Historical Events

Before 1750

  • 1541 — Hernando de Soto Expedition Reaches the Mississippi River
  • 1682 — La Salle Claims the Mississippi Basin for France and Names Louisiana
  • 1699 — Iberville Establishes a French Foothold on the Gulf Coast
  • 1714 — Natchitoches Is Founded
  • 1718 — New Orleans Is Founded
  • 1719–1721 — Large-Scale Arrival of Enslaved Africans in French Louisiana
  • 1722 — New Orleans Becomes the Capital of French Louisiana
  • 1724 — The Code Noir Is Promulgated in Louisiana
  • 1729 — The Natchez Revolt
  • 1731 — France Resumes Direct Royal Control of Louisiana
  • 1736 — The First French Campaign Against the Chickasaw

1750s

  • 1755 — The Grand Dérangement Begins, Setting the Stage for Acadian Migration to Louisiana

1760s

  • 1762 — France Secretly Cedes Louisiana West of the Mississippi and New Orleans to Spain
  • 1763 — The Treaty of Paris Reshapes Colonial Louisiana
  • 1765 — Major Acadian Migration to Louisiana Begins
  • 1768 — The Insurrection of 1768 Expels Spanish Governor Antonio de Ulloa
  • 1769 — Alejandro O’Reilly Restores Spanish Rule and Reorganizes Louisiana Government

1770s

  • 1776–1783 — Spanish Louisiana Supports the American Revolution
  • 1779 — Bernardo de Gálvez Captures Baton Rouge and Drives the British from the Lower Mississippi

1780s

  • 1785 — Large Acadian Migration from France Strengthens Cajun Louisiana
  • 1788 — The Great New Orleans Fire

1790s

  • 1791 — The Haitian Revolution Begins and Reshapes Louisiana Migration, Race, and Slavery
  • 1794 — The Second Great New Orleans Fire
  • 1795 — The Pointe Coupée Slave Conspiracy
  • 1795 — Pinckney’s Treaty Secures American Navigation and Deposit Rights at New Orleans

1800s

  • 1800 — The Third Treaty of San Ildefonso Returns Louisiana to France
  • 1803 — The Louisiana Purchase
  • 1803 — Louisiana Is Formally Transferred from Spain to France and Then to the United States
  • 1804 — The Territory of Orleans Is Created
  • 1804 — The Kemper Rebellion Challenges Spanish Rule in West Florida
  • 1806 — The Neutral Ground Agreement Creates the Sabine Free State
  • 1808 — The Federal Ban on the International Slave Trade Takes Effect
  • 1809 — Thousands of Saint-Domingue Refugees Arrive in New Orleans from Cuba

1810s

  • 1810 — The West Florida Revolt and the Republic of West Florida
  • 1811 — The German Coast Slave Insurrection
  • 1812 — Louisiana Adopts Its First State Constitution
  • 1812 — Louisiana Becomes the Eighteenth State
  • 1815 — The Battle of New Orleans
  • 1819 — The Adams–Onís Treaty Helps Settle Louisiana’s Western Boundary

1820s

  • 1825 — Louisiana Adopts the Civil Code of 1825
  • 1825 — The Marquis de Lafayette Visits Louisiana

1830s

  • 1830 — Donaldsonville Becomes Louisiana’s State Capital
  • 1831 — Henry Shreve Cuts Through Turnbull’s Bend and Alters the Mississippi–Atchafalaya System
  • 1834 — The LaLaurie Mansion Fire Exposes the Abuse of Enslaved People
  • 1835 — Congress Authorizes the New Orleans Mint
  • 1838 — The New Orleans Mint Begins Producing Coins

1840s

  • 1845 — Louisiana Adopts the Constitution of 1845
  • 1849 — The State Capital Moves to Baton Rouge

1850s

  • 1852 — Louisiana Adopts the Constitution of 1852
  • 1853 — The Great Yellow Fever Epidemic Devastates New Orleans

1860s

  • 1861 — Louisiana Secedes from the United States
  • 1861 — Louisiana Joins the Confederate States of America
  • 1862 — Union Forces Capture New Orleans
  • 1862 — The Battle of Baton Rouge
  • 1863 — The Confederate Attack on Fort Butler at Donaldsonville
  • 1863 — The Siege and Surrender of Port Hudson
  • 1864 — Louisiana Adopts a Union-Era Constitution Abolishing Slavery
  • 1866 — The New Orleans Massacre
  • 1868 — Louisiana Adopts the Reconstruction Constitution
  • 1868 — Louisiana Is Readmitted to the Union
  • 1868 — The Louisiana Lottery Company Receives Its State Charter
  • 1868 — The Opelousas Massacre

1870s

  • 1872 — The Disputed Louisiana Gubernatorial Election of 1872
  • 1873 — The Colfax Massacre
  • 1874 — The Coushatta Massacre
  • 1874 — The Battle of Liberty Place
  • 1876 — Louisiana’s Gubernatorial and Presidential Elections End in Dispute
  • 1877 — The Compromise of 1877 Ends Reconstruction in Louisiana
  • 1879 — Louisiana Adopts the Constitution of 1879

1880s

  • 1884–1885 — The World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition in New Orleans
  • 1887 — The Thibodaux Massacre

1890s

  • 1890 — Louisiana Passes the Separate Car Act
  • 1891 — Eleven Italian Immigrants Are Lynched in New Orleans
  • 1892 — Homer Plessy Is Arrested for Challenging Segregated Rail Cars
  • 1896 — Plessy v. Ferguson Upholds ‘Separate but Equal’
  • 1898 — Louisiana Adopts a Constitution Designed to Disfranchise Black Voters

1900s

  • 1900 — The Robert Charles Riots in New Orleans
  • 1901 — Louisiana’s First Commercial Oil Well Comes In Near Jennings

1910s

  • 1913 — Louisiana Adopts the Constitution of 1913
  • 1915 — The New Orleans Hurricane of 1915
  • 1919 — The Bogalusa Sawmill Killings and the Fight over Biracial Labor Organizing

1920s

  • 1921 — Louisiana Adopts the Constitution of 1921
  • 1927 — The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
  • 1927 — The Caernarvon Levee Is Dynamited to Protect New Orleans
  • 1928 — Huey P. Long Is Elected Governor
  • 1929 — The Louisiana House Impeaches Huey Long

1930s

  • 1932 — Louisiana’s New State Capitol Opens
  • 1934 — Huey Long Launches the Share Our Wealth Movement
  • 1935 — Huey Long Is Shot in the Louisiana State Capitol and Dies
  • 1939 — The Louisiana Scandals Bring Down Governor Richard Leche and the Long Machine

1940s

  • 1940 — Sam Jones Wins the Governorship on an Anti-Long Reform Platform
  • 1941 — The Louisiana Maneuvers Prepare U.S. Forces for World War II
  • 1942–1945 — Higgins Industries and Louisiana’s Wartime Shipbuilding Boom
  • 1947 — Offshore Oil Development Begins Transforming Coastal Louisiana

1950s

  • 1953 — The Baton Rouge Bus Boycott
  • 1954–1956 — Louisiana Launches Massive Resistance to School Desegregation
  • 1957 — Hurricane Audrey Devastates Southwest Louisiana

1960s

  • 1960 — New Orleans Public Schools Begin Desegregation
  • 1961 — Freedom Riders Arrive in New Orleans
  • 1963 — The Old River Control Complex Is Completed to Keep the Mississippi from Shifting into the Atchafalaya
  • 1965 — Hurricane Betsy Floods Greater New Orleans and Reshapes Federal Hurricane Protection
  • 1965 — The Bogalusa Civil Rights Campaign and Deacons for Defense
  • 1967 — Ernest N. Morial Is Elected to the Louisiana House, Breaking a Reconstruction-Era Barrier

1970s

  • 1972 — Two Students Are Killed During the Southern University Protest
  • 1973 — The Mississippi Flood Severely Tests the Old River Control Structure
  • 1974 — Louisiana Adopts Its Current State Constitution
  • 1975 — Louisiana Enacts the Modern Open Primary System
  • 1977 — Ernest N. Morial Is Elected New Orleans’s First Black Mayor
  • 1979 — David Treen Is Elected Louisiana’s First Republican Governor Since Reconstruction

1980s

  • 1982–1986 — The Oil Bust Reshapes Louisiana’s Economy and Politics
  • 1984 — The Louisiana World Exposition Opens in New Orleans
  • 1987 — Buddy Roemer Defeats Edwin Edwards and Wins the Governorship
  • 1988 — The Republican National Convention Is Held in New Orleans

1990s

  • 1991 — The Edwin Edwards–David Duke Governor’s Race Draws Worldwide Attention
  • 1992 — Hurricane Andrew Strikes South Louisiana
  • 1995 — Mike Foster Is Elected Governor as Louisiana’s Republican Realignment Accelerates

2000s

  • 2000 — Former Governor Edwin Edwards Is Convicted on Federal Corruption Charges
  • 2003 — Kathleen Blanco Is Elected Louisiana’s First Woman Governor
  • 2005 — Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of the New Orleans Levee System
  • 2005 — Hurricane Rita Strikes Southwest Louisiana
  • 2007 — Bobby Jindal Is Elected Governor
  • 2008 — Hurricane Gustav Strikes Louisiana and Forces a Massive Evacuation

2010s

  • 2010 — The Deepwater Horizon Disaster Devastates the Gulf Coast
  • 2012 — The Bayou Corne Sinkhole Forces a Community Evacuation
  • 2016 — The Alton Sterling Shooting and Baton Rouge Protests
  • 2016 — Three Law Enforcement Officers Are Killed in a Baton Rouge Ambush
  • 2016 — The Historic Louisiana Floods Devastate Baton Rouge, Livingston, and Surrounding Areas
  • 2017 — New Orleans Removes Major Confederate Monuments

2020s

  • 2020 — The COVID-19 Pandemic Hits Louisiana and New Orleans Becomes an Early U.S. Hot Spot
  • 2020 — Hurricane Laura Devastates Southwest Louisiana
  • 2020 — Hurricane Delta Strikes Southwest Louisiana Weeks After Laura
  • 2021 — Hurricane Ida Strikes Southeast Louisiana