French Texas

Considering the colony was supposed to serve as an outpost so the Spanish would stay away from Louisiana, I can't see things going much different than OTL other than Louisiana Territory's western border being about 400 miles further than it was.
 
So the French tried to colonize Texas but failed. What if they were successful in colonizing Texas?

Texas was nothing in the middle of nowhere, what gains could they have expected from a colonization so far of the mississipi ? Bong ! can't imagine.
Been there lately ? To grow what ? To hunt what ? To exchange what ? Wait for the gaz ?!, they would all be dead, long ago. Would have been pure lost of energy, paradox, paradox, paradox !!! Gerard.
 
The area around Matagorda Bay is well suited to the cultivation of rice, and sugar has been produced along other regions of the Texas Coast. Frances best bet would be to pull a page out of her perennial Rival's play book, start a penal colony in the region. Of course that would be a lot of effort to claim an apparent " Howling Wilderness :p ". Who knew what treasures awaited down below?
 

TFSmith121

Banned
France couldn't get Frenchmen to move to Acadia or

France couldn't get Frenchmen to move to Acadia or New France, in significant numbers; why the hell would any move to Texas?

I mean, seriously; in the Sixteenth Century it is about as far from France as is imaginable...

Best,
 
I'm a bit ignorrant on this subject. Were ay of Frances penal colonies sucessful in creating a viable colony?

Devil's Island didn't work out too well in that regard because the prisoners mostly just died.

New Caledonia was pretty successful, creating a significant European population whose descendants are still there. That was in the late 19th century, though.

France couldn't get Frenchmen to move to Acadia or New France, in significant numbers; why the hell would any move to Texas?

We should note, though, that the French government really didn't make much effort to recruit settlers to its colonies, aside from the 1660s/70s. Beyond that point, population growth came almost entirely through natural increase.
 
Actually, the French landed in Texas by mistake: De La Salle wanted to build a settlement on the mouth of the Mississippi river and sailed four ships from France to where he thought the Mississippi would be. However somehow he overshot what is now Louisiana and landed halfway between Houston and Mexico. In the process, he wrecked one of his ships so he used the salvaged provisions to build a temporary settlement while he set out over land to find the Missisippi. From there on things went bad real quickly: De La Salle was so skilled a leader that he ended up being killed by his own men. Meanwhile the settlement faltered grandiously and when a Spanish expedition scouted the area five years later, all they could find were ruins.

Eventually French traders would come down from the Mississipi and found New Orleans at the spot De La Salle was actually aiming for.

So what if for some reason De La Salle's emergency plan colony in Matagorda Bay would have survived? What if De La Salle survived and even found the Mississipi delta?

First question: Would he keep the Matagorda settlement or would he just load everybody on a ship and move them to New Orleans. My gut feeling is he would relocate. His original plan was for a trading post, not a farming community. So he needed the Mississippi for access to the inland.

So let's assume that by the time New Orleans was founded Matagorda became too big a settlement to ignore. Farming could be a method if any of the settlers knew to work the strange ground in a strange climate. More likely would be a fishing town. Many of the colonists were skilled woodworkers, boatbuilders and of course sailors. Eventually trade with New Orleans would pick up and with the establishment of a sea route between the two cities the coastline in between would be developed too. I doubt however that French colonizers would ever settle south of Matagorda so the only difference in the long run would be that today Louisiana would stretch from Lake Ponchartran to Corpus Christi and Texas would be without half of its coastline. I envision today's Texas being split into two states: A smaller state of Texas consisting of everything west of the Corpus Christi - San Antonio - Austin line and a new state West Louisiana consisting of the Houston metroplex and the coastland west of Matagorda.
 
A French Texas was possible when you consider that OTL 1861 and 1867, Emperor Napoleon 3 (of France) invaded Mexico. Napoleon's official goal was to collect debts owed by the Mexican gov't to foreign creditors. In the long run, Mexican peasants got shafted ..... Again!
 
Yeah French motivation for colonial development, seems to be focused on immediate profitability, i.e. Fur trade in New France, Sugar Plantations in the Caribbean, etc etc. There's really nothing about Texas that would stand out from that perspective. The only thing I can think of would be if France got shut out of the prime sugar islands by the other colonial powers and some how they retain a tenuous hold to the Texas Coast. Now this may well slip past the veil of plausibility into ASB land, but again the region southwest of Houston is very well suited to the cultivation of sugar. If Texas was the only option for France to gain territory suitable for profitable Sugar production, in conjunction with control of the Mississippi River delta, and an aggressive deportation of malcontents to develop L` Grande Louisiane, than maybe Frances hold on N. America would be stronger than OTL. I know that is stretching credulity out of recognition but hey it coulda maybe woulda happen like that...:p
 
When I took Texas History back in 7th grade the French "contribution" to TX history was so intense the lessons lasted all of 1 day. :p Were the Fleur de Lis not one of the "six flags of Texas" I think most Texans would never realize there ever was a French colony in TX.

For all the reasons stated it's a long shot for Ft. St. Louis to make it. Not only is it a bit close to the Spanish Main, but the native Karankawa weren't known for being all that friendly to their neighbors either, to put it mildly. Let's just say the cuisine of the day was "French".

Best case I can think of (via trans-colonic extraction): Somehow La Salle manages to make friendly with the Karankawa, perhaps by agreeing to supply them with arms as a proxy against the Spanish. St. Louis becomes a trade outpost mostly for arming the Karankawa proxies. Eventually "Louisiana" extends to the Colorado, Nueces, or even Rio Grande. Karankawa who survive the plagues become creolized.
 
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