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 ship Intrépide (1800) 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" and "Neptune". Nelson's attacks left these ships downwind of the main