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Settlers

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Before the French settled in St. Louis, an Indian tribe settled on the land that is known as St. Louis. This civilization inhabited the land during the time around A.D. 700-1400. Archeologists say that between 10 thousand to 20 thousand people lived in the area that is now known as Cahokia. The tribe built mounds out of the earth and transformed them into a city of mounds that are still in existence today. For reasons that are still not known the tribe left their settlement and historians do not know where they settled next or why exactly they abandoned the land. The mounds they left behind however gave St. Louis one of its nicknames Mound City. Today visitors can look and explore the mounds at the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site which is a U.N. World Heritage Site.

In 1793 Frenchman named Pierre Laclede who was a partner in a fur trading business in New Orleans went in search for a site of land that would become an Indian fur trading settlement. Laclede’s stepson Auguste Chouteau joined him in his journey that led him to what would eventually be established as the city of St. Louis. When the two found the land they discovered that the area had river access as well as a bluff that would protect against flooding. They continued on their journey only to return to the site almost a year later and named it St. Louis after King Louis IX of France. It is said that Laclede declared that St. Louis would become one of the finest cities in America.

That began a period of time in which many French settlers came to the land around St. Louis and established settlements known such as New Madrid, Ste. Genevieve, St. Charles, and Portage des Sioux.

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