| Louisiana
has a rich, colorful historical background. Early Spanish explorers were
Alvarez Pineda, 1519; Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca,1528; and Hernando De
Soto in 1541. Sieeur de La Salle reached the mouth of the Mississippi River
and claimed all the land drained by it and its tributaries for Louis XIV
of France in 1682. Louisiana became a French crown colony in 1731, was
ceded to Spain in 1763, returned to France in 1800, and sold by Napoleon
to the U.S. as part of the Louisiana Purchase (with large territories to
the north and northwest) in 1803. Louisiana joined the Union on April 30,
1812 as the 18th State. |
