Louisiana was discovered by Spanish explorers. Authentic recorded history of this area doesn't actually begin until 1682. It was then that Sierra de La Salle, the French explorer, reached the mouth of the Mississippi, claimed all its drainage basin for France, and named the area Louisiana to honor Louis XIV. In 1792France ceded to Spain the Louisiana region west of the Mississippi, along with the New Orleans area. The remaining land east of the river was ceded to Britain by the Treaty of Paris (1763). In 1800 Spain was forced by Napoleon Bonaparte to give back to France the Louisiana territory, including New Orleans. The United States acquired the area from France in 1803 through the Louisiana Purchase.
The Louisiana Purchase was the purchase of the French province of Louisiana by the United States in 1803. The province stretched from the Mississippi River westward to the Rocky Mountains and from the Gulf of Mexico northward to Canada, covering an area equal to that of the United States, prior to the purchase. Except for the Mississippi River on the east and Canada on the north, the boundaries were indefinite. The United States also claimed West Florida between the Mississippi and Perdido rivers as part of the purchase, but Spain denied the claim. As a result of the purchase, the port of New Orleans and the entire Mississippi system were secured for American shippers, and the country was free to expand toward the Pacific Ocean. The price was $15,000,000 for an area of 828,000 square miles (2,145,000 km) - less than 3 cents an acre.
The area of land that once was the Louisiana Purchase formed thirteen states: Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Minnesota, Colorado, North Dakota, and Montana.
Louisana has many nicknames:
The Pelican State
The Bayou State
The Creole State
The Mardi Gras State The Cajun State
Bayou Country
Cajun Country
Any one of these will make you think of Louisana. We dont have many records of Belchers in Louisana, but what we do have are listed below.
Louisana's Timeline
Louisana Records for Belcher