HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE.
I promise I won’t repeat this for a long time (maybe a couple of months). But to just set the tone once more re: the TriCentennial. The date of the founding of New Orleans may be placed anywhere (depending on how one defines “founding”) between 1717 and 1722. So I plan to continue this blog for a while yet. During a typical New Year’s task of reviewing and cleaning out old files (this one specifically on the http://1718neworleans.com website, I came across an old essay I had written back in 2012 which I named and later posted on the site as:
1698: A PRELUDE TO LOUISIANA
Enjoy this look back to the beginnings of our project and I hope you pick up sense of what the “founders” were dealing with.
Forests of odd-looking trees. Marshes and prairies of waving grasses. Water everywhere… lakes, bayous, a spectacular river, and soggy swamps. Insects galore. Half-naked Indians with strange customs. Strange foods. Unpredictable, unmerciful weather. LaSalle had passed through this landscape in 1682 and claimed it all for France. None of his countrymen, though, made it back until an expedition under the LeMoyne brothers of Canada arrived in 1699. This is the prelude to what they would find as they paddled and slogged through the land that would eventually become New Orleans. It was largely due to these very elements – good and bad – that the City of New Orleans is what it is today. Understanding the original inhabitants and the basic geography of this area is key to understanding how New Orleans came into existence in the first place, and why it is still such a dynamic and economically important city today.
The Native Americans
By 1650, Spain, Britain, and France had divvied up North America among themselves. No thought, of course, was given to the people who actually lived here. After all, they had no guns, were often migratory, living off the bounty of the earth in cooperation with the needs and requirements of the land. Besides, there were not a whole lot of them. To the European mind, therefore, the American continents were vast, empty lands upon which to plant their civilization. It appears that the French, as opposed to the other Powers, saw the natives as a bit more than half-naked savages. They were partners in trade, teachers about the land and its bounty, and a fertile population for the spread of the One, True, Catholic faith. This attitude was rooted in the Gallic approach to colonial policy. French strategy called for the creation of a balance to the economic and military advantages that Spanish and English colonies were providing to their countries. As the Englishmen and women settled in significant numbers along the coast and began to civilize the wilderness into what would become the USA, the French created some smaller settlements in the North, then began moving westward in sizable numbers. The coureurs de bois (literally, rovers of the forests and freelancers), the voyageurs (government sanctioned travelers), and the Jesuits spread French Catholic influence among the Natives all along the rivers and lakes above the 40th Parallel (the line that slices North America in half longways, approx. at the latitude of St. Louis, MO). While the French were not exactly enlightened in their opinion of the Native Americans and still considered them to be savages, they generally treated them with respect. Since they were more interested in religious conversion, trade, and lining their pockets as opposed to settling down, the Frenchmen created a less intrusive presence than the English. These Gallic attitudes permeated the social and geographical matrix that became known as Louisiana.
There will be a few more installments to this story.
TSSI Home 
By the way why don’t u try to write historical fiction? U have great knowledge…if only I knew 10% of it & plus could English (or at least had any skill lol) – I’d fill the world with my stories 🙂
Enjoyed the text!
I’d say that you are already filling the world with stories quite nicely. But thanks for your nice compliments. As to your comments, my wife always accuses me of knowing everything (historical/humanities anyway), but that only comes from a lifetime of reading, study and teaching. I keep a book on display in my study to help keep me humble;
image1.jpeg
As to historical fiction, I kinda, sort of do some of that already. Please understand that while this is for sale, I am not really a enthusiastic seller. Please don’t take this as a sales pitch. My culinary history contains historical data, recipes, and some”creative non-fiction” to explain the origins of Creole cuisine, here in Louisiana.
image2.jpeg
Finally, as to filling the world, now that I’m retired I am doing a bit of copyediting and proofreading on the side. I would be glad to help you – no charge of course – polish up your stories for English publication. Unfortunately, I do not understand Swedish – but can make sense of your English writings.
Anyway, you have become one of my muses, and I would be glad to return the favor.
Keep on writing, keep on telling stories, you have a real gift.
Jerry
Jon G. (Aka Jerry) Laiche
http://1718neworleans.com
Facebook page: New Orleans Tri-Centennial
But your stories would be different…& I feel u love the details & u have a nice flow – u have good chances on the market :))
It’s fine, the whole world (civilization is build on this) is for sale… im a big fun of culinary books, I cook from scratch every day (3 times a day actually…). Creole cuisine? Still a must try.
And thank you, my next book – young adult fiction, when I’m done I’ll let you know. I’ll pay for polishing in case if I’ll send it to you.
But right now I am so tired (read:fed up!) bcz my first book (stories)…I don’t want to see it, read it, think about it. I also made some changes, I don’t know why but Word didn’t save it (and I’m saving everything all the time). Just a bad day (or week) I guess.