Freeport-McMoRan Inc. , often called Freeport , is an American mining company based in the Freeport-McMoRan Center , in Phoenix, Arizona . The company is the world's largest producer of molybdenum , a major copper producer and operates the world's largest gold mine , the Grasberg mine in Papua, Indonesia .
104-418: The current company was created in 1981 through the merger of Freeport Minerals , formerly Texas Freeport Sulphur Company and McMoRan Oil & Gas Company , becoming Freeport-McMoRan Inc. Freeport Sulphur Company was founded July 12, 1912, by the eldest son of Svante Magnus "E.M." Swenson , banker Eric Pierson Swenson, with a group of investors, to develop sulfur mining at Bryan Mound salt dome , along
208-477: A proxy fight for control of the company. In 1929, he then sought help from his former supervisor at Lee, Higginson & Co. , J.T. Claiborne, who then enlisted clerk John Hay Whitney – who had become one of the wealthiest men in America following the 1927 death of his father, Payne Whitney . Williams eventually gained control of the company from founder Swenson, becoming its president in 1931, with Claiborne as
312-682: A slave rebellion that started during the French Revolution of Saint-Domingue in 1791. Over the next decade, thousands of refugees landed in Louisiana from the island, including Europeans, Creoles, and Africans, some of the latter brought in by each free group. They greatly increased the French-speaking population in New Orleans and Louisiana, as well as the number of Africans, and the slaves reinforced African culture in
416-525: A 1996 Dames & Moore environmental audit. The report, endorsed by Freeport, also estimated that during the life of the mine 3.2 billion tons of waste rock – large components of which generate acid – would be dumped into the local river system. Overburden (waste rock) from the mine had already polluted a nearby lake due to acid mine drainage . Citing extensive, long-term and irreversible environmental damage in New Guinea,
520-462: A 2,000-foot (610 m) cliff separates the Ertsberg mine (at 12,000 feet (3,700 m) elevation) from the mill (at 10,000 feet). Moving copper concentrate from that mill to the shipping port required installation of a 109-kilometre (68 mi) slurry pipeline – then the world's longest. Mine construction and startup cost about US$ 200 million. The Ertsberg project was an engineering marvel, but
624-595: A 25% interest in oil and gas assets primarily in the western United States to Britoil for $ 73.5 million. In 1989, the company sold about $ 1.5 billion in assets to finance development of the Grasberg mine and the Main Pass offshore sulfur-oil-gas deposit off Louisiana. In 1994, the company completed the corporate spin-off of its entire interest in Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, which owned
728-618: A Spanish expedition led by Pánfilo de Narváez located the mouth of the Mississippi River. In 1542, Hernando de Soto 's expedition skirted to the north and west of the state (encountering Caddo and Tunica groups) and then followed the Mississippi River down to the Gulf of Mexico in 1543. Spanish interest in Louisiana faded away for a century and a half. In the late 17th century, French and French Canadian expeditions, which included sovereign, religious and commercial aims, established
832-542: A Vice-President, and Whitney as Chairman. Williams also served as Chairman during 1958–1967. Williams led the company's diversification, beginning with the purchase of manganese deposits in Oriente Province , Cuba. In 1932, Freeport Sulphur Company acquired the sulfur rights for Lake Grande Ecaille and vicinity in Plaquemines Parish , Louisiana, and escalated the development of sulfur deposits in
936-658: A cotton agent, and regularly visiting his extensive land holdings. Swenson died in Brooklyn , New York, and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York) . On September 3, 1850, Swenson purchased a city lot in Austin. In 1854, he built the Swenson Building on Congress Avenue where the current Piedmont Hotel stands today. Inside the building, on the first floor, were a drug store, a general goods store,
1040-551: A foothold on the Mississippi River and Gulf Coast. With its first settlements, France laid claim to a vast region of North America and set out to establish a commercial empire and French nation stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. In 1682, the French explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle named the region Louisiana to honor King Louis XIV of France. The first permanent settlement, Fort Maurepas (now Ocean Springs, Mississippi ),
1144-510: A full-scale slaveholder in Texas through inheriting his now-deceased wife’s plantation. In 1848, he enlarged his property holdings by purchasing the adjoining plantation and expanding his cotton crop. In 1850, along with purchasing 182 acres a few miles outside of Austin, he bought the lot on Congress Avenue and constructed the Swenson Building and inside, the Stringer’s Hotel. According to
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#17327834588391248-558: A growing town. This became a pattern repeated in New Orleans and other places, although the commodity crop in the south was primarily sugar cane. Louisiana's French settlements contributed to further exploration and outposts, concentrated along the banks of the Mississippi and its major tributaries, from Louisiana to as far north as the region called the Illinois Country , around present-day St. Louis, Missouri . The latter
1352-520: A hardware store, and a grocery store; a hotel, (named the Avenue Hotel but locally known as the Stringer’s Hotel) was located on the upper two levels of the building. The Travis County Deeds Records show that sometime later, Swenson leased the hotel to a John Stringer, giving the hotel its name “the Stringer’s Hotel.” An 1885 Austin city Sanborn map of the Swenson Building shows that Swenson had
1456-478: A landslide killed eight workers. A government study concluded that the incident was the result of negligence. Important warning signs had been detected two days prior. In response to this, management moved some equipment, but did not keep workers out of the area. A month later two workers died from being exposed to sulfur fumes. The government ultimately overturned its conclusion and attributed the incident to natural causes. In 2005, The New York Times reported that
1560-403: A mercantile business with his uncle Swante Palm. While running the business, Swenson continued to buy Texas Railroad Certificates and to acquire land. Swenson arranged passage for Swedish families principally from Småland , who in turn worked for Swenson to pay off the price of the ticket. Most of the early immigrants also bought land from Swenson. Swenson began shipments of the Texas pecan to
1664-505: A rich southern biota , including birds such as ibises and egrets , many species of tree frogs —such as the state-recognized American green tree frog —and fish such as sturgeon and paddlefish . More elevated areas, particularly in the north, contain a wide variety of ecosystems such as tallgrass prairie , longleaf pine forest and wet savannas ; these support an exceptionally large number of plant species, including many species of terrestrial orchids and carnivorous plants . Over half
1768-657: A room built for “servants” in the hotel portion of the building. There is no documentation detailing whether enslaved people stayed in that room since the Sanborn map is dated twenty years after the Civil War. Through his trade dealings in the south, Swenson befriended a slaveholder by the name of George Long, who then hired Swenson to work at his newly relocated plantation in Texas. A year later, when Long died due to poor health, Swenson married his widow, who then too died of tuberculosis three years later. By 1843, Swenson became
1872-913: A sale to China Molybdenum of Tenke Fungurume Mine , a cobalt/ copper mine in DRC Congo, were not successful. Instead, the Kisanfu mine was sold to China Molybdenum in a separate transaction in 2020. In December 2019, Freeport Cobalt (a joint venture between Freeport-McMoRan and Lundin Mining ) sold its cobalt refinery in Kokkola , Finland to Umicore . FCX held an effective 56% interest in that enterprise. Arizona Colorado New Mexico Past board members include Henry Kissinger , John Hay Whitney , Robert A. Lovett , Benno C. Schmidt Sr. , Gus Long , Arleigh Burke , J. Stapleton Roy , Godfrey Rockefeller and his cousin-in-law, Jean Mauzé . In 2011, Freeport
1976-528: A smelter in exchange for a special permit to operate the mine until 2041. In 2018, the company ranked at number 176 on the Fortune 500 list. During this year, Indonesian President Joko Widodo also planned to take control of 51% of Freeport Indonesia's equity, effectively handing over Freeport control to the Indonesian government. The Indonesian government planned to settle payments of $ 3.85 billion during
2080-606: A special envoy to Napoleon, to assist in obtaining New Orleans for the United States. Jefferson also raised the authorized expenditure to $ 10 million. However, on April 11, 1803, French foreign minister Talleyrand surprised Livingston by asking how much the United States was prepared to pay for the entirety of Louisiana, not just New Orleans and the surrounding area (as Livingston's instructions covered). Monroe agreed with Livingston that Napoleon might withdraw this offer at any time (leaving them with no ability to obtain
2184-423: A total enterprise value of over $ 20 billion. The transaction added significantly to the company's petroleum assets. The transaction was criticized as a conflict of interest due to the common ownership of the companies. In 2015, the company paid a $ 137.5 million settlement to resolve claims that executives and directors had conflicts of interest that resulted in the company overpaying in that transaction. In 2014,
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#17327834588392288-530: A war or the loss of a single American life, and set a precedent for the purchase of territory. It opened the way for the eventual expansion of the United States across the continent to the Pacific Ocean. Shortly after the United States took possession, the area was divided into two territories along the 33rd parallel north on March 26, 1804, thereby organizing the Territory of Orleans to the south and
2392-689: Is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States . It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states , it ranks 20th in land area and the 25th in population , with roughly 4.6 million residents. Reflecting its French heritage , Louisiana is the only U.S. state with political subdivisions termed parishes , which are equivalent to counties , making it one of only two U.S. states not subdivided into counties (the other being Alaska and its boroughs ). Baton Rouge
2496-642: Is a Latin suffix that can refer to "information relating to a particular individual, subject, or place." Thus, roughly, Louis + ana carries the idea of "related to Louis." Once part of the French colonial empire , the Louisiana Territory stretched from present-day Mobile Bay to just north of the present-day Canada–United States border , including a small part of what are now the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan . The area of Louisiana
2600-550: Is estimated to have had a population of more than 20,000. The Plaquemine culture is considered ancestral to the historic Natchez and Taensa peoples, whose descendants encountered Europeans in the colonial era. By 1000 in the northwestern part of the state, the Fourche Maline culture had evolved into the Caddoan Mississippian culture. The Caddoan Mississippians occupied a large territory, including what
2704-981: Is now eastern Oklahoma, western Arkansas, northeast Texas , and northwest Louisiana. Archaeological evidence has demonstrated that the cultural continuity is unbroken from prehistory to the present. The Caddo and related Caddo-language speakers in prehistoric times and at first European contact were the direct ancestors of the modern Caddo Nation of Oklahoma of today. Significant Caddoan Mississippian archaeological sites in Louisiana include Belcher Mound Site in Caddo Parish and Gahagan Mounds Site in Red River Parish. Many current place names in Louisiana, including Atchafalaya , Natchitouches (now spelled Natchitoches ), Caddo, Houma , Tangipahoa , and Avoyel (as Avoyelles ), are transliterations of those used in various Native American languages. The first European explorers to visit Louisiana came in 1528 when
2808-559: Is strong evidence of a growing cultural and political complexity. Many Coles Creek sites were erected over earlier Woodland period mortuary mounds. Scholars have speculated that emerging elites were symbolically and physically appropriating dead ancestors to emphasize and project their own authority. The Mississippian period in Louisiana was when the Plaquemine and the Caddoan Mississippian cultures developed, and
2912-585: Is the place of origin of the Mound Builders culture during the Middle Archaic period , in the 4th millennium BC . The sites of Caney and Frenchman's Bend have been securely dated to 5600–5000 BP (about 3700–3100 BC), demonstrating that seasonal hunter-gatherers from around this time organized to build complex earthwork constructions in what is now northern Louisiana. The Watson Brake site near present-day Monroe has an eleven-mound complex; it
3016-524: Is the state's capital, and New Orleans , a French Louisiana region, is its largest city with a population of about 383,000 people. Louisiana has a coastline with the Gulf of Mexico to the south; a large part of its eastern boundary is demarcated by the Mississippi River . Much of Louisiana's lands were formed from sediment washed down the Mississippi River, leaving enormous deltas and vast areas of coastal marsh and swamp . These contain
3120-683: The Du Maine and the Aurore , arrived in New Orleans carrying more than 500 black slaves coming from Africa. Previous slaves in Louisiana had been transported from French colonies in the West Indies. By the end of 1721, New Orleans counted 1,256 inhabitants, of whom about half were slaves. In 1724, the French government issued a law called the Code Noir ("Black Code" in English) which regulated
3224-580: The Government Pension Fund of Norway excluded Freeport-McMoRan from its investment portfolio, following a recommendation from the fund's ethical council. In 2013, a tunnel collapse killed twenty eight workers. The Freeport geological team claimed that the collapse at the Big Gossan tunnel was caused by erosion of the ceiling, brought about by the continuous infiltration of the limestone wallrocks by corrosive acidic groundwater. Freeport
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3328-643: The Jayawijaya Mountains in what was then called the Netherlands New Guinea . In 1967, the company negotiated a contract with the Indonesian government to develop the Ertsberg deposit. In their feasibility study , Freeport geologists estimated that the orebody totaled 33 million tons averaging 2.5% copper, making it the largest above-ground copper deposit ever discovered. Construction of an open pit mine began in May 1970 and in mid-1973
3432-643: The Acadians, who became the ancestors of Louisiana's Cajuns . Spanish Canary Islanders, called Isleños , emigrated from the Canary Islands of Spain to Louisiana under the Spanish crown between 1778 and 1783. In 1800, France's Napoleon Bonaparte reacquired Louisiana from Spain in the Treaty of San Ildefonso , an arrangement kept secret for two years. Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville brought
3536-536: The April 5th annual stockholders' meeting, claiming, according to reports, that "management has refused them adequate information regarding the property. President E.P. Swenson denies that information has been thus withheld and states that the board, which represents the dominant interests, has no vacancies at the present time." In 1928, shareholder and scion of one of the founding investment firms, John Langbourne Williams & Sons, Langbourne Meade Williams, Jr. launched
3640-520: The Canadian mining company Bre-X 's claims of having found the largest gold mine ever discovered, in Borneo. Freeport announced that its prospective partner Bre-X did not have gold reserves at its Indonesian mine, as it had reported. Bre-X subsequently was exposed as a fraud and went bankrupt. In 1998, low commodity prices forced the company to suspend its dividend. In 2003, the company was subpoenaed as part of an investigation by anti-trust authorities in
3744-659: The Crown's transfer of the Illinois Country 's governance from Canada to Louisiana—may have featured the broadest definition of Louisiana: all land claimed by France south of the Great Lakes between the Rocky Mountains and the Alleghenies . A generation later, trade conflicts between Canada and Louisiana led to a more defined boundary between the French colonies; in 1745, Louisiana governor general Vaudreuil set
3848-749: The Grand Ecaille dome in 1933, still using the Frasch Process developed by Dr. Herman Frasch , who had, in 1895, enjoined the American Sulphur Company into a partnership, forming the Union Sulphur Company , to initiate the first successful sulfur mining at Grand Ecaille, with which Freeport, like other competitors, would compete upon expiry of the Frasch patents in 1908. From its earliest inception, sulfur mining
3952-510: The Grasberg mine. In 1995, RTZ, a predecessor of Rio Tinto Group , made a $ 450 million investment in the company. In 1997, IMC Global , a large fertilizer producer, acquired Freeport-McMoRan Inc., the former parent company that now owned the sulfur and fertilizer businesses, in a $ 750 million transaction. Shareholders of Freeport-McMoRan received shares of IMC Global. In 1997, the Indonesian government asked Freeport-McMoRan to substantiate
4056-648: The North and East; and in 1850 established himself in the general merchandise and banking business at Austin. In Austin, Swenson also served two terms (in 1852 and 1856) as a Travis County commissioner and in 1853 became the first treasurer of the State Agricultural Society. In 1854 he invested in the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railway , which gained him acres of land in northwestern and western Texas. Swenson's greatest interest lay in
4160-618: The Seven Years' War (generally referred to in North America as the French and Indian War ). This included the lands along the Gulf Coast and north of Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi River, which became known as British West Florida. The rest of Louisiana west of the Mississippi, as well as the "isle of New Orleans", had become a colony of Spain by the Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762) . The transfer of power on either side of
4264-609: The Spanish "cimarron", meaning which means "fierce" or "unruly." In the late 18th century, the last Spanish governor of the Louisiana territory wrote: Truly, it is impossible for lower Louisiana to get along without slaves and with the use of slaves, the colony had been making great strides toward prosperity and wealth. When the United States purchased Louisiana in 1803, it was soon accepted that slaves could be brought to Louisiana as easily as they were brought to neighboring Mississippi , though it violated U.S. law to do so. Despite demands by United States Rep. James Hillhouse and by
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4368-512: The Texas State Historical Association Handbook of Texas, during the secession crisis, Swenson, who opposed both northern and southern radicalism, agreed to help Governor Sam Houston in an attempt to prevent Texas secession; Swenson was to raise supplies for an independent Texas army and in 1861 was promised a commission as quartermaster-general on Houston's staff, a position with the rank of colonel. When
4472-826: The US Gulf Coast . Freeport, Texas was also established in Nov. 1912 to house workers, and serve as a port for Houston, rivaling Galveston and Corpus Christi. Freeport mined sulfur along the Gulf Coast using the Frasch Process , the patents for which had expired in 1912. Previously, Union Sulphur Company founder and patent-holder Herman Frasch had enjoyed a monopoly on the process. The company became known as Freeport Sulphur , later changing its corporate name to Freeport Minerals . In 1922, Freeport started producing sulfur from Hoskins Mound in Brazoria County, Texas . Enterprise to support Freeport Sulphur's business and
4576-546: The United States acquired the territory in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, France and Spain jockeyed for control of New Orleans and the lands west of the Mississippi. In the 1720s, German immigrants settled along the Mississippi River, in a region referred to as the German Coast . France ceded most of its territory east of the Mississippi to Great Britain in 1763, in the aftermath of Britain's victory in
4680-479: The United States, Canada, and Europe into price fixing in the copper industry. On March 19, 2007, the company acquired Phelps Dodge (for $ 25.9 Billion) and became the largest copper producer of any public company in the world. The corporate headquarters was moved from New Orleans , Louisiana to Phoenix, Arizona . In 2012, the company announced agreements to acquire affiliated companies McMoRan Exploration Company and Plains Exploration & Production Company for
4784-403: The United States, was disturbed by Napoleon's plans to re-establish French colonies in North America. With the possession of New Orleans, Napoleon could close the Mississippi to U.S. commerce at any time. Jefferson authorized Robert R. Livingston , U.S. minister to France, to negotiate for the purchase of the city of New Orleans, portions of the east bank of the Mississippi, and free navigation of
4888-577: The United States. The payment was made in United States bonds , which Napoleon sold at face value to the Dutch firm of Hope and Company , and the British banking house of Baring , at a discount of 87 + 1 ⁄ 2 per each $ 100 unit. As a result, France received only $ 8,831,250 in cash for Louisiana. English banker Alexander Baring conferred with Marbois in Paris, shuttled to the United States to pick up
4992-478: The United States. The closure of this vital port to the United States caused anger and consternation. Commerce in the west was virtually blockaded. Historians believe the revocation of the right of deposit was prompted by abuses by the Americans, particularly smuggling, and not by French intrigues as was believed at the time. President Jefferson ignored public pressure for war with France, and appointed James Monroe
5096-715: The Upper South or transported to New Orleans and other coastal markets by ship in the coastwise slave trade . After sales in New Orleans, steamboats operating on the Mississippi transported slaves upstream to markets or plantation destinations at Natchez and Memphis. Unusually for a slave-state, Louisiana harbored escaped Filipino slaves from the Manila Galleons . The members of the Filipino community were then commonly referred to as Manila men, or Manilamen, and later Tagalas , as they were free when they created
5200-468: The Upper South to the Deep South, two thirds of them in the slave trade. Others were transported by their owners as slaveholders moved west for new lands. With changing agriculture in the Upper South as planters shifted from tobacco to less labor-intensive mixed agriculture, planters had excess laborers. Many sold slaves to traders to take to the Deep South. Slaves were driven by traders overland from
5304-572: The West Indies, Germany, and Ireland. It experienced an agricultural boom, particularly in cotton and sugarcane, which were cultivated primarily by slaves from Africa. As a slave state, Louisiana was one of the original seven members of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War . Louisiana's unique French heritage is reflected in its toponyms, dialects, customs, demographics, and legal system. Relative to
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#17327834588395408-583: The accumulation of land. He traded many of the manifold supplies carried by his large frontier trading post for Texas railroad land certificates. Under the privilege then accorded to holders and owners of such certificates to file on any untaken state land, Swenson in 1854 began acquiring acreage of unclaimed properties in Northwest Texas. By 1860 he owned over 128,000 acres around Austin, in addition to his West Texas holdings, which had increased to nearly 500,000 acres. SMS Ranches eventually became one of
5512-458: The biggest slave market in the United States, which contributed greatly to the economy of the city and of the state. New Orleans had become one of the wealthiest cities, and the third largest city, in the nation. The ban on the African slave trade and importation of slaves had increased demand in the domestic market. During the decades after the American Revolutionary War, more than one million enslaved African Americans underwent forced migration from
5616-406: The bonds, took them to Britain, and returned to France with the money—which Napoleon used to wage war against Baring's own country. When news of the purchase reached the United States, Jefferson was surprised. He had authorized the expenditure of $ 10 million for a port city, and instead received treaties committing the government to spend $ 15 million on a land package which would double
5720-402: The city. Anglo-American officials initially made attempts to keep out the additional Creoles of color , but the Louisiana Creoles wanted to increase the Creole population: more than half of the refugees eventually settled in Louisiana, and the majority remained in New Orleans . Pierre Clément de Laussat ( Governor , 1803) said: "Saint-Domingue was, of all our colonies in the Antilles,
5824-462: The company changed its name to Freeport Minerals Company, (not to be confused with Freeport Minerals Corporation, founded in 1834). In 1981, Freeport Minerals Company merged with the McMoRan Oil and Gas Company. In 1981, the company formed a 70/30 joint venture with an affiliate of FMC Corporation to operate the Jerritt Canyon gold mine near Elko, Nevada . In 1985, the company headquarters moved to New Orleans , Louisiana . The company also sold
5928-419: The company for annual fees of $ 1.5 million. In May 2016, the company sold a 13% interest in its Morenci Mine to Sumitomo Group for $ 1 billion in cash. In 2016, Freeport sold its deepwater assets, including the Marlin TLP, and the Holstein and Horn Mountain spars, to Anadarko Petroleum . In August 2017, the company agreed to give a 51% interest in the Grasberg mine to the Government of Indonesia and build
6032-464: The company paid local military and police generals, colonels, majors and captains, and military units, a total of nearly US$ 20 million between 1998 and 2004. One individual received up to US$ 150,000. The payments were meant to secure the reserve. The company responded that the payments did not go to individuals, but went into infrastructure, food, housing, fuel, travel, vehicle repairs, and allowances to cover incidental and administrative costs. According to
6136-486: The company sold its assets in the Eagle Ford shale to Encana for $ 3.1 billion. In 2015, the company announced job cuts at its Sierrita Mine in Arizona due to low copper and molybdenum prices. On December 28, 2015, the company announced that James R. Moffett would resign as chairman of the company and be replaced by Gerald J. Ford . Moffett received $ 16.1 million in severance pay and cash retirement plans totaling more than $ 63 million. Moffett continued to consult for
6240-399: The company. In 1956, the company formed the Freeport Oil Company. In 1958, the company sold an oil discovery near Lake Washington in Louisiana for approximately $ 100 million to Magnolia Petroleum Company . In 1959, Freeport geologists confirmed the 1936 Dutch discovery of the rich Ertsberg copper and gold deposits, now known as the Grasberg mine , in extremely rugged, remote country in
6344-402: The culture, the Atchafalaya Basin Mounds in St. Mary Parish, the Fitzhugh Mounds in Madison Parish, the Scott Place Mounds in Union Parish, and the Sims site in St. Charles Parish. Plaquemine culture was contemporaneous with the Middle Mississippian culture that is represented by its largest settlement, the Cahokia site in Illinois east of St. Louis, Missouri . At its peak Cahokia
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#17327834588396448-436: The desired New Orleans area), and that approval from President Jefferson might take months, so Livingston and Monroe decided to open negotiations immediately. By April 30, they closed a deal for the purchase of the entire Louisiana territory of 828,000 square miles (2,100,000 km ) for sixty million Francs (approximately $ 15 million). Part of this sum, $ 3.5 million, was used to forgive debts owed by France to
6552-560: The effort failed, Swenson, who by this time had sold all his slaves, remained in Texas but vowed that he would not aid the South and that he would never take up arms against the United States. Swenson married twice. With his second wife, Susan McRady (March 13, 1830 – October 25, 1906), he had five children: His two sons leased SMS ranches and carried on the family business. Louisiana Louisiana (French: Louisiane [lwizjan] ; Spanish: Luisiana [lwiˈsjana] ; Louisiana Creole : Lwizyàn )
6656-497: The first platform mounds at ritual centers were constructed for the developing hereditary political and religious leadership. By 400 the Late Woodland period had begun with the Baytown culture , Troyville culture , and Coastal Troyville during the Baytown period and were succeeded by the Coles Creek cultures . Where the Baytown peoples built dispersed settlements, the Troyville people instead continued building major earthwork centers. Population increased dramatically and there
6760-399: The first people in the area of Louisiana to make large amounts of pottery. These cultures lasted until 200 AD. The Middle Woodland period started in Louisiana with the Marksville culture in the southern and eastern part of the state, reaching across the Mississippi River to the east around Natchez, and the Fourche Maline culture in the northwestern part of the state. The Marksville culture
6864-480: The first two African slaves to Louisiana in 1708, transporting them from a French colony in the West Indies. In 1709, French financier Antoine Crozat obtained a monopoly of commerce in La Louisiane , which extended from the Gulf of Mexico to what is now Illinois . According to historian Hugh Thomas , "that concession allowed him to bring in a cargo of blacks from Africa every year". Starting in 1719, traders began to import slaves in higher numbers; two French ships,
6968-474: The influence of New England Federalists in national affairs. President Jefferson was an enthusiastic supporter of westward expansion, and held firm in his support for the treaty. Despite Federalist objections, the U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana treaty on October 20, 1803. By statute enacted on October 31, 1803, President Thomas Jefferson was authorized to take possession of the territories ceded by France and provide for initial governance. A transfer ceremony
7072-425: The interaction of whites (blancs) and blacks (noirs) in its colony of Louisiana (which was much larger than the current state of Louisiana). After the Sale of Louisiana , French Law survived in the Louisiana, such as the prohibition and outlaw of any cruel punishment. Fugitive slaves, called maroons , could easily hide in the backcountry of the bayous and survive in small settlements. The word "maroon" comes from
7176-460: The islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe to the French. Napoleon looked upon Louisiana as a depot for these sugar islands, and as a buffer to U.S. settlement. In October 1801 he sent a large military force to take back Saint-Domingue, then under control of Toussaint Louverture after the Haitian Revolution . When the army led by Napoleon's brother-in-law Leclerc was defeated, Napoleon decided to sell Louisiana. Thomas Jefferson , third president of
7280-411: The largest landowners in Texas. Swenson leased his ranch holdings to his sons, who operated the ranches under the name of Swenson Brothers Cattle Company from headquarters in Stamford, Texas . Swenson established the banking house of S. M. Swenson and Sons in New York City. Though he lived in New York, he maintained his ties to Texas, operating a clearinghouse for Texas products, continuing his work as
7384-491: The mine was declared fully operational. Officials at Bechtel , the primary project contractor, called mine development at Ertsberg "the most difficult engineering project they had ever undertaken." The challenges included building a 101-kilometre (63 mi) long access road (a project that required boring kilometer long tunnels through two mountains) and constructing the world's longest single span aerial tramway . The tramways were needed to move people, supplies and ore because
7488-529: The mine's early financial performance was disappointing. Depressed copper prices and high operating costs kept profits marginal during the 1970s. In 1967 The McMoRan Oil and Gas Company was founded by three partners, William Kennon McWilliams Jr. ("Mc"), James Robert (Jim Bob) Moffett ("Mo"), who were both petroleum geologists , and Mack Rankin ("Ran"), a specialist in land-leasing and sales operations. In 1981, McMoRab would merge with Freeport Minerals, formerly Freeport Sulphur, to form Freeport-McMoRan. In 1971,
7592-553: The modern state of Louisiana. The French settlement had two purposes: to establish trade with the Spanish in Texas via the Old San Antonio Road, and to deter Spanish advances into Louisiana. The settlement soon became a flourishing river port and crossroads, giving rise to vast cotton kingdoms along the river that were worked by imported African slaves. Over time, planters developed large plantations and built fine homes in
7696-498: The new town's infrastructure led to the incorporation of a holding company on September 30, 1913, to join the newer assets with Freeport Sulphur. Officers of the new holding company, Freeport Texas Company , were: The new corporation's principal assets were listed as: In 1919, minority stockholders John R. Williams & Sons , First National Bank of Richmond, Virginia vice-president, W. M. Addison, Benjamin P Alsopp , E. L. Norton , and Samuel W. Travers solicited proxies to use at
7800-647: The northern and eastern bounds of his domain as the Wabash valley up to the mouth of the Vermilion River (near present-day Danville, Illinois ); from there, northwest to le Rocher on the Illinois River , and from there west to the mouth of the Rock River (at present day Rock Island, Illinois ). Thus, Vincennes and Peoria were the limit of Louisiana's reach; the outposts at Ouiatenon (on
7904-637: The oldest settlement of Asians in the United States in the village of Saint Malo, Louisiana , the inhabitants of which, even joined the United States in the War of 1812 against the British Empire while they were being led by the French-American Jean Lafitte . Spanish occupation of Louisiana lasted from 1769 to 1800. Beginning in the 1790s, waves of immigration took place from Saint-Domingue as refugees poured over following
8008-513: The one whose mentality and customs influenced Louisiana the most." When the United States won its independence from Great Britain in 1783, one of its major concerns was having a European power on its western boundary, and the need for unrestricted access to the Mississippi River. As American settlers pushed west, they found that the Appalachian Mountains provided a barrier to shipping goods eastward. The easiest way to ship produce
8112-559: The pamphleteer Thomas Paine to enforce existing federal law against slavery in the newly acquired territory, slavery prevailed because it was the source of great profits and the lowest-cost labor. At the start of the 19th century, Louisiana was a small producer of sugar with a relatively small number of slaves, compared to Saint-Domingue and the West Indies. It soon thereafter became a major sugar producer as new settlers arrived to develop plantations. William C. C. Claiborne , Louisiana's first United States governor, said African slave labor
8216-590: The peoples adopted extensive maize agriculture, cultivating different strains of the plant by saving seeds, selecting for certain characteristics, etc. The Plaquemine culture in the lower Mississippi River Valley in western Mississippi and eastern Louisiana began in 1200 and continued to about 1600. Examples in Louisiana include the Medora site , the archaeological type site for the culture in West Baton Rouge Parish whose characteristics helped define
8320-585: The pressure for Anglicization , and in 1921, English was shortly made the sole language of instruction in Louisiana schools before a policy of multilingualism was revived in 1974. Louisiana has never had an official language, and the state constitution enumerates "the right of the people to preserve, foster, and promote their respective historic, linguistic, and cultural origins." Based on national averages, Louisiana frequently ranks low among U.S. states in terms of health, education, and development, with high rates of poverty and homicide . In 2018, Louisiana
8424-524: The rainforest and two major rivers, on which they depend for their food, water, livelihoods, and traditions. Pressured by cultural and economic deterioration, there were numerous quarrels, between the tribes, Freeport, and the Indonesian military. Some unarmed natives were killed or tortured by the military, or became part of the Free Papua Movement insurgence. Swante M. Swenson Swante M. Swenson (February 24, 1816 – June 13, 1896)
8528-481: The report, anonymous sources within the company claimed that company chairman James R. Moffet courted Indonesia's dictator Suharto and "his cronies", cutting them in on deals. Another employee is said to have worked on a program to monitor environmentalists' telephone and email conversations, in collaboration with Indonesian military intelligence officers. The Grasberg mine's tailings "severely impacted" more than 11 square miles (28 km) of rainforest, according to
8632-447: The rest of the southern U.S., Louisiana is multilingual and multicultural, reflecting an admixture of Louisiana French ( Cajun , Creole ), Spanish , French Canadian , Acadian , Saint-Domingue Creole , Native American , and West African cultures (generally the descendants of slaves stolen in the 18th century); more recent migrants include Filipinos and Vietnamese. In the post–Civil War environment , Anglo-Americans increased
8736-429: The river for U.S. commerce. Livingston was authorized to pay up to $ 2 million. An official transfer of Louisiana to French ownership had not yet taken place, and Napoleon's deal with the Spanish was a poorly kept secret on the frontier. On October 18, 1802, however, Juan Ventura Morales, acting intendant of Louisiana, made public the intention of Spain to revoke the right of deposit at New Orleans for all cargo from
8840-555: The river would be delayed until later in the decade. In 1765, during Spanish rule, several thousand Acadians from the French colony of Acadia (now Nova Scotia , New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island ) made their way to Louisiana after having been expelled from Acadia by the British government after the French and Indian War. They settled chiefly in the southwestern Louisiana region now called Acadiana . The governor Luis de Unzaga y Amézaga , eager to gain more settlers, welcomed
8944-557: The size of the country. Jefferson's political opponents in the Federalist Party argued the Louisiana purchase was a worthless desert, and that the U.S. constitution did not provide for the acquisition of new land or negotiating treaties without the consent of the federal legislature. What really worried the opposition was the new states which would inevitably be carved from the Louisiana territory, strengthening western and southern interests in U.S. Congress , and further reducing
9048-478: The state is forested. Louisiana is situated at the confluence of the Mississippi river system and the Gulf of Mexico. Its location and biodiversity attracted various indigenous groups thousands of years before Europeans arrived in the 17th century. Louisiana has eighteen Native American tribes—the most of any southern state—of which four are federally recognized and ten are state-recognized. The French claimed
9152-561: The state. The city of modern–day Epps developed near it. The Poverty Point culture may have reached its peak around 1500 BC, making it the first complex culture, and possibly the first tribal culture in North America. It lasted until approximately 700 BC. The Poverty Point culture was followed by the Tchefuncte and Lake Cormorant cultures of the Tchula period , local manifestations of Early Woodland period . The Tchefuncte culture were
9256-499: The takeover process. The Indonesian government finalized the process on December 21, 2018. Freeport is the world's largest producer of molybdenum , and one of the largest producers of copper. In 2019, 79% of its revenues were from the sale of copper , 11% were from the sale of gold , and 8% were from the sale of molybdenum . In 2019, sales to the company's copper refining joint venture in Gresik Regency accounted for 13% of
9360-481: The territory in 1682, and it became the political, commercial, and population center of the larger colony of New France . From 1762 to 1801 Louisiana was under Spanish rule, briefly returning to French rule before being sold by Napoleon to the U.S. in 1803. It was admitted to the Union in 1812 as the 18th state. Following statehood, Louisiana saw an influx of settlers from the eastern U.S. as well as immigrants from
9464-518: The total revenues of the company. Some of the company's mining operations are as follows: Freeport Cobalt held a 100% interest in Kisanfu, a copper and cobalt exploration project located near Tenke, Democratic Republic of the Congo. This subsidiary also owns a large cobalt refinery in Kokkola , Finland, along with a related sales and marketing business. FCX has an effective 56% of that enterprise. Negotiations in 2016 to include these cobalt projects in
9568-456: The upper Wabash near present-day Lafayette, Indiana ), Chicago, Fort Miamis (near present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana ), and Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin , operated as dependencies of Canada. The settlement of Natchitoches (along the Red River in present-day northwest Louisiana) was established in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis , making it the oldest permanent European settlement in
9672-792: Was accused of negligence by the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission. The company is a signatory participant of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights . However, the company has been accused of funding the Indonesian government to secure its reserve through militaristic oppression of the native West Papuan people. Freeport has had a troubled relationship with the Amungme and Kamoro peoples since it arrived in Indonesia in 1967. Freeport allegedly damaged 30.000 hectares of
9776-484: Was built about 5400 BP (3500 BC). These discoveries overturned previous assumptions in archaeology that such complex mounds were built only by cultures of more settled peoples who were dependent on maize cultivation. The Hedgepeth Site in Lincoln Parish is more recent, dated to 5200–4500 BP (3300–2600 BC). Nearly 2,000 years later, Poverty Point was built; it is the largest and best-known Late Archaic site in
9880-464: Was fined by the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration over the death of a miner. The 67-year-old man had fallen into a hole created by the removal of two steel gratings. It was concluded that Freeport had not done enough to indicate that the hole was there. The company operates the world's largest and most profitable gold mine, the Grasberg mine in Papua, Indonesia . In 2003,
9984-403: Was founded in 1699 by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville , a French military officer from New France . By then the French had also built a small fort at the mouth of the Mississippi at a settlement they named La Balise (or La Balize) , " seamark " in French. By 1721, they built a 62-foot (19 m) wooden lighthouse-type structure here to guide ships on the river. A royal ordinance of 1722—following
10088-422: Was held in New Orleans on November 29, 1803. Since the Louisiana territory had never officially been turned over to the French, the Spanish took down their flag, and the French raised theirs. The following day, General James Wilkinson accepted possession of New Orleans for the United States. The Louisiana Territory, purchased for less than three cents an acre, doubled the size of the United States overnight, without
10192-690: Was named after the Marksville Prehistoric Indian Site in Avoyelles Parish . These cultures were contemporaneous with the Hopewell cultures of present-day Ohio and Illinois , and participated in the Hopewell Exchange Network. Trade with peoples to the southwest brought the bow and arrow . The first burial mounds were built at this time. Political power began to be consolidated, as
10296-565: Was needed because white laborers "cannot be had in this unhealthy climate." Hugh Thomas wrote that Claiborne was unable to enforce the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade, which the U.S. and Great Britain enacted in 1807. The United States continued to protect the domestic slave trade, including the coastwise trade—the transport of slaves by ship along the Atlantic Coast and to New Orleans and other Gulf ports. By 1840, New Orleans had
10400-437: Was ranked as the least healthy state in the country, with high levels of drug-related deaths . It also has had the highest homicide rate in the United States since at least the 1990s. Louisiana was named after Louis XIV , King of France from 1643 to 1715. When René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle claimed the territory drained by the Mississippi River for France, he named it La Louisiane . The suffix –ana (or –ane)
10504-463: Was settled by French colonists from Illinois. Initially, Mobile and then Biloxi served as the capital of La Louisiane. Recognizing the importance of the Mississippi River to trade and military interests, and wanting to protect the capital from severe coastal storms, France developed New Orleans from 1722 as the seat of civilian and military authority south of the Great Lakes. From then until
10608-437: Was the catalyst that developed Port Sulphur, Louisiana . The company produced nickel during World War II and potash in the 1950s. In 1955, Freeport Nickel invested $ 119 million, of which $ 100 million came from the U.S. government, into construction of a nickel- cobalt mine at Moa Bay, Cuba , and a refinery at Port Nickel, Louisiana . On March 11, 1957, the U.S. government announced a contract to buy nickel and cobalt from
10712-813: Was the founder of the SMS ranches in West Texas . It was through his efforts that Swedish immigration to Texas was begun in 1848. In 1972, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum . Svante Magnus Svenson was born at Alarp, Barkeryd Parish, Jönköping County , Sweden. He migrated to America in 1836, where he worked in New York City before traveling to Baltimore , Maryland, and then to Galveston . In 1850 Swenson moved to Austin and established
10816-558: Was to use a flatboat to float it down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to the port of New Orleans, where goods could be put on ocean-going vessels. The problem with this route was that the Spanish owned both sides of the Mississippi below Natchez . Napoleon's ambitions in Louisiana involved the creation of a new empire centered on the Caribbean sugar trade . By the terms of the Treaty of Amiens of 1802, Great Britain returned control of
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