La Salle, Rene Robert Cavelier sieur de
(la SAL, re NAY ro BEAR cav a lee A sir de): French explorer who, in 1682 claimed the Mississippi River and its entire drainage system
for France. He named it Louisiana in honor of King Louis XIV.
King Louis XIV (King LOO ie Fourteenth, 1643-1715): The king for whom La Salle named the Louisiana Territory. He was more interested in building a fine palace at Versailles (near Paris) than developing the colony that bore his name.
King Louis XV (King LOO ie Fifteenth, 1715-1774): Great-grandson of Louis the Fourteenth. During his reign, France lost its North American lands to the British. To save West Louisiana from the British, King Louis ceded it to his cousin, King Charles III of Spain.
King Charles III (1760-1788): Cousin of King Louis XV of France who was the Spanish King in 1762 when West Louisiana was given to Spain to keep the British from getting it.
Choiseul, Etienne-Francois, duc de
(Shwaz UL, eh tee IN fran SWA duke de):
A high-ranking and very capable minister in King Louis XV's court. Choiseul was the person who actually engineered the transfer of Louisiana to Spain.
Napoleon Bonaparte (na POL eon BONE apart): A military genius who gained control of France in 1799. To get Louisiana back, he made many promises to the King of Spain but eventually broke all of them. When his plans for Louisiana fell through, he sold it to the United States in 1803.
Madam Bonaparte (Josephine): First wife of Napoleon whom he married in 1795. She was a wealthy widow from the French colony of Martinique. When she failed to bear children,
Napoleon divorced her and married a woman who bore him a son.
Madam Leclerc (Pauline): Napoleon's sister. She was married to General Leclerc who was sent by Napoleon to recapture the French colony of Santo Domingo in the Caribbean Sea. Pauline accompanied him. He died there from YellowFever as did thousands of his troops, but Pauline survived.

Thomas Jefferson: President of the United States, 1801-1809. He sent ambassadors to France to buy New Orleans and they returned with the entire Louisiana Territory.
Meriwether Lewis: Jefferson's private secretary whom he chose to lead an expedition across the west to the Pacific Ocean.
Robert R. Livingston: A statesman from New York who served as Jefferson's ambassador to Napoleon's court in Paris.
Mrs. Livingston (Mary): Wife of Ambassador Livingston. As the wife of a diplomat, she lived in France with her husband.
Talleyrand, Charles Maurice de (TALLY rand, Sharl ma REECE de): A haughty and corrupt French minister with whom Livingston negotiated until Napoleon replaced him with the Minister of Finance, Barbe-Marbois.
James Monroe: American statesman sent to Paris by Jefferson to help Livingston negotiate for New Orleans. He later became the fifth president of the United States.
Denis Decres: (De NEE Duh CRAY) Head of the French navy under Napoleon. He was totally opposed to selling Louisiana.
Barbe-Marbois, Francois de (bar BAY-mar BWA, fran SWA de): Napoleon's Minister of Finance who negotiated the Louisiana Purchase contract with Livingston and Monroe.
James Madison: Secretary of State under President Jefferson when the Louisiana Purchase was made.
Delassus, Charles (Sharl dela SUE): Lieutenant Governor of Upper Louisiana when that territory was officially transferred from Spain to France and then to the United States, March 9, 1804
Stoddard, Captain Amos: U. S. Post Commander at Cahokia (Illinois territory) who represented both Napoleon Bonaparte and the United States in the transfer of Upper Louisiana to the United States, March 9, 1804.
Osage Man and Woman (OH sage): Members of a prominent Midwest Indian tribe at the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition .