Spain was the first European nation to claim lands in the Americas. The French also claimed territory in North America. In the early 1600s they built settlements along the St. Lawrence River in what is present day Canada.

The French in North America The French never found much gold, but they did find another type of treasure—furs. French explorers spread out over vast areas seeking trade with Native Americans and claiming land for France.

Vocabulary Northwest Passage: A water route to the Pacific Ocean that many explores believed was a shortcut to Asia through North America. Many thought the Mississippi River was one of these short-cuts, but it was not.

Rene Robert Cavelier,Sieur de La Salle La Salle still had a vision for the Mississippi— trading empire In 1682, LaSalle set sail claiming all the land around the river for France. He called this land Louisiana after the French king Louis XIV Some of this land included part of Texas.

La Salle  La Salle went back to France to get ships from the King of France and in 1684 sailed back to North America with 280 people and 4 ships.  This expedition had many problems.  The expedition suffered a serious setback when Spaniards captured one of the 4 ships. The loss of sailors, colonists, and supplies weakened the expedition and gave the Spanish clues about La Salle’s plans to claim land for France.

Fort St. Louis The final disaster struck when La Salle’s sailed past the Mississippi River by over 100 miles. La Salle landed at present day Matagorda Bay, Texas During this landing, his ship, La Belle, was wrecked. La Salle did not realize how far away from the Mississippi he was. The group built a fort which became known as Fort St. Louis.

Fort St. Louis  Life was miserable at the fort.  Many of the explorers were already sick and the harsh living conditions made them sicker.  The Karankawas who lived in the area were hostile to the newcomers.  There were killings on both sides.

The death of La Salle Realizing his fort was in danger, La Salle went in search of the Mississippi River so he could go back to Canada for help. On his travels, La Salle’s own men staged a mutiny (revolt against one’s leader). In March of 1687, La Salle was shot and killed by one of his own men.

Fort St. Louis Destroyed La Salle had taken most of the men with him on his search for the Mississippi. Many of them ran away or died in Indian raids. One of them was killed by an alligator!

Fort St. Louis Destroyed  Sometime in late 1688 or early 1689, the Karankawas attacked the fort.  The Indians killed almost all of the settlers. There were only 5 frightened survivors. These were small children that the Karankawas took captive, but the Indian women kept as their own. Painting of one of the children captured at Ft. Louis and adopted by the Karankawas.

Spain Reacts  When the Spanish heard of La Salle’s arrival in their territory, they set out to find the French intruders.  It took them a year to find Fort St. Louis.  The Spanish found the fort deserted and the remains of the French that had been killed in the Indian raid where still in the fort.  The Spanish would discover the kidnapped children and take them back to Mexico.

What did the Spanish learn? The Spanish now realized that they would need to pay more attention to Texas if they wanted to keep control of its land. Spain vs France