CHAPTER V
SOME LAND CLAIMS
On the strength of the discoveries of Columbus, and especially of Coronado, who came from Mexico up through New Mexico and into Kansas in 1540-1541, Spain claimed all of the interior of the American continent, including the South Dakota country. She did nothing, however, in the way of exploration or occupancy, to make the claim good, though for more than a hundred years her right was undisputed, until the French from Canada began to trade with the Sioux Indians and claimed for France all of the territory which they entered.
On September 18, 1712, the king of France granted the monopoly of trade in all of the territory lying in the Mississippi valley to Anthony Crozat, a banker of Paris, for the term of sixteen years. The action of the French led the Spaniards to take measures to assert their claims, and they sent men from Santa Fé to drive the French from the lower Missouri and Mississippi rivers. The Spanish plan was to excite the Osage Indians to make war on the Missouri Indians, who were friendly to the French, but by a mistake the Spaniards went directly to the Missouri camp, where the entire party, with one exception, were killed. This led the French to build a fort near the mouth of the Missouri.
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