What is the history of St. Louis, Missouri?
Prior to the arrival of FranceFrench explorers in 1673 the area that would become St. Louis was a major center of the Mississippian cultureMississippian Mound Buildersmound builders. The presence of numerous mounds, now almost all destroyed, earned the later city the nickname of “Mound City.” European exploration of the area had begun nearly a century before the city was founded. Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette, both French, traveled through the Mississippi River valley in 1673, and five years later, René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La SalleLa Salle claimed the entire valley for France. He called it “Louisiana” after King Louis XIV of FranceLouis XIV; the French also called their region “Illinois Country.” In 1699, a settlement was established across the river from what is now St. Louis, at Cahokia, IllinoisCahokia. Other early settlements were downriver at Kaskaskia, IllinoisKaskaskia, Prairie du Pont, Fort de Chartres, and Sainte Genevieve, MissouriSainte Genevieve. In 1703, Catholi
