BIENVILLE, byaN'v•P. JEAN BAPTISTE LE MOYNE, Sieur de (1080-1708). One of the four brothers \ V110 were conspicuous in the exploration and settlement of the French Province of Louisi ana. The others were lberville, Sauvolle, and Chateaugay, all sons of Charles Le Moyne. In 1699 IberviIle, accompanied by Bienville and Sanvolle, arrived from France and founded Biloxi and a post on the Mississippi River. smile 50 miles from its mouth. In 1701 Bienville sue (spited SanyoIle as Governor of Louisiana. He founded Mobile, whither he transferred the seat of government. Chateaugay joined him in 1704 with seventeen settlers Irvin Canada, and twenty arrived from France to be married to the colonists. ill' was dismissed in 1707, but his successor died at sea and left him still in authority. The colonists suffered exceedingly from the cumbrous system of French colonial administration. failed to prosper, and made no return to the King for his large outlays. In 1712, therefore, Louis X1V. farmed out the colony to a rich merchant, Antoine Crozat. grant ing him an absolute monopoly in trade and the right to import negroes from Africa. In 1713
Cadillac was made governor of the province, with Bienville as his deputy. They (marveled, and Cadillac was replaced by Epinay. Crozat soon threw up the colony as a losing venture. In 1718 Bienville was made governor, and with the aid of men sent out by Law's :Mississippi Com pany. founded the city of New Orleans, which became the seat of government in 1723. Re called the next year, he went to France to answer certain charges. leaving in the colony a code regulating slavery, prohibiting all religions except the Etonian Catholic. and banishing Jews. In 1720 lie was removed, hut was reappointed in 1733. and made lieutenant-general. Throughout the whole of his active career in Louisiana, Bienville was intent upon the welfare of the colony. That the colony did not prosper more rapidly must lie ascribed to the French colonial policy rather than to the faults of Ilienville. In 1743 he was finally superseded, and lie passed the remainder of his life in France.