Colonial history of the United States Lower Louisiana. This vast tract was first settled at Mobile and Biloxi around 1700, and continued to grow when 7,000 French immigrants founded New Orleans in 1718. Settlement proceeded very slowly; New Orleans became an important port as the gateway to the Mississippi River, but there was little other economic development because the city lacked a prosperous hinterland. In 1763, Louisiana was ceded to Spain around New Orleans and west of the Mississippi River. In the 1780s, the western border of the newly independent United States stretched to the Mississippi River. The United States reached an agreement with Spain for
French people in Hungary of land became unproductive because it was not cultivated. Count Claude Florimond de Mercy field marshal trusted of reviving this region. He founded new villages and invited settlers from different Christian territories (e.g. Germany, Italy, France, Spain etc.). Most of the settlers were Banat Swabians. The first known French settled in the region was a postman named "Miklós Noël" in Lugos in 1724. The first wave of French immigrants came from Lorraine and settled in Neu-Beschenowa in the summer of 1748. At that time the danger of an Ottoman attack was possible, so Maria Theresa order them to complete a