Louisiana
La Louisiane was claimed by France in 1682 and named in honor of King Louis XIV. France ceded the territory to Spain via the Treaty of Fontainebleau in 1762, though Spanish authority over New Orleans was not fully established until 1769 after a French residents' uprising. Spain retroceded the territory to France in 1801 under the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso and Treaty of Aranjuez, and France then transferred it to the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase, with the formal ceremony in New Orleans occurring on 20 December 1803. The Territory of Orleans existed from October 1, 1804, until Louisiana was admitted as the 18th state of the United States on April 30, 1812.
Pre-contact era
The area now known as Louisiana was occupied by indigenous peoples for thousands of years, with permanent settlement beginning about 5,500 years ago during the Archaic period. The Marksville culture emerged about 2,000 years ago from the earlier Tchefuncte culture and is considered ancestral to the Natchez and Taensa peoples. Around 800 CE the Mississippian culture emerged, reaching complex chiefdom-level social organization with maize agriculture around 1200 CE before mostly disappearing in the 16th century.
Colonial history
European influence began in the 1500s prior to formal French colonization in 1682.
The actual transfer of authority of New Orleans was gradual; when Spain finally attempted to fully replace the city's French authorities in 1767, French residents staged an uprising which the new Spanish colonial governor did not suppress until 1769. Spain agreed to continue administering the colony until French officials arrived and formalized the transfer, with the official transfer of ownership taking place at the Cabildo in New Orleans on 30 November 1803.
Spain continued administering the colony until French officials arrived; the official transfer of ownership from Spain to France took place at the Cabildo in New Orleans on 30 November 1803, and France then transferred it to the United States three weeks later on 20 December 1803.
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State history content adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Historic sites data: National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
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