Editing New France (section)

===The economy of ''La Louisiane''===
[[File:Fer - Le Canada, ou Nouvelle France, la Floride, la Virginie, Pensilvanie, Caroline.png|thumb|left|Map of Canada (New France) in 1703, showing full length of Mississippi River]]
The major commercial importance of the Louisiana Purchase territory was the Mississippi River. New Orleans, the largest and most important city in the territory, was the most commercial city in the United States until the Civil War, with most jobs there being related to trade and shipping; there was little manufacturing. The first commercial shipment to come down the Mississippi River was of deer and bear hides in 1705.<ref name=GarveyWidmer>
{{cite book |title=Beautiful Crescent: A History of New Orleans |last1=Garvey |first1=Joan |last2=Widmer |first2=Mary Lou |year=2012 |edition=reprint |publisher=Pelican Publishing |location=Gretna, Louisiana |isbn=978-1455617425 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=imY-2Q5n9doC&pg=PP1}}</ref> The area, always loosely defined in those early times of European claims and settlements, extended as far east as the city that is now [[Mobile, Alabama#Colonial|Mobile, Alabama]], begun by French settlers in 1702.

The French (later Spanish) Louisiana Territory was owned by France for a number of years before the money-losing territory was transferred to French banker [[Antoine Crozat]] in 1713 for 15 years. After losing four times his investment, Crozat gave up his charter in 1717. Control of Louisiana and its 700 inhabitants was given to the Company of the Indies in 1719. The company conducted a major settlement program by recruiting European settlers to locate in the territory. Unemployed persons, convicts and prostitutes were also sent to the Louisiana Territory. After the bankruptcy of the company in 1720, control was returned to the king.<ref name=GarveyWidmer/><ref>{{cite book |first=Glenn R. |last=Conrad |title=The French Experience in Louisiana |publisher=Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Southwestern Louisiana |date=1995 |isbn=978-0-9409-8497-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hkl5AAAAMAAJ&pg=PP1}}</ref>

[[Louis XV of France|Louis XV]] saw little value in Louisiana, and to compensate Spain for its losses in the [[Seven Years' War]], he transferred Louisiana to his cousin [[Charles III of Spain|Charles III]] in 1762. Louisiana remained under the control of Spain until it was demanded to be turned over to France by Napoleon. Although Louisiana was property of France by the [[Third Treaty of San Ildefonso]] in 1800, Louisiana continued to be administered by Spain until the [[Louisiana Purchase]] in 1803. Following the American acquisition of the territory, its population tripled between 1803 and Louisiana statehood in 1812.