [REDACTED]   United States of America 1803–1861 [REDACTED]   Confederate States of America 1861–1862 [REDACTED]   United States of America 1862–present It

1794-715: A mission in the Native American village of Kaskaskias on the Illinois River . A permanent settlement was made by 1690. In 1682, René-Robert Cavelier and the Italian Henri de Tonti descended to the Mississippi River Delta . They left Fort Crèvecoeur on the Illinois River, accompanied by 23 Frenchmen and 18 Indians. They built Fort Prud'homme (later the city of Memphis ) and claimed French sovereignty on

1932-511: A plant common in the preparation of gumbo . While the Code Noir required that the slaves receive a Christian education, many secretly practiced animism and often combined elements of the two faiths. The commonly accepted definition of Louisiana Creole today is the community whose members are a descendant of the "native-born" individuals of la Louisiane. Some individuals may not have each ethnic heritage, and some may have additional ancestries. It

2070-762: A real threat to the groups of isolated colonists; in 1729, their attacks killed 250 in Lower Louisiana. Forces of the Native American Natchez people took Fort Rosalie (now Natchez, Mississippi ) by surprise, killing, among others, pregnant women. The French responded with warfare during the next two years: some Natchez were captured and deported as slaves to Saint Domingue ; others left the area if they escaped. Colonists were often young men, volunteers recruited in French ports or in Paris. Many served as indentured servants ; they were required to remain in Louisiana for

2208-584: A significant minority in the state, they had been unable to elect any representatives in most of the at-large jurisdictions. As part of settlement of this case, five Alabama cities and counties, including Chilton County , adopted a system of cumulative voting for election of representatives in multi-seat jurisdictions. This has resulted in more proportional representation for voters. In another form of proportional representation, 23 jurisdictions use limited voting , as in Conecuh County . In 1982, limited voting

2346-437: A similar but smaller area surrounding Lexington , Kentucky referred to as the " Kentucky Bluegrass " area, are the two primary areas of this sort in the world. The Inner Basin of the flattest terrain and most limestone-derived soil chemistry is located to the south and east of Nashville, primarily in the counties of Marshall , Rutherford , Wilson , and Bedford . Here also are seen the horse farms somewhat reminiscent of

2484-558: A single Catholic diocese, whose seat was in Quebec. The archbishop, named and paid by the king, was spiritual head of all New France. With loose religious supervision, the fervor of the population was very weak; Louisianans tended to practice their faith much less than did their counterparts in France and Canada. The tithe, a tax by the clergy on the congregations, produced less revenue than in France. The Church nevertheless played an important part in

2622-582: A slight majority of those disenfranchised by these laws: 600,000 whites vs. 520,000 African Americans. Nearly all Blacks had lost the ability to vote. Despite numerous legal challenges which succeeded in overturning certain provisions, the state legislature would create new ones to maintain disenfranchisement. The exclusion of blacks from the political system persisted until after passage of federal civil rights legislation in 1965 to enforce their constitutional rights as citizens. The rural-dominated Alabama legislature consistently underfunded schools and services for

2760-585: A violation of the Fifteenth Amendment . The legislature also changed the boundaries of Tuskegee to a 28-sided figure designed to fence out blacks from the city limits. The Supreme Court unanimously held that this racial " gerrymandering " violated the Constitution. In 1961,   ... the Alabama legislature also intentionally diluted the effect of the black vote by instituting numbered place requirements for local elections. Industrial development related to

2898-438: Is a predominantly conservative state, and is known for its Southern culture . Within Alabama, American football , particularly at the college level, plays a major part of the state's culture. Originally home to many native tribes, present-day Alabama was a Spanish territory beginning in the sixteenth century until the French acquired it in the early eighteenth century. The British won the territory in 1763 until losing it in

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3036-583: Is associated with the misnomer the Cajun French dialect and with Louisiana Creole French, a related creole language. Spoken widely in what is now the U.S. state of Louisiana, it is now considered to have been relabeled as "Cajun French". Colonial French is conventionally described as the form of French spoken in Lower French Louisiana prior to the mass arrival of Acadians after the Great Upheaval of

3174-573: Is common in the U.S.; an estimated 26 states have names of Native American origin. Sources disagree on the word's meaning. Some scholars suggest the word comes from the Choctaw alba (meaning 'plants' or 'weeds') and amo (meaning 'to cut', 'to trim', or 'to gather'). The meaning may have been 'clearers of the thicket' or 'herb gatherers', referring to clearing land for cultivation or collecting medicinal plants. The state has numerous place names of Native American origin . An 1842 article in

3312-408: Is difficult to estimate the total population of France's colonies in North America. While historians have relatively precise sources regarding the colonists and enslaved Africans, estimates of Native American peoples is difficult. During the 18th century, the society of Louisiana became quite creolized . Colonial French (commonly known as Colonial Louisiana French) is a variety of Louisiana French. It

3450-495: Is distinguished from both Louisiana French and the various forms of Canadian French , such as Acadian . The dialect continued to be spoken around the Midwest, particularly in Missouri, through the 20th century. It is nearly extinct today, with only a few elderly speakers still able to use it. In 1660, France started a policy of expansion into the interior of North America from what is now eastern Canada. The objectives were to locate

3588-540: Is estimated that 7,000 European immigrants settled in Louisiana during the 18th century—a hundredth the number of inhabitants of the Thirteen Colonies on the Atlantic coast. Initially, creole was the term used for Europeans (and sometimes, separately for Africans) born in Louisiana, in contrast to those who immigrated there. Louisiana attracted considerably fewer French colonists than did its West Indian colonies. After

3726-558: Is known among the educated that it has been incorrectly relabelled "Cajun French" by Cajuns and CODOFIL. Following the Great Upheaval in 1764, when many Acadians were exiled to French Louisiana, Louisiana French was adopted by the Acadians. Some scholars suggested that it survived as the prestige dialect spoken by Creoles, both white and of color, into the 21st century. There are populations of Creoles and Cajuns among other ethnic groups in

3864-570: Is mostly mountainous, with the Tennessee River cutting a large valley and creating numerous creeks, streams, rivers, mountains, and lakes. Alabama is bordered by the states of Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama has coastline at the Gulf of Mexico, in the extreme southern edge of the state. The state ranges in elevation from sea level at Mobile Bay to more than 2,000 feet (610 m) in

4002-521: Is today southern Clarke County , northernmost Mobile County , and most of Washington County . What are now Baldwin and Mobile counties became part of Spanish West Florida in 1783, part of the independent Republic of West Florida in 1810, and finally part of the Mississippi Territory in 1812. Most of what is now the northern two-thirds of Alabama was known as the Yazoo lands beginning during

4140-670: The Alabama River and state is derived from the Alabama people , a Muskogean-speaking tribe whose members lived just below the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers on the upper reaches of the river. In the Alabama language , the word for a person of Alabama lineage is Albaamo (or variously Albaama or Albàamo in different dialects; the plural form is Albaamaha ). The word's spelling varies significantly among historical sources. The first usage appears in three accounts of

4278-559: The American Revolutionary War . Spain held Mobile as part of Spanish West Florida until 1813. In December 1819, Alabama was recognized as a state. During the antebellum period, Alabama was a major producer of cotton , and widely used African American slave labor . In 1861, the state seceded from the United States to become part of the Confederate States of America , with Montgomery acting as its first capital, and rejoined

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4416-621: The Blaine Amendment , prohibiting public money from being used to finance religious-affiliated schools. The same year, legislation was approved that called for racially segregated schools. Railroad passenger cars were segregated in 1891. The new 1901 Constitution of Alabama included provisions for voter registration that effectively disenfranchised large portions of the population, including nearly all African Americans and Native Americans, and tens of thousands of poor European Americans, through making voter registration difficult, requiring

4554-695: The Hernando de Soto expedition of 1540: Garcilaso de la Vega used Alibamo , while the Knight of Elvas and Rodrigo Ranjel wrote Alibamu and Limamu , respectively, in transliterations of the term. As early as 1702, the French called the tribe the Alibamon , with French maps identifying the river as Rivière des Alibamons . Other spellings of the name have included Alibamu , Alabamo , Albama , Alebamon , Alibama , Alibamou , Alabamu , and Allibamou . The use of state names derived from Native American languages

4692-712: The Highland Rim and further eastwards, the Cumberland Plateau . The southern edge of the Highland Rim is more distant and somewhat less pronounced. The only downhill routes leaving the area follow the course of the Cumberland River as it flows northwest toward Ashland City and Clarksville, Tennessee . The Central Basin is underlain primarily by limestone from the Ordovician Period . The Nashville Basin and

4830-485: The Illinois River , and from there west to the mouth of the Rock River (at present-day Rock Island, Illinois ). Thus, Vincennes and Peoria were the limit of Louisiana's reach. The outposts at Ouiatenon (on the upper Wabash near present-day Lafayette, Indiana ), Fort Miamis (near present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana ), and Prairie du Chien operated as dependencies of Canada. This boundary remained in effect through

4968-536: The Jacksonville Republican proposed it meant 'Here We Rest'. This notion was popularized in the 1850s through the writings of Alexander Beaufort Meek . Experts in the Muskogean languages have not found any evidence to support such a translation. Indigenous peoples of varying cultures lived in the area for thousands of years before the advent of European colonization. Trade with the northeastern tribes by

5106-644: The Montgomery bus boycott (1955–1956), Freedom Rides in 1961, and 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches. These contributed to Congressional passage and enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 by the U.S. Congress. Legal segregation ended in the states in 1964, but Jim Crow customs often continued until specifically challenged in court. According to The New York Times , by 2017, many of Alabama's African Americans were living in Alabama's cities such as Birmingham and Montgomery. Also,

5244-450: The Muskogee tribes developed distinct cultures and languages. The Spanish were the first Europeans to reach Alabama during their exploration of North America in the 16th century. The expedition of Hernando de Soto passed through Mabila and other parts of the state in 1540. More than 160 years later, the French founded the region's first European settlement at Old Mobile in 1702. The city

5382-709: The Natchez Trace Parkway , the Selma To Montgomery National Historic Trail , and the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail . Natural wonders include the "Natural Bridge" rock, the longest natural bridge east of the Rockies , just south of Haleyville ; Cathedral Caverns , in Marshall County , named for its cathedral-like appearance, which features one of the largest cave entrances and one of

5520-709: The Ohio River began during the Burial Mound Period (1000   BCE – 700   CE) and continued until European contact . The agrarian Mississippian culture covered most of the state from 1000 to 1600 CE, with one of its major centers built at what is now the Moundville Archaeological Site in Moundville, Alabama . This is the second-largest complex of the classic Middle Mississippian era, after Cahokia in present-day Illinois , which

5658-520: The Rocky Mountains . The area was under French control from 1682 to 1762 and in part from 1801 (nominally) to 1803 . Louisiana included two regions, now known as Upper Louisiana ( la Haute-Louisiane ), which began north of the Arkansas River , and Lower Louisiana ( la Basse-Louisiane ). The U.S. state of Louisiana is named for the historical region, although it is only a small part of

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5796-589: The Upper South brought slaves with them as the cotton plantations in Alabama expanded. The economy of the central Black Belt (named for its dark, productive soil) was built around large cotton plantations whose owners' wealth grew mainly from slave labor. The area also drew many poor, disenfranchised people who became subsistence farmers . Alabama had an estimated population of under 10,000 people in 1810, but it increased to more than 300,000 people by 1830. Most Native American tribes were completely removed from

5934-623: The Walls of Jericho canyon, on the Alabama–Tennessee border. A 5-mile (8 km)-wide meteorite impact crater is located in Elmore County , just north of Montgomery. This is the Wetumpka crater , the site of "Alabama's greatest natural disaster". A 1,000-foot (300 m)-wide meteorite hit the area about 80 million years ago. The hills just east of downtown Wetumpka showcase the eroded remains of

6072-521: The West Indies for sale as slaves, or to Canada. In Louisiana, planters generally preferred using African slaves, though some had Native American servants. In 1717, 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. The Royal Indies Company held a monopoly over

6210-575: The governor-general of Louisiana in New Orleans. The geographical limits of Upper Louisiana were never precisely defined, but the term gradually came to describe the country southwest of the Great Lakes . A royal ordinance of 1722 may have featured the broadest definition of the region: all land claimed by France south of the Great Lakes and north of the mouth of the Ohio River , including both banks of

6348-1071: The northeast , to Mount Cheaha at 2,413 ft (735 m). Alabama's land consists of 22 million acres (89,000 km ) of forest or 67% of the state's total land area. Suburban Baldwin County , along the Gulf Coast, is the largest county in the state in both land area and water area. Areas in Alabama administered by the National Park Service include Horseshoe Bend National Military Park near Alexander City ; Little River Canyon National Preserve near Fort Payne ; Russell Cave National Monument in Bridgeport ; Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site in Tuskegee; and Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site near Tuskegee. Additionally, Alabama has four National Forests : Conecuh , Talladega , Tuskegee , and William B. Bankhead . Alabama also contains

6486-551: The slave trade in the area. It imported approximately 6,000 slaves from Africa between 1719 and 1743. A small portion of these were sent to the Illinois Country to cultivate the fields or to work the lead mines. The economy of Lower Louisiana consequently became slave-dependent. As in other French colonies, the treatment of the slaves was regulated by the Code Noir . The slaves often had a degree of autonomy beyond that suggested by

6624-405: The "Magic City". By 1920, Birmingham was the 36th-largest city in the United States. Heavy industry and mining were the basis of its economy. Its residents were under-represented for decades in the state legislature, which refused to redistrict after each decennial census according to population changes, as it was required by the state constitution. This did not change until the late 1960s following

6762-522: The 1660s, the colony was royal property. In 1685, Louis XIV banned all publishing in New France. Between 1712 and 1731, the French possession came under the control of Antoine Crozat , a rich businessman, then under that of the Mississippi Company (created by John Law ), which recruited immigrants to settle the colony. In 1731, Louisiana reverted to royal rule. In contrast to Metropolitan France ,

6900-511: The 1770s, France decided to aid revolution in Britain's North American colonies , east of the Mississippi, that became the United States. France regained sovereignty from Spain of the western territory in the secret Third Treaty of San Ildefonso of 1800. Napoleon Bonaparte made plans to further develop France's control but strained by operations in the Caribbean and Europe, he sold the territory to

7038-404: The 1950s: jails were segregated in 1911; hospitals in 1915; toilets, hotels, and restaurants in 1928; and bus stop waiting rooms in 1945. While the planter class had persuaded poor whites to vote for this legislative effort to suppress black voting, the new restrictions resulted in their disenfranchisement as well, due mostly to the imposition of a cumulative poll tax. By 1941, whites constituted

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7176-433: The Alabama Territory on March 3, 1817. St. Stephens , now abandoned, served as the territorial capital from 1817 to 1819. Alabama was admitted as the 22nd state on December 14, 1819, with Congress selecting Huntsville as the site for the first Constitutional Convention . From July   5 to August 2, 1819, delegates met to prepare the new state constitution. Huntsville served as temporary capital from 1819 to 1820, when

7314-449: The Alabama legislature." In the United States Supreme Court cases of Baker v. Carr (1962) and Reynolds v. Sims (1964), the court ruled that the principle of " one man, one vote " needed to be the basis of both houses of state legislatures, and that their districts had to be based on population rather than geographic counties. African Americans continued to press in the 1950s and 1960s to end disenfranchisement and segregation in

7452-583: The Black Belt region across central Alabama "is home to largely poor counties that are predominantly African-American. These counties include Dallas, Lowndes , Marengo and Perry ." In 1972, for the first time since 1901, the legislature completed the congressional redistricting based on the decennial census. This benefited the urban areas that had developed, as well as all in the population who had been underrepresented for more than sixty years. Other changes were made to implement representative state house and senate districts. Alabama has made some changes since

7590-399: The British colonial period. It was claimed by the Province of Georgia from 1767 onwards. Following the Revolutionary War, it remained a part of Georgia, although heavily disputed. With the exception of the area around Mobile and the Yazoo lands, what is now the lower one-third of Alabama was made part of the Mississippi Territory when it was organized in 1798. The Yazoo lands were added to

7728-412: The British. Other Acadians were transported there by the British after they were expelled from Acadia. About 4,000 are thought to have settled in Louisiana, gradually forming the Cajun community. Social mobility was easier in America than in France at the time. The seigneurial system was not imposed on the banks of the Mississippi, although the long lot land division scheme of the seigneurial system

7866-449: The French colony of Louisiana bordered the Great Lakes , particularly Lake Michigan and Lake Erie towards the north; this region was the "Upper Country" of the French province of Canada . To the east was territory disputed with the thirteen British colonies on the Atlantic seaboard; the French claim extended to the Appalachian Mountains. The Rocky Mountains marked the western extent of the French claim, while Louisiana's southern border

8004-399: The French settlers on the east bank of the Mississippi crossed the river to what had become Spanish Louisiana ) the eastern Illinois Country became part of the British Province of Quebec , and later the United States' Northwest Territory . French colonists who migrated after they lost control over New France founded outposts such as the important settlement of St. Louis (1764). This became

8142-408: The Houmas, Avoyelles, Choctaw, and other tribal remnants, all present in pre-Acadian Louisiana and still present in contemporary Louisiana. According to the demographer Russel Thornton, North America contained approximately seven million native inhabitants in 1500. The population plummeted from the 16th century onward, primarily because of the new infectious diseases carried by Europeans, to which

8280-430: The Illinois Country, was the French territory in the upper Mississippi River Valley , including settlements and fortifications in what are now the states of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. French exploration of the area began with the 1673 expedition of Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette , which charted the upper Mississippi. As noted above, Upper Louisiana was primarily settled by colonists from French Canada . There

8418-427: The Kentucky Bluegrass region. Supposedly the underlying rock weathers to a soil particularly suited to the growing of the sorts of grasses most favored by horses. Limestone glades (or cedar glades ), located to the east of Nashville, primarily in Wilson and Rutherford Counties, are open areas where the flat limestone rock is denuded of overlying soil or nearly so, provide an environment for flora unlike any other in

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8556-441: The Mission of Sault Sainte Marie in 1668. On May 17, 1673, Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette began the exploration of the Mississippi River, which they called the Sioux Tongo (the large river) or Michissipi . They reached the mouth of the Arkansas River , and then returned upstream, having learned that the great river ran toward the Gulf of Mexico, not toward the Pacific Ocean as they had presumed. In 1675, Marquette founded

8694-490: The Mississippi River basin (see drawing alongside) from what is now the Midwestern United States south to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Within this vast territory, only two areas saw substantial French settlement: Upper Louisiana ( French : Haute-Louisiane ), also known as the Illinois Country ( French : Pays des Illinois ), which consisted of settlements in what are now the states of Missouri , Illinois , and Indiana ; and Lower Louisiana , which comprised parts of

8832-415: The Mississippi as well as the lower Missouri Valley . A generation later, trade conflicts between Canada and Louisiana led to a defined boundary between the French colonies; in 1745, Louisiana governor general Vaudreuil set the northeastern bounds of his domain as the Wabash valley up to the mouth of the Vermilion River (near present-day Danville, Illinois ); from there, northwest to le Rocher on

8970-411: The Mississippian peoples; it is one of the primary means by which their religion is understood. Among the historical tribes of Native American people living in present-day Alabama at the time of European contact were the Cherokee , an Iroquoian language people; and the Muskogean-speaking Alabama ( Alibamu ), Chickasaw , Choctaw , Creek, and Koasati . While part of the same large language family,

9108-445: The Native Americans had no acquired immunity. At the end of the 17th century, there were likely no more than 100,000 to 200,000 Native Americans in Lower Louisiana. French colonists forced a small number of Native Americans into slavery, in spite of official prohibition. These slaves were persons who had been captured by rival tribes during raids and in battle, and sold to French colonists. At the time, many were sent to Saint Domingue in

9246-413: The Native Americans. They also looked for ways to relate Indian practices to Christian worship, and helped show the Natives how these were related. A syncretic religion developed among new Christians. Sincere and permanent conversions were limited in number; many who received missionary instruction tended to assimilate the Holy Trinity into their belief of "spirits", or rejected the concept outright. It

9384-447: The U.S. states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. The French first explored it in the 1660s, and a few trading posts were established in the following years; serious attempt at settlement began with the establishment of Fort Maurepas , near modern Biloxi, Mississippi , in 1699. A colonial government soon emerged, with its capital originally at Mobile , later at Biloxi and finally at New Orleans (in 1722, four years after

9522-400: The Union in 1868. Following the American Civil War , Alabama would suffer decades of economic hardship, in part due to agriculture and a few cash crops being the main driver of the state's economy. Similar to other former slave states, Alabamian legislators employed Jim Crow laws from the late 19th century up until the 1960s. High-profile events such as the Selma to Montgomery marches made

9660-425: The United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, ending France's presence. Remnants of France's long tenure are still found, especially in New Orleans and along the Mississippi and its tributaries. The United States ceded the part north of the 49th parallel to the United Kingdom in the Treaty of 1818 . It is part of present-day Alberta and Saskatchewan . In the 18th century, Louisiana included most of

9798-429: The United States with 52,419 square miles (135,760 km ) of total area: 3.2% of the area is water, making Alabama 23rd in the amount of surface water, also giving it the second-largest inland waterway system in the United States. About three-fifths of the land area is part of the Gulf Coastal Plain , a gentle plain with a general descent towards the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. The North Alabama region

9936-594: The University of Alabama introduced the term "Plantation Society French" for the prestige dialect. There is a history of diglossia between Plantation Society French and Louisiana Creole French. Plantation Society French, at any rate, is quite close to the Standard French of the time of its origin, with some possible differences in pronunciation and vocabulary use. It is still spoken by the Louisiana Indians, such as

10074-872: The Ylinuses". In 1800 Spain returned its part of Louisiana to France in the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso , but France sold it to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Through this time, but especially following the Louisiana Purchase, French Creoles, as they called themselves, began to move further into the Missouri Ozarks , where they formed mining communities such as Mine à Breton and La Vieille Mine ( Old Mines ). A unique dialect, known as Missouri French , developed in Upper Louisiana. It

10212-601: The area, such as Georgia and Florida. In 2001, Alabama Supreme Court chief justice Roy Moore installed a statue of the Ten Commandments in the capitol in Montgomery. In 2002, the 11th US Circuit Court ordered the statue removed, but Moore refused to follow the court order, which led to protests around the capitol in favor of keeping the monument. The monument was removed in August 2003. A few natural disasters have occurred in

10350-401: The army in the event of conflict with the other colonial powers; in 1717, the colony of Mississippi counted 300 soldiers out of 550 people (Havard G, Vidal C, History of French America , p. 225.). However, the colonial army, like that of France, suffered from desertions. Certain soldiers fled to become coureurs de bois . There were few mutinies because repression was severe. The army held

10488-459: The budget, set prices, presided the Superior Council ( Conseil supérieur —the court of justice), and organized the census. Appointed by the king, Louisiana's commissaire-ordonnateur had broad powers that sometimes conflicted with those of the governor general. The military outposts of the hinterland were directed by commanders. The French possessions of North America were under the authority of

10626-550: The capitulation of French forces in Canada in 1760 until the Treaty of Paris in 1763, after which France surrendered its remaining territory east of the Mississippi to Great Britain. (Although British forces had occupied the "Canadian" posts in the Illinois and Wabash countries in 1761, they did not occupy Vincennes or the Mississippi River settlements at Cahokia and Kaskaskia until 1764, after

10764-413: The centralised government had difficulty maintaining communications over the long distance and sailing time that separated France from Louisiana. Toward the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th, the colonists on the Gulf of Mexico were left almost completely to fend for themselves; they counted far more on the assistance of the Native Americans than on France. The distance had its advantages:

10902-536: The city's founding). The government was led by a governor-general , and Louisiana became an increasingly important colony in the early 18th century. The earliest settlers of Upper Louisiana mostly came from French Canada, while Lower Louisiana was colonized by people from all over the French colonial empire , with various waves coming from Canada, France, and the French West Indies . Upper Louisiana, also known as

11040-508: The coast, destroying whole villages. The Mississippi River Delta was plagued with periodic floods and yellow fever epidemics, to which malaria and cholera were added as part of the Eurasian diseases that arrived with the Europeans. These conditions slowed colonization. Moreover, French villages and forts were not necessarily safe from enemy offensives. Attacks by Native Americans represented

11178-422: The code. Initially, during public holidays, slaves were permitted to sell a portion of the crops they had cultivated. Some would hunt, cut wood or keep livestock far from the plantation. Lastly, although interracial marriages and regroupings of slaves were prohibited, planters often kept slave mistresses. The life and work of the slaves was difficult, with the intense harvest season and processing of sugar undoubtedly

11316-506: The colonists smuggled goods into the colony with impunity. Jean-Baptiste Colbert , Louis XIV's Minister of the Navy and Trade, was eager to stuff the coffers of the Crown. He dissolved the trading companies and took care to increase the production of the country and the colonies. Being a mercantilist , he believed it was necessary to sell as much as possible and to reduce reliance on imports. He imposed

11454-473: The colony. By contrast, other arrivals were described as women "of easy virtue", vagrants or outlaws, and those without family, who arrived in Louisiana with a lettre de cachet ; they were sent by force to the colony, especially during the Régence period early in the reign of Louis XV . Their stories inspired the novel Story of the Knight of Grieux and Manon Lescaut , written by Abbé Prévost in 1731. In 1721,

11592-530: The construction costs. The fund required the local community and state to raise matching funds to pay the rest. Black residents effectively taxed themselves twice, by raising additional monies to supply matching funds for such schools, which were built in many rural areas. They often donated land and labor as well. Beginning in 1913, the first 80 Rosenwald Schools were built in Alabama for African American children. A total of 387 schools, seven teachers' houses, and several vocational buildings were completed by 1937 in

11730-500: The crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, which lasted several months, the colonists had several challenges ahead of them. Their living conditions were difficult: uprooted, they had to face a new, often hostile, environment. Many of these immigrants died during the maritime crossing or soon after their arrival. Physical conditions were harsh, and the tropical climate was difficult for colonists. Hurricanes, unknown in France, periodically struck

11868-438: The demands of World War II brought a level of prosperity to the state not seen since before the civil war. Rural workers poured into the largest cities in the state for better jobs and a higher standard of living. One example of this massive influx of workers occurred in Mobile. Between 1940 and 1943, more than 89,000 people moved into the city to work for war-related industries. Cotton and other cash crops faded in importance as

12006-513: The disenfranchised African Americans, but it did not relieve them of paying taxes. Partially as a response to chronic underfunding of education for African Americans in the South, the Rosenwald Fund began funding the construction of what came to be known as Rosenwald Schools . In Alabama, these schools were designed, and the construction partially financed with Rosenwald funds, which paid one-third of

12144-459: The early decades of the 20th century as part of the Great Migration out of the South. Reflecting this emigration, the population growth rate in Alabama (see "historical populations" table below) dropped by nearly half from 1910 to 1920. At the same time, many rural people migrated to the city of Birmingham to work in new industrial jobs. Birmingham experienced such rapid growth it was called

12282-443: The east side of the Mississippi River in present-day Illinois; and Ste. Genevieve across the river in today's Missouri. The region was initially governed as part of Canada, but was declared to be part of Louisiana in 1712, with the grant of the Louisiana country to Antoine Crozat . By the 1720s a formal government infrastructure had formed; leaders of the towns reported to the commandant of Fort de Chartres , who in turn reported to

12420-535: The east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama is the 30th largest by area and the 24th-most populous of the 50 U.S. states . Alabama is nicknamed the Yellowhammer State , after the state bird . Alabama is also known as the "Heart of Dixie " and the "Cotton State". The state has diverse geography, with the north dominated by the mountainous Tennessee Valley and

12558-555: The exploration of French Louisiana; it sent missions, primarily carried out by Jesuits , to convert Native Americans. It also founded schools and hospitals: By 1720, the Ursulines were operating a hospital in New Orleans. The church and its missionaries established contact with the numerous Amerindian tribes. Certain priests, such as Father Marquette in the 17th century, took part in exploratory missions. The Jesuits translated collections of prayers into numerous Amerindian languages to convert

12696-463: The first slaves to be freed was Louis Congo , who, in 1725, received freedom, land, and compensation in exchange for becoming the public executioner of New Orleans. Some freed slaves (notably women and former soldiers) formed small communities, which suffered from segregation ; justice was more severe against them, and they did not have right to possess weapons. Slaves contributed to the creolization of Louisianan society. They brought okra from Africa,

12834-617: The freedmen and Republicans. These groups included The Ku Klux Klan , the Pale Faces, Knights of the White Camellia , Red Shirts , and the White League . Reconstruction in Alabama ended in 1874, when the Democrats regained control of the legislature and governor's office through an election dominated by fraud and violence. They wrote another constitution in 1875, and the legislature passed

12972-460: The government applied a single unified law of the land: the Custom of Paris for civil law (rather egalitarian for the time); the "Code Louis", consisting of the 1667 ordinance on civil procedure and 1670 ordinance on criminal procedure ; the 1673 "Code Savary" for trade; and the 1685 Code noir for slavery. This served as an equaliser for a while; riots and revolts against authority were rare. But,

13110-424: The hardest. The maintenance of canals for rice irrigation and travel also involved much labor. Slave residences and furnishings as supplied by planters were modest. The slaves were given simple straw pallets as beds. They typically had some trunks and kitchen utensils. The condition of the slaves depended on the treatment they received from their masters. When it was excessively cruel, the slaves often fled and hid in

13248-482: The hope of finding gold or of carrying out a profitable fur trade with the Indians. The fur trade, often practiced without authorization, was a difficult activity, carried on most of the time by young unmarried men. Many ultimately wished to go on to more sedentary agricultural activities. Meanwhile, a good number of them were integrated into native communities, learned the languages, and took native wives. A well-known example

13386-639: The impact crater that was blasted into the bedrock, with the area labeled the Wetumpka crater or astrobleme ("star-wound") because of the concentric rings of fractures and zones of shattered rock that can be found beneath the surface. In 2002, Christian Koeberl with the Institute of Geochemistry University of Vienna published evidence and established the site as the 157th recognized impact crater on Earth. Louisiana (New France) Louisiana ( French : Louisiane ) or French Louisiana ( Louisiane française )

13524-554: The largest stalagmites in the world; Ecor Rouge, in Fairhope , the highest coastline point between Maine and Mexico; DeSoto Caverns , in Childersburg , the first officially recorded cave in the United States; Noccalula Falls , in Gadsden , which has a 90-foot waterfall; Dismals Canyon , near Phil Campbell , which is home to two waterfalls and six natural bridges and is said to have been

13662-430: The late 20th century and has used new types of voting to increase representation. In the 1980s, an omnibus redistricting case, Dillard v. Crenshaw County , challenged the at-large voting for representative seats of 180 Alabama jurisdictions, including counties and school boards. At-large voting had diluted the votes of any minority in a county, as the majority tended to take all seats. Despite African Americans making up

13800-455: The marshes or in New Orleans. The Maroon societies that runaway slaves founded were often short-lived; Louisiana did not have the larger and semi-permanent Maroon villages that developed in the West Indies. Meanwhile, slave revolts were not as frequent in this area as they were in the Caribbean. The possibility of being set free was rather low; the slaves could not purchase their freedom. One of

13938-506: The mid-18th century, which resulted in the birth of the Cajun dialect. The prestige dialect still used by Creoles and Cajuns is often identified as deriving from Colonial French, but some linguists differentiate between the two, referring to the latter as Plantation Society French. Historically spoken by Louisiana Creole population in lower French Louisiana, Colonial French is generally considered to have been adopted by whites, blacks and Cajuns. It

14076-401: The modern states of Louisiana , Arkansas , Mississippi , and Alabama . Both areas were dominated numerically by Native American tribes. At times, fewer than two hundred French soldiers were assigned to all of the colony, on both sides of the Mississippi. In the mid-1720s, Louisiana Indians numbered well over 35,000, forming a clear majority of the colony's population." Generally speaking,

14214-533: The next four decades. French explorers and frontiersmen, such as Pedro Vial , were often employed as guides and interpreters by the Spanish and later by the Americans. The Spanish lieutenant governors at St. Louis maintained the traditional "Illinois Country" nomenclature, using titles such as "commander in chief of the western part and districts of Illinois" and administrators commonly referred to their capital St. Louis "of

14352-488: The parishes of St. Martin, Avoyelles, Iberia, Pointe-Coupée, St. Charles, St. Landry, St. Mary, St. Tammany, Plaquemines, and other parishes south of Orleans, that still speak this prestige dialect. However, linguists have pointed out this prestige dialect is distinct from the pre-Upheaval Colonial French, and is largely derived from the standard French of the mid-19th century, Spanish, African languages, and Native Americans languages. As such, in 1998 linguist Michael Picone of

14490-530: The peace treaty was ratified. ) As part of a general report on conditions in the newly conquered Province of Canada, Gen. Thomas Gage (then commandant at Montreal) explained in 1762 that, although the boundary between Louisiana and Canada was not exact, it was understood that the upper Mississippi (above the mouth of the Illinois) was in Canadian trading territory. Following the transfer of power (at which time many of

14628-543: The population as "French". After the Seven Years' War , in which Britain defeated France, the settlement attracted a variety of groups: Spanish settlers, refugees from Saint Domingue (particularly after 1791 when the slave uprisings began), opponents of the French Revolution , and Acadians . In 1785, 1633 people of Acadian origin were brought from France to New Orleans, 30 years after having been expelled from Acadia by

14766-617: The seat of government moved to Cahaba in Dallas County . Cahaba , now a ghost town , was the first permanent state capital from 1820 to 1825. The Alabama Fever land rush was underway when the state was admitted to the Union, with settlers and land speculators pouring into the state to take advantage of fertile land suitable for cotton cultivation. Part of the frontier in the 1820s and 1830s, its constitution provided for universal suffrage for white men. Southeastern planters and traders from

14904-484: The ship La Baleine carried nearly 90 women of childbearing age to Louisiana; they were recruited from the Paris prison of La Salpetrière . Most quickly found husbands among the residents of the colony. These women, many of whom were most likely prostitutes or felons, were known as The Baleine Brides . Communities of Swiss and German peoples also settled in French Louisiana, but royal authorities always referred to

15042-610: The sleeves, collar and coattails. This led to them being greeted with "Yellowhammer", and the name later was applied to all Alabama troops in the Confederate Army. Alabama's slaves were freed by the 13th Amendment in 1865. Alabama was under military rule from the end of the war in May 1865 until its official restoration to the Union in 1868. From 1867 to 1874, with most white citizens barred temporarily from voting and freedmen enfranchised, many African Americans emerged as political leaders in

15180-490: The south by Mobile Bay , a historically significant port. Alabama's capital is Montgomery , and its largest city by population and area is Huntsville . Its oldest city is Mobile , founded by French colonists ( Alabama Creoles ) in 1702 as the capital of French Louisiana . Greater Birmingham is Alabama's largest metropolitan area and its economic center. Politically, as part of the Deep South , or " Bible Belt ", Alabama

15318-598: The state a major focal point of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. During and after World War II , Alabama grew as the state's economy diversified with new industries. In 1960, the establishment of NASA 's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville helped boost Alabama's economic growth by developing a local aerospace industry. Alabama's economy in the 21st century is based on automotive, finance, tourism, manufacturing, aerospace, mineral extraction, healthcare, education, retail, and technology. The name of

15456-414: The state developed a manufacturing and service base. Despite massive population changes in the state from 1901 to 1961, the rural-dominated legislature refused to reapportion House and Senate seats based on population, as required by the state constitution to follow the results of decennial censuses. They held on to old representation to maintain political and economic power in agricultural areas. One result

15594-454: The state in the twenty-first century. In 2004, Hurricane Ivan , a category 3 storm upon landfall, struck the state and caused over $ 18 billion of damage. It was among the most destructive storms to strike the state in its modern history. A super outbreak of 62 tornadoes hit the state in April 2011 and killed 238 people, devastating many communities. Alabama is the thirtieth-largest state in

15732-457: The state through the civil rights movement, including legal challenges. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that public schools had to be desegregated , but Alabama was slow to comply. During the 1960s, under Governor George Wallace , Alabama resisted compliance with federal demands for desegregation. The civil rights movement had notable events in Alabama, including

15870-610: The state within a few years of the passage of the Indian Removal Act by Congress in 1830. From 1826 to 1846, Tuscaloosa served as Alabama's capital. On January 30, 1846, the Alabama legislature announced it had voted to move the capital city from Tuscaloosa to Montgomery. The first legislative session in the new capital met in December 1847. A new capitol building was erected under the direction of Stephen Decatur Button of Philadelphia . The first structure burned down in 1849, but

16008-513: The state, particularly Huntsville, benefited from the opening of the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in 1960, a major facility in the development of the Saturn rocket program and the space shuttle. Technology and manufacturing industries, such as automobile assembly, replaced some the state's older industries in the late twentieth century, but the state's economy and growth lagged behind other states in

16146-684: The state. Alabama was represented in Congress during this period by three African-American congressmen: Jeremiah Haralson , Benjamin S. Turner , and James T. Rapier . Following the war, the state remained chiefly agricultural, with an economy tied to cotton. During Reconstruction, state legislators ratified a new state constitution in 1868 which created the state's first public school system and expanded women's rights. Legislators funded numerous public road and railroad projects, although these were plagued with allegations of fraud and misappropriation . Organized insurgent , resistance groups tried to suppress

16284-476: The state. Several of the surviving school buildings in the state are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places . Continued racial discrimination and lynchings , agricultural depression, and the failure of the cotton crops due to boll weevil infestation led tens of thousands of African Americans from rural Alabama and other states to seek opportunities in northern and midwestern cities during

16422-657: The surrender of the Spanish garrison at Mobile to U.S. forces on April 13, 1813. Thomas Bassett, a loyalist to the British monarchy during the Revolutionary era, was one of the earliest white settlers in the state outside Mobile. He settled in the Tombigbee District during the early 1770s. The district's boundaries were roughly limited to the area within a few miles of the Tombigbee River and included portions of what

16560-568: The territory in 1804, following the Yazoo land scandal . Spain kept a claim on its former Spanish West Florida territory in what would become the coastal counties until the Adams–Onís Treaty officially ceded it to the U.S. in 1819. Before Mississippi's admission to statehood on December 10, 1817, the more sparsely settled eastern half of the territory was separated and named the Alabama Territory . The United States Congress created

16698-433: The vast lands claimed by France. French exploration of the area began during the reign of Louis XIV, but the vast French Louisiana was not widely developed, due to a lack of human and financial resources. As a result of its defeat in the Seven Years' War , France was forced to cede the east part of the territory in 1763 to the victorious British , and the west part to Spain as compensation for Spain losing Florida . In

16836-399: The vast varied colony of New France into five smaller provinces, including Louisiana. The Illinois Country, south of the Great Lakes, was added to Louisiana in 1717 and became known as Upper Louisiana. Mobile served as French Louisiana's first "capital". The seat of government moved to Biloxi in 1720, and then to New Orleans in 1722, where the governor lived. While the office of governor general

16974-558: The whole of the valley, which they called Louisiane in honor of the French king, Louis XIV . They sealed alliances with the Quapaw Indians. In April 1682, they arrived at the mouth of the Mississippi. Cavelier eventually returned to Versailles , where he convinced the Minister of the Marine to grant the command of Louisiana to him. He claimed that Louisiana was close to New Spain by drawing

17112-470: The world. 36°0′N 86°48′W  /  36.000°N 86.800°W  / 36.000; -86.800 This Tennessee geography–related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Alabama Alabama ( / ˌ æ l ə ˈ b æ m ə / AL -ə- BAM -ə ) is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia to

17250-550: Was adapted to some of the meandering rivers and bayous there. There were few corporations treated hierarchically and strictly regulated. Certain tradesmen managed to build fortunes rather quickly. The large planters of Louisiana were attached to the French way of life: they imported wigs and clothing fashionable in Paris. In the Country of Illinois, the wealthiest constructed stone-built houses and had several slaves. The largest traders mostly wound up settling in New Orleans. The King sent

17388-540: Was an administrative district of New France . In 1682 the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle erected a cross near the mouth of the Mississippi River and claimed the whole of the drainage basin of the Mississippi River in the name of King Louis XIV , naming it "Louisiana". This land area stretched from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Appalachian Mountains to

17526-572: Was exhausted because of the wars in Europe, but the colonists in Louisiana did not have to pay royal taxes and were free of the hated gabelle . Under the Ancien Régime , Louisiana formed part of a larger colonial unit, French American territory—New France ( Nouvelle France ), which included a large part of modern-day Canada. New France was initially ruled by a viceroy in 1625, the Duke of Ventadour . The colony

17664-528: Was first tested in Conecuh County. Together use of these systems has increased the number of African Americans and women being elected to local offices, resulting in governments that are more representative of their citizens. Beginning in the 1960s, the state's economy shifted away from its traditional lumber, steel, and textile industries because of increased foreign competition. Steel jobs, for instance, declined from 46,314 in 1950 to 14,185 in 2011. However,

17802-439: Was for many reasons. The reign of Henry IV gave an important impetus to the colonisation of New France. Henry IV, the first Bourbon king, was personally interested in foreign affairs. In the 17th century, the ministers Richelieu and later Colbert advanced colonial politics. Louis XIV and his ministers were worried about the size of the kingdom, over which they constantly competed with other European nations. European rivalry and

17940-493: Was further substantial intermarriage and integration with the local Illinois peoples . French settlers were attracted by the availability of arable farmland as well as by the forests, abundant with animals suitable for hunting and trapping . Between 1699 and 1760, six major settlements were established in Upper Louisiana: Cahokia , Kaskaskia , Fort de Chartres , Saint Philippe , and Prairie du Rocher , all on

18078-499: Was moved to the current site of Mobile in 1711. This area was claimed by the French from 1702 to 1763 as part of La Louisiane . After the French lost to the British in the Seven Years' War , it became part of British West Florida from 1763 to 1783. After the U.S. victory in the American Revolutionary War , the territory was divided between the United States and Spain. The latter retained control of this western territory from 1783 until

18216-418: Was not easy for an absolute monarchy to administer Louisiana, a territory several times larger than European France . Louis XIV and his successors tried to impose their absolutist ambitions on the colony, often without giving the colonial administration enough financial means to do its work. If the leaders of Ancien Régime took control of, and sometimes encouraged, the colonization of New France , it

18354-490: Was rebuilt on the same site in 1851. This second capitol building in Montgomery remains to the present day. It was designed by Barachias Holt of Exeter, Maine . By 1860, the population had increased to 964,201 people, of which nearly half, 435,080, were enslaved African Americans, and 2,690 were free people of color . On January 11, 1861, Alabama declared its secession from the Union . After remaining an independent republic for

18492-413: Was that Jefferson County , containing Birmingham's industrial and economic powerhouse, contributed more than one-third of all tax revenue to the state, but did not receive a proportional amount in services. Urban interests were consistently underrepresented in the legislature. A 1960 study noted that because of rural domination, "a minority of about 25% of the total state population is in majority control of

18630-553: Was the Gulf of Mexico. The general flatness of the land aided movement through the territory; its average elevation is less than 1,000 metres (3,300 ft). The topography becomes more mountainous towards the west, with the notable exception of the Ozark Mountains , which are located in the mid-south. Lower Louisiana consisted of lands in the Lower Mississippi River watershed , including settlements in what are now

18768-527: Was the center of the culture. Analysis of artifacts from archaeological excavations at Moundville were the basis of scholars' formulating the characteristics of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC). Contrary to popular belief, the SECC appears to have no direct links to Mesoamerican culture but developed independently. The Ceremonial Complex represents a major component of the religion of

18906-458: Was the most eminent, it was not the most powerful. His was a military position that required him to lead the troops and maintain diplomatic relations. The second provincial authority was the commissaire-ordonnateur . His was a civil post with similar functions as that of the intendants in France: the king's administrator and representative, he oversaw justice, the police force, and finances. He managed

19044-650: Was then given a government like the Bourbons ' other possessions. Its capital was Quebec City until 1759. A governor-general , assisted by a single intendant , was charged with ruling this vast region. In theory, Louisiana was subordinate to Canada, and so it was explored and settled chiefly by French-Canadians rather than colonists from France. Given the enormous distance between New Orleans and Quebec, communications outside cities and forts were limited. French settlements were widely dispersed, which afforded them de facto autonomy. The government decided to break up governance of

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