At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the French presence in North America centered on New France in what is now Canada, and the vast expanse of French Louisiana which included the drainage of the Mississippi River.
In his chapter in North American Exploration. Volume 2: A Continent Defined, historian William Eccles writes:
“In the eighteenth century the French had four main aims in their thrust into the Far West: to discover new supplies of furs; to find new tribes to proselytize the faith of the Church of Rome, a motive that was considerably diminished as the century wore on; to penetrate and dominate the Spanish commercial empire by land; and to be the first to discover the inland sea that would lead to the Pacific.”
In 1723 the French, under the leadership of Etienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgemont (1679-1734), established Fort Orleans This was the first European fort on the Missouri River and was near present-day Brusnwick, Missouri.
In 1724, Bourgmont set out from Fort Orleans to explore the southern Plains. His goal was to establish friendly relations with the Indian nations of the region and to find a trade route to the Spanish colony of Nuevo México. He first journeyed into the Kansas plains with a party of about 100 Missouria Indians and about 60 Osage Indians.
The Missourias had at one time been a part of the Winnebagos near Green Bay, Wisconsin and had migrated west toward the Mississippi. They later split into three groups: the Missourias, the Iowas, and the Otoes. It is likely that their name, which later was given to the Missouri River, originally meant “people with the dugout canoes.”
The Osages had once lived in the Ohio River area with the Quapaws, Kansas (also known as Kaws), Omahas, and Poncas. The Osages called themselves Ni-U-Ka’n-Ska meaning “children of the middle waters” and the designation Osage is from the French version of the name of an Osage band.
In Kansas, Bourgmont met with the Kansa or Kaw Indians, whose name means “people of the south wind”. The Kansas knew that the French needed horses for their expedition. They offered a number of horses and 30 Plains Apache slaves for trade, but Bourgmont did not offer enough. The Kansa Indians claimed that the French the year before had given them twice what Bourgmont had offered. Eventually the trade was completed.
The Kansa Indians then accompanied the French party for several days as they travelled west. The Kansa party, on its way to their summer buffalo hunt, was made up of 14 war chiefs, 300 warriors, 300 women, and about 500 children. They were using 300 dogs for pulling travois which were loaded with household equipment. Some of the loads pulled by the dogs weighed 300 pounds.
In Kansas, Bourgment heard that the Iowa Indians (whose name means “sleepy ones”) were attempting to establish an alliance with the Fox Indians in the Great Lakes region so that they could obtain trade goods. Having waged wars against the Fox since 1710, the French did not want this alliance. Bourgment invited six Iowa chiefs to meet with him in a Kansa village. He presented them with gifts and dissuaded them from allying themselves with the Fox.
In the Kansa village, Bourgment also met with Otoe, Missouria, and Panimaha chiefs to discuss peace and trade.
In Oklahoma, Bourgmont’s French expedition entered a Comanche village of 140 lodges which had 800 warriors, 1,500 women, and some 2,000 children. The Comanches, linguistically and culturally related to the Shoshones, had migrated east from the Great Basin area into the Southern Plains about 1500 CE. By the eighteenth century, the Comanches had a reputation as fierce warriors. In his book Comanche Political History: An Ethnohistorical Perspective 1708-1875, Thomas Kavanagh reports:
“Among the Comanches, warfare was not simply an arena in which to demonstrate bravery; it could be a direct material resource as a source of war booty.”
Bourgmont asked the Comanches to serve as guides. He provided them with numerous presents, including muskets, cooking pots, axes, knives, awls, and blankets.
The Comanches told the French that if they should ever need 2,000 warriors they need only ask. William Eccles interprets this comment:
“This was clearly a none-too-subtle indication that it was the Comanches, not the French and their wavering allies, who were the dominant force in that part of the world.”
The Comanches gave the French seven horses.
One of the other conflicts between the French and the Indian nations involved the Natchez, a complex agricultural, pyramid-building kingship. The French had first contacted the Natchez in 1682 when an expedition led by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle travelled down the Mississippi River. In 1713, the French opened a trading post at the Great Village of the Natchez. While initially friendly, the relations between the French and the Natchez deteriorated and in 1724, the Natchez rebelled against the French and killed many French colonists.
More American Indian histories
Indians 101: American Indians and Europeans 300 years ago, 1723
Indians 101: Indians and Europeans 300 years ago, 1722
Indians 101: American Indians 300 years ago, 1721
Indians 101: The Cherokees 300 years ago, 1721
Indians 201: Queen Anne's War in the north
Indians 101: Washington's Chehalis Indians and the Americans in 1792
Indians 201: Grey Lock's War in New England
Indians 201: Ute Indians and the Spanish quest for silver in 1765