Louisiana Revolution

Point of Divergence
The year is 1709. France is in disarray, fighting the War of Spanish Succession and suffering a great famine brought on by the Great Frost of 1709. During the harshest of winters, word reaches French shores from the territory of Louisiana, telling of a plentiful harvest and milder conditions. As the French people hear the news, they set sail by the thousands for New Orleans in New France, taking only a small supply of food with them, hoping to help their families survive the winter. Many will not survive the journey; some starve, others are killed or robbed for their food. When the ships finally begin reaching the shores of the new world in 1710, it was discovered that nearly a quarter of those who had begun the journey did not complete it.

The 60,000 who do complete the journey are met with just enough food to survive, and begin settling the territory along the Mississippi River, growing food, befriending the Native Americans, and growing into a prosperous colony. France beings to work directly with its colonies to establish a larger presence in the Americas in order to contest British and Spanish dominance of the continent and many French people begin traveling to Louisiana territory to gain access to its plentiful bounty of resources. As the years pass, Louisiana territory eventually overcomes the population of the British 13 colonies, with a population of 1,300,000 by 1750.

With the growth of Louisiana to contest the British and Spanish colonies, the battle for the new world heated up and the value of Louisiana in European politics increased greatly, giving the French an advantage over other nations but increasing the stakes of any war that might have broken out.

When the Seven Years' War and Fourth Intercontinental War came to colonial America in 1754, the whole world watched to see what what would become of the French and British colonies. Unbeknownst to people at the time, this conflict would lead to rise of a global superpower in a few years.

Key Early Events
See full timeline: Timeline (Louisiana Revolution)
 * 1710: 60,000 new colonists arrive in Louisiana territory to escape the hardships of European France.
 * 1762: The Fourth Intercontinental War ends in a total French defeat.
 * 1763: France is forced to give up its colonial possessions. Louisiana is transferred to Spain and rebels against its new Spanish rulers.  The Seven Years' War ends in a stalemate.
 * 1770: Louisiana defeats Spanish forces in the Battle of Cortez and repels the Spanish from their territory, marking the end of the War of Louisianan Independence. The Kingdom of Louisiana is born.
 * 1778: Louisiana emerges victorious in the Spanish-Louisianan War and takes control of the Florida colony and expands a bit westward.