USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -La Belle was one of Robert de La Salle’s four ships when he explored the Gulf of Mexico with the ill-fated mission of starting a French colony at the mouth of the Mississippi River in 1685. La Belle was wrecked in present-day Matagorda Bay the following year, dooming La Salle’s Texas colony to failure.

Detailed explanation-2: -When the fabled French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, landed 200 colonists at Matagorda Bay in early 1685, he was actually seeking the Mississippi River.

Detailed explanation-3: -La Salle’s fleet of four ships and 280 men and colonists was plagued with problems from the start, culminating with the failure to find the mouth of the Mississippi, landing instead at Matagorda Bay in present-day Texas on February 20, 1685.

Detailed explanation-4: -In April 1682, the expedition reached the Gulf of Mexico. There, La Salle named the Mississippi basin La Louisiane in honor of Louis XIV and claimed it for France.

Detailed explanation-5: -After many vicissitudes, La Salle and Tonty succeeded in canoeing down the Mississippi and reached the Gulf of Mexico. There, on April 9, 1682, the explorer proclaimed the whole Mississippi basin for France and named it Louisiana.