Front Cover; Contents; Preface; 1. An Overview of Colonial Natchitoches; 2. Creating Hegemony in Colonial Natchitoches: The French Creole Community; 3. Slavery in Colonial Natchitoches: The African Creole Community; 4. Free People of Color: A Dependent Segment of Colonial Natchitoches; 5. The Indian Trade in Colonial Natchitoches; 6. Plantation Agriculture in Colonial Natchitoches; 7. The Ranching Industry in Colonial Natchitoches; Notes; Bibliography; Index; Back Cover
Summary
Strategically located at the western edge of the Atlantic World, the French post of Natchitoches thrived during the eighteenth century as a trade hub between the well-supplied settlers and the isolated Spaniards and Indians of Texas. Its critical economic and diplomatic role made it the most important community on the Louisiana-Texas frontier during the colonial era. Despite the community's critical role under French and then Spanish rule, Colonial Natchitoches is the first thorough study of its society and economy. Founded in 1714, four years before New Orleans, Natchitoches developed a cr
