Pays des Illinois
District of New France
1675–1769 1801–1803
Flag[a] The lesser coat of arms of France as used by the Government
Illinois Country (Pais des Ilinois (sic)) 1717
Capital	Montreal (1675–1717) Biloxi (1717–1722) La Nouvelle-Orléans (after 1722) (regional:Chartres–after 1720; St Louis–after 1764)
History
• Foundation of the firstmission at theGrand Village of the Illinois	1675
• Transfer fromFrench Canada toFrench Louisiana	1717
• Split west to Spain (District of Illinois)	1763
• Split east to Great Britain (Province of Quebec)	1763
• East ceded to the United States	1783
• Spanish retrocession of west to France	1801
• West transferred to the United States	1803
Preceded by Succeeded by Indigenous Americans Louisiana (New Spain) Province of Quebec (1763–1791) Illinois County Louisiana Purchase
Today part of	United States Illinois Indiana Iowa Missouri Ohio

TheIllinois Country (French:Pays des Illinois[pɛ.idez‿i.li.nwa];lit. 'land of the Illinois people'; Spanish:País de los ilinueses), also referred to asUpper Louisiana (French:Haute-Louisiane[ot.lwi.zjan]; Spanish:Alta Luisiana), was a vast region ofNew France claimed in the 1600s that later fell under Spanish and British control before becoming what is now part of theMidwestern United States. While the area claimed included the entireUpper Mississippi Riverwatershed, French colonial settlement was concentrated along theMississippi andIllinois Rivers in what is now theU.S. states ofIllinois andMissouri, with outposts on theWabash River inIndiana. Explored in 1673 fromGreen Bay to theArkansas River by theCanadien expedition ofLouis Jolliet andJacques Marquette, the area was claimed byFrance. It was settled primarily from thePays d'en Haut in the context of thefur trade, and in the establishment of missions from Canada by FrenchCatholic religious orders. Over time, the fur trade took some French to the far reaches of theRocky Mountains, especially along the branches of the broadMissouri River valley. The "Illinois" in the territory's name is a reference to theIllinois Confederation, a group of relatedAlgonquian native peoples.

The Illinois Country was governed from the French province ofCanada until 1717 when, by order ofKing Louis XV, it was annexed to the French province ofLouisiana, becoming known as "Upper Louisiana".^[6] By the mid-18th century, major settlements includedCahokia,Kaskaskia,Chartres,Saint Philippe, andPrairie du Rocher, all on the east side of the Mississippi in present-day Illinois; andSte. Genevieve across the river in what is now Missouri, as well asFort Vincennes in what is now Indiana.^[7]

As a consequence of the French defeat in theFrench and Indian War in 1764, the Illinois Country east of the Mississippi River was ceded to the British and became part of the BritishProvince of Quebec; the land west of the river was ceded toSpanish Louisiana.

During theAmerican Revolutionary War, Virginian George Rogers Clark led theIllinois campaign against the British. Illinois Country east of the Mississippi River along with what was then much ofOhio Country became part ofIllinois County, Virginia, claimed by right of conquest. The county was abolished in 1782. In 1784, Virginia ceded its claims to the U.S. government and the area was incorporated as part of theNorthwest Territory. The name lived on asIllinois Territory between 1809 and 1818, and as the State of Illinois after its admission to the union in 1818. The Spanish-occupied portion of Illinois Country west of the Mississippi was acquired by the United States from France in theLouisiana Purchase of 1803.

The boundaries of the Illinois Country were defined in a variety of ways, but the region now known as theAmerican Bottom was nearly at the center of all descriptions. One of the earliest known geographic features designated asIlinois was what later became known asLake Michigan, on a map prepared in 1671 by FrenchJesuits. Early French missionaries and traders referred to the area southwest and southeast of the lake, including much of the upper Mississippi Valley, by this name.Illinois was also the name given to an area inhabited by theIlliniwek. A map of 1685 labels a large area southwest of the lakeles Ilinois; in 1688, the Italian cartographerVincenzo Coronelli labeled the region (in Italian) asIllinois country. In 1721, the seventh military district of Louisiana was namedIllinois. It included more than half of the present state, as well as the land between theArkansas River and the line of43 degrees north latitude, between theRocky Mountains and the Mississippi River. A royal ordinance of 1722—following the transfer of the Illinois Country's governance from Canada to Louisiana—may have featured the broadest definition of the region, making it coterminous with Upper Louisiana: all land claimed by France south of the Great Lakes and north of the mouth of theOhio River, including both banks of the Mississippi as well as the lowerMissouri Valley.^[6] In 1723, the area around theWabash River became a separate district.

A generation later, trade conflicts between Canada and Louisiana led to a more defined boundary between the French colonies; in 1745, Louisiana governor generalVaudreuil set the northeastern bounds of his domain as theWabash valley up to the mouth of theVermilion River (near present-dayDanville, Illinois); from there, northwest tole Rocher on theIllinois River, and from there west to the mouth of theRock River (at present-dayRock Island, Illinois).^[6] Thus,Vincennes andPeoria were near the limit of Louisiana's reach; the outposts atOuiatenon (on the upper Wabash near present-dayLafayette, Indiana),Checagou,Fort Miamis (near present-dayFort Wayne, Indiana) andPrairie du Chien operated as dependencies of Canada.^[6]

This boundary between Canada and the Illinois Country remained in effect until theTreaty of Paris in 1763, after which France surrendered its remaining territory east of the Mississippi to Great Britain. (Although British forces had occupied the "Canadian" posts in the Illinois and Wabash countries in 1761, they did not occupy Vincennes or the Mississippi River settlements at Cahokia and Kaskaskia until 1764, after the ratification of the peace treaty.^[8]) As part of a general report on conditions in the newly conquered lands, Gen.Thomas Gage, then commandant atMontreal, explained in 1762 that, although the boundary between Louisiana and Canada was not exact, it was understood that the upper Mississippi above the mouth of the Illinois was in Canadian trading territory.^[9]

Distinctions became somewhat clearer after theTreaty of Paris in 1763, when Britain acquired Canada and the land claimed by France east of the Mississippi and Spain acquired Louisiana west of the Mississippi. Many French settlers moved west across the river to escape British control.^[7] On the west bank, the Spanish also continued to refer to the western region governed fromSt. Louis as theDistrict of Illinois and referred to St. Louis as thecity of Illinois.^[6]

The first French explorations of the Illinois Country were in the first half of the 17th century, led by explorers and missionaries based in Canada.Étienne Brûlé explored the upper Illinois country in 1615 but did not document his experiences.Joseph de La Roche Daillon reached anoil spring at the northeasternmost fringe of the Mississippi River basin during his 1627 missionary journey.

In 1669–70, FatherJacques Marquette, a missionary in French Canada, was at a mission station onLake Superior, when he met native traders from theIllinois Confederation. He learned about the great river that ran through their country to the south and west. In 1673–74, with a commission from the Canadian government, Marquette and Louis Jolliet explored theMississippi River territory fromGreen Bay to theArkansas River, including theIllinois River valley. In 1675, Marquette returned to found a Jesuit mission at theGrand Village of the Illinois. Over the next decades missions, trade posts, and forts were established in the region.^[10][11] By 1714, the principal European, non-native inhabitants wereCanadienfur traders,missionaries and soldiers, dealing with Native Americans, particularly the group known as theKaskaskia. The main French settlements were established atKaskaskia,Cahokia, andSainte Genevieve. By 1752, the population had risen to 2,573.^[12]

From the 1710s to the 1730s, theFox Wars between the French, French allied tribes and theMeskwaki people occurred in what is now northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, and Michigan, in particular, over the fur trade. During the conflict, in what is nowMcLean County, Illinois, French and allied forces won a consequential battle against the Meskwaki in 1730.^[13][14]

French explorers led byRené-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle built Fort St. Louis on a largebutte by the Illinois River in the winter of 1682.^[15] CalledLe Rocher, the butte provided an advantageous position for the fort above the river.^[15] A woodenpalisade was the only form of defenses that La Salle used in securing the site. Inside the fort were a few wooden houses and native shelters. The French intended St. Louis to be the first of several forts to defend against English incursions and keep their settlements confined to theEast Coast. Accompanying the French to the region were allied members of several native tribes from eastern areas, who integrated with the Kaskaskia: theMiami,Shawnee, andMahican. The tribes established a new settlement at the base of the butte known as Hotel Plaza.After La Salle's five-year monopoly ended New France governorJoseph-Antoine de La Barre wished to put Fort Saint Louis along withFort Frontenac under his jurisdiction.^[16] By orders of the governor, traders and his officer were escorted to Illinois.^[16] On August 11, 1683, LaSalle's armorer,Pierre Prudhomme, obtained approximately one and three-quarters of a mile of the north portage shore.^[16]

During the earliest of theFrench and Indian Wars, the French used the fort as a refuge against attacks by Iroquois, who were allied with the British. The Iroquois forced the settlers, then commanded byHenri de Tonti, to abandon the fort in 1691. De Tonti reorganized the settlers at Fort Pimitoui in modern-dayPeoria.

French troops commanded byPierre-Charles de Liette occupied Fort St. Louis from 1714 to 1718; De Liette's jurisdiction over the region ended when the territory was transferred fromCanada toLouisiana.Fur trappers and traders used the fort periodically in the early 18th century until it became too dilapidated. No surface remains of the fort are found at the site today. The region was periodically occupied by a variety of native tribes who were forced westward by the expansion of European settlements. These included thePotawatomi,Ottawa, andOjibwe.

On April 20, 1769, an Illinois Confederation warrior assassinatedChief Pontiac while he was on a diplomatic mission inCahokia. According to locallegend, the Ottawa, along with their allies the Potawatomi, attacked a band of Illini along the Illinois River. The tribe climbed to the butte to seek refuge from the attack. The Ottawa and Potawatomi continued the siege until the Illini tribe starved to death. After hearing the story, Europeans referred to the butte asStarved Rock.

On January 1, 1718, a trade monopoly was granted toJohn Law's Company. Hoping to make a fortune mining precious metals in the area, the company with a military contingent sent from New Orleans built a fort to protect its interests. Construction began on the firstFort de Chartres (in present-day Illinois) in 1718 and was completed in 1720.

The original fort was located on the east bank of the Mississippi River, downriver (south) fromCahokia and upriver ofKaskaskia. The nearby settlement ofPrairie du Rocher, Illinois, was founded by French-Canadian colonists in 1722, a few miles inland from the fort.

The fort was to be the seat of government for the Illinois Country and help to control the aggressiveMeskwaki. The fort was named afterLouis, duc de Chartres, son of the regent of France. Because of frequent flooding, another fort was built further inland in 1725. By 1731, the Company of the Indies had gone defunct and turned Louisiana and its government back to the king. The garrison at the fort was removed toKaskaskia, Illinois in 1747, about 18 miles to the south. A new stone fort was planned near the old fort and was described as "nearly complete" in 1754, although construction continued until 1760.

The new stone fort was headquarters for the French Illinois Country for less than 20 years, as it was turned over to the British in 1763 with theTreaty of Paris at the end of theFrench and Indian War. The British Crown declared almost all the land between theAppalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River from Florida toNewfoundland a Native American territory called theIndian Reserve following theRoyal Proclamation of 1763. The government ordered settlers to leave or get a special license to remain. This and the desire to live in aCatholic territory caused many of theCanadiens to cross the Mississippi to live in St. Louis orSte. Genevieve. The British soon relaxed their policy and later extended theProvince of Quebec to the region.

The British took control of Fort de Chartres on October 10, 1765 and renamed itFort Cavendish. The British softened the initial expulsion order and offered the Canadien inhabitants the same rights and privileges enjoyed under French rule. In September 1768, the British established a Court of Justice, the first court ofcommon law in the Mississippi Valley (the French law system is calledcivil law).

After severe flooding in 1772, the British saw little value in maintaining the fort and abandoned it. They moved the military garrison to the fort at Kaskaskia and renamed itFort Gage. Chartres' ruined but intactmagazine is considered the oldest surviving European structure in Illinois and was reconstructed in the 20th century, with much of the rest of the Fort.

According to historian Carl J. Ekberg, the French settlement pattern in Illinois Country was generally unique in 17th- and 18th-century French North America. These were unlike other such French settlements, which primarily had been organized in separated homesteads along a river with long rectangular plots stretching back from the river (ribbon plots). The Illinois Country French, although they marked long-ribbon plots, did not reside on them. Instead, settlers resided together in farming villages, more like the farming villages of northern France, and practiced communal agriculture.^[17]

After the port ofNew Orleans, along the Mississippi River to the south, was founded in 1718, more African slaves were imported to the Illinois Country for use as agricultural and mining laborers. By the mid-eighteenth century, slaves accounted for as much as a third of the population.^[18]

• In 1675,Jacques Marquette founded the mission of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin at theGrand Village of the Illinois, near present-dayUtica, Illinois, which was destroyed byIroquois in 1680.^[10][11]

• Peoria was at first the southernmost part ofNew France, then the northernmost part of the French Colony ofLouisiana, and finally the westernmost part of the newly formed United States.Fort Crevecoeur was first founded in 1680. Another fort, often calledFort Pimiteoui, and later Old Fort Peoria, was established in 1691.^[19] French interests dominated at Peoria for well over a hundred years, from the time the first French explorers came up the Illinois River in 1673 until the first United States settlers began to move into the area around 1815. A small French presence persisted for a time on the east bank of the river, but was gone by about 1846. Today, only faint echoes of French Peoria survive in the street plan of downtown Peoria, and in the name of an occasional street, school, or hotel meeting room:Joliet,Marquette,LaSalle.
• TheMission of the Guardian Angel was established near theChicago portage between 1696 and 1700.

• Cahokia, established in 1696 by French missionaries fromQuebec, was one of the earliest permanent settlements in the region. It became one of the most populous of the northern towns. In 1787, it was made the seat of St. Clair County in theNorthwest Territory. In 1801,William Henry Harrison, then governor ofIndiana Territory, enlarged St. Clair County to administer a vast area extending to the Canada–US border. By 1814, the county had been reduced to almost the size of present-daySt. Clair County, Illinois. The county seat was shifted from Cahokia toBelleville. On April 20, 1769, the great Indian leaderChief Pontiac was murdered in Cahokia by a chief of thePeoria.
• Kaskaskia, established in 1703, was at first small mission station for the French. It flourished to become capital of theIllinois Territory, 1809–1818, and the first capital of the state of Illinois, 1818−1820. The French built a fort here in 1721, which was destroyed in 1763 by the British. (The fort was situated above what was then the lower course of theKaskaskia River, but became the new channel of the Mississippi in 1881.) During theAmerican Revolutionary War, GeneralGeorge Rogers Clark took possession of the village in 1778. The residents rang the church bell in celebration, and it became known as the "liberty bell". (It had been sent in 1741 by KingLouis XV.) Flooding and a lateral shift of the river channel in 1881 cut off the old settlement from the mainland of Illinois and destroyed some of the village and its archaeology. Much of the village cemetery was transferred to the higher ground ofFort Kaskaskia State Park across the river. Today visitors can reach the remnants of Kaskaskia only by a bridge and road from the Missouri side. In theGreat Flood of 1993, the Mississippi submerged all but a few rooftops and the steeple of theCatholic Church of theImmaculate Conception, built in 1843 and moved brick by brick to the new location on Kaskaskia Island about 1893.
• In 1720,Philip Francois Renault, the Director of Mining Operations for the Company of the West, arrived with about 200 laborers and mechanics and 500 Africanslaves fromSaint-Domingue to workthe mines. However, the mines yielded only unprofitablecoal andlead, providing insufficient revenues for the Company of the West to survive. In 1723, Renault, with his workers and slaves, established the village of St. Philippe (on theBottoms down from the present-day unincorporated community ofRenault, Illinois inMonroe County, Illinois.) It was about 3 miles north of Fort de Chartres. This is the first record ofAfrican slaves in the region. Some of the French farmers also used slaves for labor, but most families held only a few, if any. The village quickly produced an agricultural surplus, with its goods sold to lower Louisiana, as well as to settlements less successful than those in the Illinois Country, such as Arkansas Post.
• As early as 1733, a trading post was established by Jean Baptiste de Girardot atCape Girardeau and the town later formed in 1793.
• The originalSte. Genevieve was established around 1750 along the western banks of theMississippi River. The village consisted of mostly farmers and merchants ofFrench-Canadian descent from the settlements on the east side. Despite flooding, the town remained in that location until the great flood of 1785 destroyed much property. The villagers decided to move the entire village to higher ground about two miles north and half a mile back from the river floodplain. The city has retained the most buildings ofFrench Colonial architecture in the US.
• The French establishedFort Orleans in 1723 along theMissouri River nearBrunswick, Missouri.
• Fort Vincennes, on the Wabash River, later known asSt. Vincennes and eventuallyVincennes, Indiana, was established in 1732. The British renamed itFort Sackville after their capture of it in theFrench and Indian War (also known as theSeven Years' War.) George Rogers Clark renamed it FortPatrick Henry, for the Governor of Virginia, when he took it in theAmerican Revolution. Although part of the original expansive Illinois Country, as part of the Northwest Territory, it became the seat of a separate county.
• The French builtFort de L'Ascension (later, de Massiac) on theOhio River in 1757 near present-dayMetropolis, Illinois.
• St. Louis was founded in 1764 by French fur traders. In 1765, it was made thecapital of Upper Louisiana; and after 1767, control of the region west of the Mississippi was given to the Spanish ("District of Illinois"^[6]). In 1780,St. Louis was attacked by British forces, mostly Native Americans, during theAmerican Revolutionary War.^[20]

Following the British occupation of the east bank of the Mississippi in 1765, someCanadien settlers remained in the area, while others crossed the river, forming new settlements such asSt. Louis. The British faced an uprising of Native Americans known asPontiac's War. Longtime allies of the French, the Kaskaskia and Peoria tribes had resisted the British, andPontiac led a coalition of the Illini, and Kickapoo, Miami, Ojibway, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Seneca, Wea, and Wyandot against the British. Pursuant to theTreaty of Paris (1763)Captain Thomas Sterling and the42nd Regiment of Foot took command ofFort de Chartres, from the French commandant, Captain Louis St. Ange de Bellerive in 1765.^[21]

During the Revolutionary War, GeneralGeorge Rogers Clark took possession of the part of the Illinois Country east of the Mississippi forVirginia. In November 1778, the Virginia legislature created thecounty of Illinois, comprising all of the lands lying west of theOhio River to which Virginia had any claim, with Kaskaskia as the county seat. CaptainJohn Todd was named as governor. However, this government was limited to the formerCanadien settlements and was rather ineffective.

For their assistance to General Clark in the war, settled Canadien and Indian residents of Illinois Country were given full citizenship. Under theNorthwest Ordinance and many subsequent treaties and acts of Congress, the Canadien and Indian residents ofVincennes andKaskaskia were granted specific exemptions, as they had declared themselves citizens of Virginia. The termIllinois Country was sometimes used in legislation to refer to these settlements.

Much of the Illinois Country region became anorganized territory of the United States with the establishment of theNorthwest Territory in 1787. In 1803, the old Illinois Country area west of the Mississippi was gained by the U.S. in theLouisiana Purchase.

• French Colonial Historic District
• List of commandants of the Illinois Country
• Missouri French, a dialect of French spoken in the Midwestern Mississippi River Valley
• Ohio Country
• Slavery in New France

• French Peoria in the Illinois Country, 1673−1846 Library of Congress exhibit
• Louisiana Digital Libraries Plan for Fort Orleans

40°15′N90°15′W / 40.250°N 90.250°W /40.250; -90.250

• States and territories established in 1675
• States and territories disestablished in 1803
• 1699 establishments in New France
• 1765 disestablishments in New France
• Former French colonies
• Former territorial entities in North America
• Louisiana (New France)
• Pre-statehood history of Illinois
• Pre-statehood history of Indiana
• Pre-statehood history of Missouri
• Pre-statehood history of Ohio
• States and territories disestablished in 1769
• States and territories established in 1801

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