Editing New France (section)

====Settlements in Louisiana====
{{Main|Louisiana (New France)}}
[[File:New orleans plan 1728.jpg|left|thumb|Map of New Orleans in 1728]]
The French extended their territorial claim to the south and to the west of the [[Thirteen Colonies|American colonies]] late in the 17th century, naming it for King Louis XIV, as [[Louisiana (New France)|La Louisiane]]. In 1682, [[René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle]] explored the [[Ohio River]] Valley and the [[Mississippi embayment|Mississippi River Valley]], and he claimed the entire territory for [[Early modern France|France]] as far south as the [[Gulf of Mexico]].<ref name="Magocsi1999w">{{cite book |first=Paul R. |last=Magocsi |title=Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dbUuX0mnvQMC&pg=PA539 |year=1999 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0-8020-2938-6 |pages=539–540}}</ref>

La Salle attempted to establish the first southern colony in the new territory in 1685, but inaccurate maps and navigational issues led him to instead establish his [[French colonization of Texas|Fort Saint Louis]] in what is now [[Texas]]. The colony was devastated by disease, and the surviving settlers were killed in 1688, in an attack by the area's [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|indigenous population]].<ref>{{cite book |first=René |last=Chartrand |title=The Forts of New France: The Great Lakes, the Plains and the Gulf Coast, 1600–1763 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r24OvgAACAAJ |year=2010 |publisher=Bloomsbury USA |isbn=9781846035043 |page=51}}</ref> Other parts of Louisiana were settled and developed with success, such as [[New Orleans]] and [[Illinois Country|southern Illinois]], leaving a strong [[History of Louisiana#French exploration and colonization (1682–1763)|French influence]] in these areas long after the [[Louisiana Purchase]].

Many strategic [[fort]]s were built there, under the orders of Governor [[Louis de Buade de Frontenac]]. Forts were also built in the older portions of New France that had not yet been settled.<ref>{{cite book |first=René |last=Chartrand |title=The Forts of New France in Northeast America 1600–1763 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r24OvgAACAAJ |date=2013 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=9781472803184 |pages=6–8}}</ref> Many of these forts were garrisoned by the [[Troupes de la Marine]], the only regular soldiers in New France between 1683 and 1755.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Evan |last1=Haefeli |first2=Kevin |last2=Sweeney |title=Captive Histories: English, French, and Native Narratives of the 1704 Deerfield Raid |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yJnL7eqZvTQC&pg=PA207 |year=2006 |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |isbn=978-1-55849-543-2 |page=207}}</ref>