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
France in the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 preceding Spain. Each national jury awarded 5-4-3-2-1 to their top five songs, and at the close "Elle était si jolie" had picked up 25 points (5 from Yugoslavia, 4 from Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland, 2 from Austria and Monaco, and 1 from Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and Spain), placing France joint 5th (with Monaco, to whom the French jury had awarded its 5 points) of the 16 entries. France in the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 France was represented by Alain Barrière, with the song '"Elle était si jolie", at the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 23 March