Louisiana's first slaves were Chitimacha, not Africans (French Louisiana, 1706–1719)
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet proven
Year: 1706 · Places: Louisiana, Gulf Coast, Mexico, Europe, Africa
SUMMARYLouisiana's first slaves were Chitimacha, not Africans (French Louisiana, 1706–1719) [Connections: Gulf, Louisiana, Texas & Mexico, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORD"a census of the colony in 1708 counted eighty Indian men and women held as slaves among Louisiana's earliest settlers." The article says the first slaves came from French raids on Chitimacha settlements in 1706, and that enslaved Africans did not arrive until 1719. The Chitimacha Tribe's own history says that during the 1706–1718 war "many Chitimacha were forced into slavery and were the most enslaved of any population in Louisiana." Peace came in 1718, when a Chitimacha chief met Bienville in New Orleans
PATTERNThe colony's slave system began with Indigenous captives, and Africans were brought into a system already built on Native bondage
LENS (WW9)Before the slave ships came, the first chains in Louisiana were on Aboriginal people
OPENFind the 1708 census itself (French colonial archives) and trace what happened to the Chitimacha captives' descendants on later censuses
SOURCEPlaquemines Gazette, "Indian Slavery in French Louisiana"; Chitimacha Tribe, Tribal History.