Time Line

	Date	Event
	1519	Alvarez de Pindea discovers mouth of the Mississippi.
	1541-42	Hernando de Soto discovers the Mississippi River.
	1682	Robert Cavalier, Sieur de la Salle, erects a cross at the mouth of the Mississippi River after descending the river from the Great Lakes and claims the territory for Louis XIV of France, for whom Louisiana is named.
	1703	Establishment of Jesuit mission at a site that will become Kaskaskia.
	1715	Louis Juchereau de St. Denis establishes Fort St. Jean Baptiste (Natchitoches), first permanent settlement in the Mississippi Valley.
	1715	Lead discovered in part of Louisiana that would become Eastern Missouri.
	1718	New Orleans is founded and named for Phillippe Duc D'Orleans.
	1718	The St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans is built, the oldest in the United States.
	1722	Prairie du Rocher founded by Sainte Therese Langlois.
	1723	New Orleans becomes the capital of Louisiana, superseding Biloxi.
	1729	Natchez Indians massacre over 200 people at Fort Rosalie.
	1750	Ste. Genevieve founded sometime before this date, possibly as early as 1735. Served as a fur depot and port for the lead mines in the area.
	1762	Louis XV gives the "Island of New Orleans" and all of Louisiana west of the Mississippi to his cousin, Charles III of Spain.
	1763	Treaty of Paris ends Seven Years' War and confirms transfer of Louisiana to Spain. All lands East of the Mississippi including Canada and Florida are ceded to England.
	1764	First four Acadian families arrive in Louisiana from New York.
	1776	American Revolution begins.
	1778	George Rodgers Clark occupies Kaskaskia, ending the British occupation.
	1799-1801	Small Pox epidemic in Ste. Genevieve.
	1803	Louisiana is purchased from Napoleon I by the United States for $15,000,000.
	1809	Small Pox epidemic in Ste. Genevieve.
	1809	The Territory of Illinois is formed out of part of the Territory of Louisiana.
	1812	The Territory of Missouri is formed out of part of the Territory of Louisiana. Ste. Genevieve County is formed.
	1821	Missouri is admitted into the Union as a slave state as part of the Missouri comprimise.
	1849	Lead discovered in Western Missouri.
	1849	Cholera epidemic in Ste. Genevieve area.