Notes from Social Studies on Friday

Exploring the Mississippi River

• In 1670s two French explorers traveled the Mississippi River by canoe.
• Fur trader: Louis Joliet and Priest: Jacques Marquette
• They were looking for the Northwest Passage but discovered the Mississippi went south to the Gulf of Mexico.
• In 1682 Robert Cavelier de La Salle took the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico and claimed the region for France calling it Louisiana in honor of Louis XIV
• In 1718 the French founded New Orleans
  
  

New France and New Netherlands

• New France settlements were along the St. Lawrence River.
• The French got along with the Native Americans. The French were trappers, and missionaries(wanted to convert the Native Americans to Catholicism), they also learned the Native American languages and respected their ways.
• In 1609 the Dutch began exploring North America
• In 1621 the Dutch created the West India Company to trade between the Americas and Africa.
• In 1623 the company took control of the Dutch colony in North America called “New Netherlands”
• New Amsterdam was the center of the colony built on Manhattan Island.
• In 1626 governor Peter Minuit bought the island for $24 of trade goods.