1699

Iberville reaches the Mississippi and builds Fort Maurepas

Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville's expedition located the mouth of the Mississippi River on March 2, 1699, and on March 17 his party noted a pole marking the hunting boundary between the Bayogoula and the Houma. On April 8, 1699, Iberville chose a site at the entrance of Biloxi Bay for Fort Maurepas, the first French post of the Louisiana colony.