History of Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States an explorer and fur trader), but the more known Spanish emigration during this period happened between 1778 and 1783, when the Governor of Louisiana Bernardo de Galvez recruited groups from the Canary Islands and Malaga´s Spanish regions and sent them to Louisiana in order to populate regions of New Orleans. So, more than 2,700 Canaries and 500 Malaga´s natives emigrated to Louisiana in these period. In 1800, Spain returned Louisiana to France, although it sell it to the U.S. in 1803. The descendants of Spanish settlers still living there. The first European explorers, flying the flags of Spain, sailed along
French ship Intrépide (1800) squadron led by Captain Julien Cosmao of "Pluton", two days later. French ship Intrépide (1800) Intrépide was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the French navy. She was originally built at Ferrol, Spain in 1790 by José Romero y Fernández de Landa as the Spanish ship of the line "Intrepido", and later was sold to France in 1800. On 21 October 1805, "Intrépide" was one of the ships of Rear-Admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley at the Battle of Trafalgar, under Captain Louis-Antoine Infernet. Dumanoir commanded the six ship vanguard of the French fleet, with "Scipion", "Duguay-Trouin", "Mont-Blanc", "Intrépide"