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Dauphin Island, AL
Archive of Historical Data, Books, Maps
And Other Materials
Dauphin Island in the New World
Time Line 1519 thru 1820's
A Paper Compiled by Jim Hall, Nov. 2007
COLONIAL -- Just
27 years after Christopher Columbus first introduced America to the western
world, Admiral Alvarez de Pineda, a Spanish explorer, became the first European
to sail into the waters of Mobile Bay. The year was 1519, and it would be
another twenty years before another European would actually take a step
in today's Alabama.
Between 1540 and 1541, the well-known explorer and marauder De Soto came
close to the Mobile River, but it is unknown if he ever actually traveled
to the juncture of the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers where the Mobile River
begins.
The first white colonists in Alabama landed on the shores of Mobile Bay
in 1559 under the leadership of Tistan de Luna. He and one-thousand settlers,
after landing at Mobile Bay, moved on to Pensacola Bay, and eventually returned
to Alabama to take over the Indian town of Nanipacna.
(Rivers of Alabama) A Canadian born Frenchman, Pierre LeMoyne, Sieur d'Iberville
would be the first European to leave a considerable mark on the history
of Mobile.
In the late 1600's the French government were laying plans to settle and
therefore claim the mouth of the Mississippi River. The Spanish, upon learning
of plans for a permanent French settlement on the Gulf, quickly scrambled
to occupy Pensacola Bay in 1698, denying the French port facilities where
they could.
After Iberville's first reconnaissance for a Mississippi settlement in 1699,
he returned to the Gulf in 1702 and began the establishment of warehouses
and port facilities on Mobile Bay's Dauphin Island because of the presence
of a deep water harbor, and the strategic importance of slowing the Spanish
and English march across the eastern frontier towards the Mississippi River.
(Futado) They named the island, Massacre Island because of the presence
of some sixty skeletons that were found upon landing there.
Two years later in 1701 Dauphin Island became the first capital of the growing
French colony of Louisiana.
Pierre LeMoyne, Sieur d'Iberville was the first of the DeMoyne brothers
to make his mark upon the history of Alabama. He established the first Mobile
settlement in 1702, at a site upstream from Mobile Bay along the Tensaw
River at 27-Mile Bluff. The settlement was named Mobile, and the fort that
was its center was called Fort Louis (for their Grand Monarch and employer,
King Louis the XIV).
(History of Alabama 1540-1900 &A Documentary History to 1900 ) The purpose
for locating the original Mobile settlement 26 miles upriver was in part
to encourage settlement along the river. Topography was also a consideration
as there were no bluffs considered adequate at the river's mouth.
(Futado). Within two years, in 1704, La Mobille was the center of the French
plans in the region. After problems with having adequate defenses for the
port at Dauphin Island as well as flooding problems encountered at the river
settlement, the town was moved to the mouth of the Mobile River in 1711.
Today's city of Mobile has evolved from this early French settlement. The
LeMoyne brothers, Canadian borne frenchman, arrived first at Daulphin Island
and built port and warehouse facilities in 1699. By 1704 there were 80 houses
in the town and a population of 259.
(Futado et. all 1989:60) This location allowed better access to the interior
but unfortunately was susceptible to unpredictable and frequent flooding.
(History of Alabama) The settlement was moved shortly thereafter, in 1710,
to its present location which had the benefit of facilitating better communication
and commerce with ocean vessels.
(History of Alabama 1540-1900 &A Documentary History to 1900 ) A new fort
named Conde was built, and the town that grew around it evolved into present
day Mobile.
(Futado et. all 1989:60) Bienville was the second of the LeMoyne brothers
who served as the first governor of Mobile shortly after his brother Iberville
died of illness.
(History of Alabama 1540-1900 &A Documentary History to 1900 ) The French
tried to retain their claim to the interior of today's Alabama and built
a fort at the junction of the Coosa and Tallapoosa to defend against the
English while establishing trade relations with the Creek Indians. A second
fort, named Tombecbe was placed amongst the Choctaw tribe in what is now
Sumter County. All of these enterprises failed.
The French occupied Mobile until the Treaty of Paris in 1763 cedes the Louisiana
territory to England.
1780 Spain takes Mobile from England.
1813, Mobile becomes part of the US.
1817 Alabama becomes territory. 1818 becomes state.
1820s Age of the steamboat. Cotton is major export crop for the Bay.
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