Existing comment:
First Permanent Settlement of Upper Louisiana: Ste. Genevieve:
During the 18th century, settlement of the North American continent became part of the larger political struggle between major European nations. Great Britain, Spain, and France vied with each other for dominance in Europe and in the New World. The settlement of Ste. Genevieve by the French was part of the extension of French influence into Upper Louisiana. The first settlers traveled downriver from French Canada, establishing French culture and political authority in the mid-Mississippi Valley.
Ste. Genevieve was founded about 1730. The town was built on a broad field along the Mississippi River, 65 miles downstream from the site on which St. Louis would arise 30 years later. After a disastrous flood in 1785, the village moved inland, where it thrived. By 1797, it had become a prosperous town with customs and architecture patterned after the Norman-French heritage of its founders. |