French Mississippi Company
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In the history of French trade, the French Mississippi Company was a chartered company first established in 1684.
It was founded at the request of René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, who having projected it in 1660, and being appointed Governor of Fort Frontenac, at the mouth of that river, travelled over the country in 1683, and returned to France to solicit its establishment.
This obtained, he set sail for his new colony, with four vessels loaded with inhabitants, etc; but upon entering the Gulf of Mexico, it seems he did not know the river that had cost him so much fatigue, for he settled on another, unknown river, where his colony perished by degrees. By 1685, there were fewer than 100 people left in the colony. Making several expeditions to find the Mississippi, he was killed in one of them by a party who mutinied against him, upon which the colony was dispersed and lost.
Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville afterwards succeeded better; he found the Mississippi River, built a fort, and settled a colony. In 1718, the company had founded the city of New Orleans in the territory of Louisiana.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates content from the 1728 Cyclopaedia, a publication in the public domain.
- Johnston, Alexander. The United States, Its History and Constitution. C. Scribner's sons. 1889. p 23.
