Parisian Prisoners Offered Freedom If They Married Prostitutes Moved to Louisana
10 hours ago
- #Louisiana colonization
- #John Law
- #French colonial history
- In 1716, France, exhausted by wars under Louis XIV, turned to economist John Law to address national debt.
- Law proposed transferring debt to Banque Royale in exchange for privileges, repaying it via profits from the Mississippi Company, which had a monopoly on trade in the Mississippi Valley.
- To extract wealth from Louisiana, Law needed more settlers; he marketed it as a 'Garden of Eden,' but only attracted 800 additional Europeans by 1718.
- Law then targeted marginalized groups, promising 9,000 settlers, to create the illusion of a thriving colony and attract investment.
- His desperate measures to populate Louisiana involved exploiting society's most vulnerable, aiming to pay off debt and gain personal wealth.