The impetus to cede the French colony of Louisiana to the Spanish was the long, expensive conflict of the French and Indian War, also known as the Seven Year's War, between France and Great Britain. Initially, France offered Louisiana to Spain in order to bring Spain into the conflict on the French side. Spain declined. Spanish officials were uncertain about what exactly constituted the vague and immense colony of Louisiana. When the "Family Compact," a supposedly secret alliance between France and Spain, became known to the British, they attacked Spain. In November 1762 in the secret Treaty of Fontainebleau, France handed over Louisiana and the Isle of Orleans to Spain in order to "sweeten the bitter medicine of Spanish defeat and to persuade them not to fight on" against the British. 6
The cession of Louisiana was kept secret for over a year. France feared that Louisiana would become British. As a result, France sought to preempt any actions that Britain would undertake if it became known that Louisiana no longer enjoyed French protection before the Spanish were able to occupy and defend it. Great Britain officially conceded Spanish ownership of Louisiana in February 1763 in one of the series of treaties ending the French and Indian War. This gesture was a mere formality, for the territory had been in Spanish hands for almost three months.
Spanish Rule and a Revolt
Don Tomás López de Vargas Machuca, La Luisiana cedida al Rei N. S. por S. M. Christianisima, con la Nueva Orleans, è isla en que se halla esta ciudad. Construida sobre el mapa de Mr. d'Anville. Por D. Thomás Lopez, 1762. Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress. Call number: G4010 1762 .L6 Low 467
Spain was slow to take actual possession of its newly acquired colony. In general, French colonists reacted negatively to the idea of Spanish rule. Spain was also loathe to spend sufficient funds for either an effective military presence or adequate maintenance of the colony. To make matters worse, the new colonial governor, Don Antonio de Ulloa, did not arrive in Louisiana until March 1766.
Spanish rule in Louisiana needed to accommodate an ethnically diverse population. There were large numbers of different Native American tribes, a small but influential European populace that was primarily French, and a small but significant number of Africans, both slave and free. Many of the colony's officials were either French or of French ancestry, which contributed to the tenuous nature of Spanish management of the colony. Spanish officials, aware of their own numerical insignificance and of the diversity of peoples, showed some flexibility in procedures by maintaining the French language and customs.
