History

Main articles: History of St. Louis and Timeline of St. Louis

Mississippian culture and early exploration

Historical affiliations

 Kingdom of France 1690s-1763
 Kingdom of Spain 1763–1800
 French First Republic 1800–1803
 United States 1803–present

Artists conception of the Mississippian culture Cahokia Mounds Site in Illinois, directly across the Mississippi River from modern St. Louis.

The area that would become St. Louis was a center of the Native American Mississippian culture, which built numerous temple and residential earthwork mounds on both sides of the Mississippi River. Their major regional center was at Cahokia Mounds, active from 900 AD to 1500 AD. Due to numerous major earthworks within St. Louis boundaries, the city was nicknamed as the "Mound City." These mounds were mostly demolished during the city's development. Historic Native American tribes in the area included the Siouan-speaking Osage people, whose territory extended west, and the Illiniwek.
European exploration of the area was first recorded in 1673, when French explorers Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette traveled through the Mississippi River valley. Five years later, La Salle claimed the region for France as part of La Louisiane.

The home of Auguste Chouteau in St. Louis. Chouteau and Pierre Laclède founded St. Louis in 1764.

The earliest European settlements in the area were built in Illinois Country (also known as Upper Louisiana) on the east side of the Mississippi River during the 1690s and early 1700s at Cahokia, Kaskaskia, and Fort de Chartres. Migrants from the French villages on the opposite side of the Mississippi River (e.g. Kaskaskia) founded Ste. Genevieve in the 1730s.
In early 1764, after France lost the 7 Years' War, Pierre Laclède and his stepson Auguste Chouteau founded what was to become the city of St. Louis.^[16] (French lands east of the Mississippi had been ceded to Great Britain and the lands west of the Mississippi to Spain; France and Spain were 18th-century allies and both were Catholic nations.) The early French families built the city's economy on the fur trade with the Osage, as well as with more distant tribes along the Missouri River. The Chouteau brothers gained a monopoly from Spain on the fur trade with Santa Fe. French colonists used African slaves as domestic servants and workers in the city.
From 1762 to 1803 European control of the area west of the Mississippi to the northernmost part of the Missouri River basin, called Louisiana, was assumed by the Spanish as part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. In 1780 during the American Revolutionary War, St. Louis was attacked by British forces, mostly Native American allies, in the Battle of St. Louis.^[17]

City founding (French and Spanish Louisiana period)

A map of St. Louis, Illinois in 1780. From the archives in Seville, Spain

The founding of St. Louis began in 1763. Pierre Laclede led an expedition to set up a fur-trading post farther up the Mississippi River. Before then, Laclede had been a very successful merchant. For this reason, he and his trading partner Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent were offered monopolies for six years of the fur trading in that area.
Though they were originally only granted rights to set-up a trading post, Laclede and other members of his expedition quickly set up a settlement. Some historians believe that Laclede's determination to create this settlement was the result of his affair with a married woman Marie-Thérèse Bourgeois Chouteau in New Orleans.
Laclede on his initial expedition was accompanied by his young stepson, Auguste Chouteau. Some historians still debate which of the two men was the true founder of St. Louis. The reason for this lingering question is that all the documentation of the founding was loaned and subsequently destroyed in a fire.

In 1780 during the American Revolutionary War, St. Louis was attacked by British forces, mostly Native American allies, in the Battle of St. Louis.

For the first few years of St. Louis's existence, the city was not recognized by any of the governments. Though originally thought to be under the control of the Spanish government, no one asserted any authority over the settlement, and thus St. Louis had no local government. This led Laclede to assume a position of civil control, and all problems were disposed in public settings, such as conmunal meetings. In addition, Laclede granted new settlers lots in town and the surrounding countryside. In hindsight, many of these original settlers thought of these first few years as "the golden age of St. Louis."

A map depicting the town of St. Louis in the 1790s, then part of Spanish Louisiana

By 1765, the city began receiving notifications and visits from representatives and military actives from members of the English, French, and Spanish governments. The Indians in the local area expressed dissatisfaction to being under the command and control of British forces. One of the great Ottawa chieftains, Pontiac, was angered by the change of power and potential for the British to come into their lands. He desired to fight against them, but many of the St. Louis inhabitants refused.
St. Louis was transferred to the French First Republic in 1800 (although all of the colonial lands continued to be administered by Spanish officials), then sold by the French to the U.S. in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase. St. Louis became the capital of, and gateway to, the new territory. Shortly after the official transfer of authority was made, the Lewis and Clark Expedition was commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson. The expedition departed from St. Louis in May 1804 along the Missouri River to explore the vast territory. There were hopes of finding a water route to the Pacific Ocean, but the party had to go overland in the Upper West. They reached the Pacific Ocean via the Columbia River in summer 1805. They returned, reaching St. Louis on September 23, 1806. Both Lewis and Clark lived in St. Louis after the expedition. Many other explorers, settlers, and trappers (such as Ashley's Hundred) would later take a similar route to the West.