Date of Award
2023
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
History
First Advisor
Frances Turnbell
Second Advisor
Jeffrey Bibbee
Third Advisor
Ansley Quiros
Abstract
During the seventeenth century, a race to expand European empires into the New World was underway. Many explorers landed on shores that were far from where they had intended to arrive. What many perceived as mistakes, others saw as opportunities. Louis XIV was determined to expand his empire and establish a larger French dominance in North America. He and his minister of finance, Jean Baptiste Colbert, recognized that France was in a position to expand New France and the French Empire’s territory by following a previously spoken plan laid out by French explorer, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in the 1680s. Control of the Mississippi River was crucial for the success of this plan. It meant an increase in trade and travel along the river and the potential of propelling France to the supreme power in North America. They determined that for the success of such a project, a substantial colonial presence near the mouth of le fleuve Colbert and le Golfe du Méxique, inclusive of the area of modern Alabama was necessary. France intended its new colony to connect New France with the Gulf of Mexico and eliminate constant aggravation from foreign vessels and possibly increase trade and commerce along this route. There was also a need to build relationships with the Native groups of the Mississippi River Valley and the interior of the Gulf Coast to keep Britain from advancing her colonial claims westward and dominating the colonial landscape of North America. Brothers Pierre LeMoyne, d’Iberville and Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, de Bienville set out to establish those settlements that Louis XIV and his court envisioned even as the environment of European politics was in upheaval. European politics and rivalry interacted with the French project on the Gulf Coast and Mississippi Valley during its earliest years.
Recommended Citation
Norwood, Dixie, "Alabama's French Connection" (2023). Theses. 6.
https://roar.una.edu/theses/6
