7 (D-55) French Louisiana

DAY 7 (D-55)  55 days before we leave.
Of course, LOUISIANA got its name from the French.  René-Robert Cavelier de la Salle in 1682 during his expedition down the Mississippi gave to the land the name Louisiana, in honor of The Sun-King, Louis XIV.  On April 9, 1682, at the mouth of the Mississippi River La Salle buried an engraved plate and a cross, claiming the territory for France.

French Louisiana was an administrative district of New France.  Under French control 1682-1762 and 1802-1804, it originally covered a large territory, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Appalachian Mountains to the Rocky Mountains.  Louisiana was divided into two regions, Upper Louisiana (Haute-Louisiane), which began north of the Arkansas River and Lower Louisiana (Basse-Louisiane), where we have the states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama today.
The present-day US state of Louisiana is named for the historical region, but it occupies only a small part of the territory claimed by the French.

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Napoleon sold Louisiana, as seen in maps 3 and 4, to the United States in 1803.

Jane