Louisiana History

Any respectable site dedicated to the town of Lake Providence has to begin at the beginning: a refresher course in Louisiana history.

The area that is now the Mississippi Delta was first explored by DeSoto, the Spanish explorer, in the 1500s. He was the first to encounter the impressive Mississippi River. The French then got in on the game when LaSalle claimed "all land drained" by the mighty river for France in 1682. At the time, the land was completely untamed, containing thick forests and swampy marsh lands.

Now, this is where the story gets interesting. In the early 1800's, President Thomas Jefferson sent James Monroe and Robert Livingston to France to negotiate a deal with Napoleon for a small tract of land on the Mississippi River. Turns out, Napoleon was ready to unload this land in the "new world." Napoleon's first intention was to use the Louisiana land as a source of food, supplies, and trading posts for the island of Hispanola. The Haitian slaves that inhabited the island rose up against French control. Many of the French soldiers died of yellow fever and soon Napolean realized that there was no hope.

When the Americans crossed the seas to wheel and deal, Napoleon offered the entire territory. On April 30, 1803, a treaty was signed for the purchase of 800,000 square miles for around $15 million dollars. The United States had literally doubled its size through this once in a lifetime deal. The ownership was officially turned over December 20, 1803. The land was eventually divided up and the piece known as Louisiana became the 18th state in 1812.

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