La Salle Claims Louisiana

Timeline

1. 1682Fort Prudhomme (Chickasaw Bluffs) · Middle MississippiLa Salle and Henri de Tonti entered the main Mississippi after the ice broke on the Illinois River, contacting Indigenous villages along the way. In February they built Fort Prudhomme at Chickasaw Bluffs; after La Salle fell ill and stayed behind, the party continued south, completing the first recorded European descent of the entire river to the gulf.
2. 1682Mississippi River mouth · Mississippi DeltaAfter the fleet identified three outlets to the sea, on April 9 they raised a column bearing the French arms, placed a lead plate, and read a document of possession. In the name of Louis XIV, La Salle named the lands watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries Louisiana and claimed them for France. This ceremony formed the core basis for later French claims to the North American interior.
3. 1682Around Fort Saint Louis on the Illinois River · IllinoisThe party headed back upriver on April 10, resupplying along the way, and returned to the Illinois and Great Lakes posts in summer and autumn, sending news of the possession at the river mouth to Quebec and Versailles. France thereafter planned forts and colonies in the Mississippi basin, though La Salle himself lost his life on the Texas coast years later while seeking the river mouth again.