Colonial Natchitoches
A Creole Community on the Louisiana-Texas Frontier
978-1-62349-206-9 Paperback
5.62 x 9.25 x 0 in
232 pp. 4 maps., 50 tables. Bib. Index.
Pub Date: 11/07/2014
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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 creole (American-born of French descent) society that dominated the Louisiana-Texas frontier.
H. Sophie Burton and F. Todd Smith carefully demonstrate not only the persistence of this creole dominance but also how it was maintained. They examine, as well, the other ethnic cultures present in the town and relations with Indians in the surrounding area.
Through statistical analyses of birth and baptismal records, census figures, and appropriate French and Spanish archives, Burton and Smith reach surprising conclusions about the nature of society and commerce in colonial Natchitoches.
Elma Dill Russell Spencer Series in the West and Southwest
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Published by Texas A&M University Press