This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

---

MS 1 Stop - Hancock County History
fage i ot y
HANCOCK COUNTY
f MSI Stop Horns MSIStop Contact Us
Jt—i*____.'S'*	•
Pay Tag Renewal History Government Sights & Sounds
A Touch of History
Bay Saint Louis overlooks the Bay of Saint Louis, the Mississippi Sound and ultimately the Gulf of Mexico from the highest water-front elevation on the Gulf of Mexico. However, this beautiful little city is not the first cultural center to occupy this prestigious location. The exact date when Native Americans first arrived is veiled in the mysteries of time, but it is certain that they occupied this land for thousands of years before the brothers Iberville and Bienville arrived to claim it for France in 1699.
The oral history of the Indians that was passed down through
generations both fascinates and	“
gives us endless sources for
speculation. Every question
answered brings a dozen more
elusive than the last. While this
is also true of the Europeans,	-run	L	^	____
there is somewhat more	”	~
documentation available for
research.
The pagan world had been
divided by Pope Alexander VI between Portugal and Spain with Portugal controlling Brazil and Spain controlling nearly all the rest of both North and South America. Spain, however, being unable to settle these vast continents effectively, guarded the Gulf of Mexico from several islands in the Caribbean and from St. Augustine on the west coast of the Florida peninsula.
In 1535 the French explorer Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence River Valley in Canada but France was unable to occupy the area until 1604 when a settlement at Port Royal, Nova Scotia was established and was followed in 1608 by the settlement at Quebec.
When affairs in Europe permitted, Louis XIV of France began expanding his colonial possessions . La Salle explored the region of the Great Lakes. In 1682 he descended the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, and claimed the vast area drained by the Mississippi in the name of France. He named Louisiana in honor of King Louis XIV. Two years later he sailed from France to secure a harbor on the Gulf Coast and establish control over the mouth of the river. However, he missed the elusive mouth of the river and died after being shipwrecked in present-day Texas.
War between France and England engulfed Canada before another expedition could be launched. England took Port Royal but was unable to
http://www.msl stop.com/1 stop/ms/hancockco/home.nsf/History?openpage
7/15/2007