alternatehistory.com

Historically, France's management of their colony of Louisiana varied between lacidaisical and dysfunctional. The land was claimed by France since the 1600's, but New Orleans was only founded in the 1720's, and when the colony was sold to the US it had a grand total of 5,000-6,000 French-speakers, who were quickly subsumed by American settlement in the early 19th century.

The irony of this, of course, is that Louisiana could-even if run the same way as Saint-Domingue and the other French sugar islands-been highly productive for France. Once the area was populated by Americans, the southern reaches of Louisiana and Mississippi were highly productive sugar-growing regions, and further north, there's the Mississippi Delta, which later became one of the most productive cotton-growing areas in the world.

So, with this in mind, what POD's could result in France developing and populating Louisiana more than OTL, such that it either becomes independent as a French-speaking country, or the French language and culture have much more staying power than was the case OTL?
Top