When La Salle and his expedition reached the mouth of the Mississippi River, they claimed the entire Mississippi River valley, including all of its tributaries, for ______________.

In 1712, the French king made Louisiana a _________________, meaning that the king gave ownership to one person and allowed that person to rule.

In 1717, a Scottish banker named _______________________ became Louisiana's proprietor or owner.

The French government passed laws called ___________________ that restricted the ways in which Africans in Louisiana could live.

Hoping to rebuild the French empire in North America, Louis XIV declared New France to be a ________________.

The king appointed officials to live in New France and help him govern. The head of these officials was called the ______________________.

In 1672, King Louis XIV appointed ________________________ governor-general of New France.

The method of transportation the French called _____________ is the carrying of canoes and supplies around waterfalls and rapids or overland between rivers.

The Indian peoples often talked with the French traders about a great river, larger than all the others. The Algonkins called it the ____________________, which means "Big River."

The first successful missionaries in the Spanish borderlands were the __________________, a group of Catholic religious workers.

The Franciscans built ______________, or small religious communities.

The first mission built by the Franciscans was _________________, or "Name of God" built near St. Augustine in 1565.

Some Indians _____________ back against the missionaries because of cruel treatment and being forced to work on the farms and ranches against their will.

To protect its missions, the Spanish government built roads linking them with nearby presidios. _________________ or "the Royal Road," was started in the middle 1500s.

A ____________ is an area of land that serves as a barrier.

The buffer north of New Spain protected it from New France, New Netherland, and the English colonies and became known as the Spanish ________________.

Once the Spanish soldiers found a good place to settle in the borderlands, their first duty was to build a fort called a ________________.

_____________________ became the first permanent, or long-lasting, European settlement in what is now the United States.

The Spanish realized that gold and silver were ____________, or not plentiful, in the borderlands.