Some important dates on colonial and Creole Louisiana

1492

• Columbus discovers the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.

1502

• African slaves are first reported in the New World.

1577

• After attempts to enslave the Indians of the Caribbean fail, Spain decides to send 15,000 slaves from Africa to the island of Hispaniola.

1640

• The British begin the large scale introduction of African labor for sugar production in the British possessions in the Caribbean.

1695

• The Western half of the island of Hispaniola is ceded to France by Spain.  The French part of the island is named Saint-Domingue.

1708

• French officials in Louisiana ask permission to exchange Indian slaves in Louisiana for African slaves from the West Indies.

1716

• The French government officially sanctions African slavery in Louisiana

1719

• The first French slave vessels arrives in Louisiana from Africa.

1724

• Louisiana adopts a Code Noir primarily  for the regulation of slaves and free black people.

1762

• On Nov. 3, by the Treaty of Fontainbleu, France cedes to Spain all of Louisiana west of the Mississippi River.

1763

• On Feb. 10, by the Treaty of Paris, France cedes to England Louisiana east of the Mississippi River.

1766

• The first free black man in the Attakapas and Opelousas districts is noted in a government census.

1789

• The French Revolution begins on July 14.  It lasts for 10 years.

1791

• Slave revolts begin in Saint-Domingue.

1792

• The first French Republic is formed.

1793

• In response to uprisings, the government abolishes slavery in Saint-Domingue.

1794

• The French National Convention emancipates all slaves in the French colonies.
• On March 22, the U.S. Congress passes legislation prohibiting the manufacture, fitting, equipping, loading, or dispatching of any vessel to be employed in the slave trade.

1795

• In April, a slave uprising is suppressed in Point Coupée Parish.
• A new government, called the Directory, is established in France.

1799

• On Nov. 9, Napoléon Bonaparte seizes control of France.

1800

• On May 10, the United States enacts stiff penalties for American citizens serving voluntarily on slave ships trading between two foreign countries.
• On Oct. 1, the Treaty of San Ildefonso provides for the Spanish cession of Louisiana back to France.

1801

• Former slave Toussaint Louverture seizes control in Saint-Domingue and proclaims himself emperor for life.

1803

• Napoléon sends troops to Haiti.  They capture and imprison Toussaint Louverture, but cannot put down the slave uprising.
• France sells Louisiana to the United States, partially because his failure to subdue Haiti disrupts Napoléon's plans for a North American empire.

1804

• Haiti wins independence from France.
• On Dec. 2, Napoléon is proclaimed Emperor of France.

1806

• On July 12, Napoléon consolidates his power in Europe with the defeat of an allied army at Auterlitz.

1807

• The British Parliament bans the Atlantic slave trade.

1810

• Large numbers of Haitian refugees-white, black, and brown-emigrate to Louisiana.
• The British negotiate an agreement with Portugal calling for gradual abolition of the slave trade in the South Atlantic.

1811

• In January, a massive slave uprising in St. Charles and St. John the Baptist parishes is suppressed.

1812

• Napoléon's army occupies Moscow on Sept. 14

1814

• On April 11, Napoléon abdicates, and the Bourbon dynasty returns to power in France as Louis XVIII comes to the throne.
• On May 4, Napoléon is exiled to Elba.

1815

• On March 20, after escaping from exile in Elba, Napoléon seizes power in France again but is able to hold it for only 100 days.
• On July 18, Napoléon's army is defeated by the British Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo.
• On Oct. 16, Napoléon is exiled to St. Helena.
• At the Congress of Vienna, the British pressure Spain, Portugal, France, and the Netherlands to agree to abolish the slave trade.

1817

• On Sept. 23, Great Britain and Spain sign a treaty prohibiting the slave trade.  Spain agrees to end slave trading north of the equator immediately and south of the equator in 1820.  British naval vessels are given the right to search suspected slavers.

1820

• U.S. law declares slave trading an act of piracy, punishable by death.

1821

• On May 5, Napoléon dies in exile on the South Atlantic island of St. Helena.

1824

• Charles X ascends to the French throne and tries to re-establish the total power of earlier French kings.

1826

• The Spanish government proclaims free any slave managing to prove he has been illegally imported.

1830

• Charles X is overthrown by the July Revolution, and Louis Philippe, the so-called Citizen King, is put on the throne.

1831

• A large slave revolt is brutally suppressed in Jamaica.

1848

• The February Revolution overturns the French government and establishes the Second Republic.  Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, a nephew of Napoléon, is elected to a four-year term as president.
• France formally abolishes slavery.

1851

• On Dec. 2, the anniversary of his uncle's elevation to the title of Emperor, Louis Napoléon has his political opponents arrested and declares himself president for 10 years.

1852

• On Dec. 2, one year after seizing complete power in France, Louis Napoléon establishes the Second Empire and declares himself Emperor Napoléon III.

1863

• A state constitution adopted during the Civil War abolishes slavery in Louisiana.

1870

• In July, the French declare war against Prussia, a part of present-day Germany.
• In September, the main French army is defeated by the Prussians at Sedan, and Napoléon III is taken prisoner.
• The French revolt against Napoléon III.

1871

• On May 10, France and Prussia come to peace terms and sign the Treaty of Frankfurt under which France gives up the territories of Alsace and Lorraine.

1875

• The Third Republic is formed in France.

1888

• Slavery is abolished in Brazil, ending slavery in the Americas.