Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet's French expedition arrived in Arkansas

Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet's French expedition arrived in Arkansas. . In 1673, another European expedition arrived in Arkansas. Canoeing down the Mississippi River from the Illinois country (the upper Mississippi River Valley), Father Jacques Marquette, Jesuit missionary, and Louis Joliet, a coureur de bois (a trader who lived in Indian country), led a French expedition that was much smaller than de Soto's. The expedition's mission was to explore the Mississippi River Valley and find the mouth of the river. Their hope was that the river flowed west and might be a route to the Pacific. It was the first step to extend French influence into the middle of the continent in order to convert the native peoples and set up a French-Indian trade network. Near the mouth of the Arkansas River, the French men encountered the Quapaw, whom they called the Arkansas, and named the river and the region after the tribe. The expedition stayed several days among the Quapaw and learned that the mouth of the Mississippi River was not far to the South. The Quapaw also warned them that downriver there were strong tribes of Indians who might kill the French. Fearing for their safety, Marquette and Joliet: decided not to continue and returned to Illinois. Marquette reported what his expedition had found to officials in the colony of New France (Canada). His report led to a larger French expedition nine years later. , In 1682, René-Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle, claims the Mississippi valley for King Louis XIV of France, dubbing the country "Louisiana". In February, La Salle's party paused near present day Memphis to build Fort Prud'homme, then continues south to the mouth of the river. With royal approval, de la Salle commanded and equipped this expedition. On this expedition were twenty three Frenchmen and thirty one Indians. The La Salle expedition then was less an expansion of the French empire and more of an extension of a vast French-Indian trade and military alliance. , In 1795, the Spanish also established San Fernando de las Barrancas on the Chickasaw Bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. Two years later the signing of the Treaty of San Lorenzo, which Americans called Pinckney's Treaty, set the Mississippi River as the definite boundary between Spanish Louisiana and the United States. The United States gained control of the east bank of the river and the Spanish moved their east bank garrisons across the river. As part of the trans-river transfer, San Fernando de las Barrancas was moved to present-day Crittenden County and renamed Campo de la Esperanza (Hopefield) It serves as a Spanish naval outpost and defense against Chickasaw raiding. , Benjamin Fooy, a Dutchman who served Spanish Louisiana as an Indian agent and interpreter, supervised the establishment of the new garrison. The area was on the path southeastern Indians used for trade and hunting in Arkansas and the Mississippi Valley and therefore critical to Spanish diplomacy to maintain friendship with the region's Indians. Interestingly, these two posts were established near the area where de Soto's expedition