Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville, who founded the first French settlement in present-day Mississippi
February 10: Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville, leading a French expedition to establish a permanent settlement in Louisiana, first enters present-day Mississippi at Ship Island.
Going ashore he meets friendly Indians from the Biloxi tribe; he names a nearby bay in the Indians' honor.
Later he comes across members of the Bayougoulas tribe, who tell him of the large river to the west where their village is located.
Iberville successfully navigates through the North Pass into the Mississippi River and sails north until he comes to a decorated pole which he learns is the boundary marker between the Bayougoulas and the Houma.
The pole, which the French call a baton rouge (red stick), would later be the site of the city with that name.
When Iberville returns to Biloxi Bay, he comes
across the Mongoulachas, who give him Tonty's letter to La Salle which they had
been holding for fourteen years. The letter reinforces and substantiates the French
claim to the Mississippi valley.
May 4: Ibervilles men complete the construction of Fort Maurepas
on the eastern shore of Biloxi Bay, near present-day Ocean Springs (Vieux
Biloxy). With the natural protection of deep gullies on its sides and the
bay to its front, the fort serves to protect the budding French presence on
the continent from marauding Spanish and English seamen. Iberville returns to
France to report on his mission and to obtain more men and supplies, leaving
Sauvole de le Villantry in charge of Fort Maurepas and Iberville's brother
Jean Baptiste de Bienville second in command, the latter of whom leads
small parties to explore the coastline and Mississippi River.