| 1661 July 16 |
Born at Villemarie, Montreal, Canada. He is the third of 14 children, 11 sons and 3 daughters, born to Charles and Catherine (Primot) Le Moyne. Nearly all the sons served with distinction in the French army or navy. |
| 1686 |
Iberville distinguishes himself by driving the British from Hudson Bay in 1686 and for the next decade he continues to harass the British colonies in Maine and New York. He will be called by his admirers "The Cid of New France." Iberville is a competent sailor and a ruthless soldier motivated by a vision of French empire and personal fortune. During this time the monarchs in Europe were more concerned with the home front. The treaties that end the wars do little to settle territorial claims in the new world. |
| 1697 Sept. 20 |
The Treaty of Ryswick concludes a war between France and England. The conclusion of the war gives Louis XIV the opportunity to establish a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi. It is an opportunity that had been neglected since the death of La Salle more than ten years before. The French government is becoming concerned about the security of its Canadian territory and feels that the settlement of Louisiana will deter British expansion in the Ohio Valley and along the Gulf of Mexico. Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur de Iberville will be selected by Count Pontchartrain, the French minister of the Navy, to command an expedition to Louisiana. |
| 1698 |
Iberville returns to France, taking his injured brother
Jean Baptiste (Bienville)
who is 19 years younger. Iberville is made a Knight of St. Louis for his
brilliant part in the late war. Iberville is chosen to command the expedition to establish a colony in Louisiana, Bienville and Chateaugue will accompany him. |
| 1698 Oct. 24 |
A fleet of four vessels sets sail from Brest to explore and settle Louisiana under command of Iberville, 38, who is given the title of Governor-General. The ships are the Badine, commanded by Iberville, and the Marin, commanded by the Chevalier de Surgeres, each carrying 30 guns and 200 men. Two smaller ships are the Precieux,commanded by J. F. Vasseur and the Biscayenne,under command of F. Guyon. On board these vessels are about 200 colonists, a company of marines, and a supply of tools, provisions, etc. Among the colonists are a number of women and children, mostly families of ex-soldiers, who had been given incentives to join the expedition. |
| 1699 January 25 |
Iberville's fleet drops anchor off Santa Rosa. The Spaniards at Pensacola refuse to permit the French to land, and Iberville sails on westward to Dauphin Island at the mouth of Mobile Bay. |
| 1699 February |
After an attempt to find the Mississippi River and brief stops at the Massacre and Chandeleur Islands, Iberville decides to locate his colony at Biloxi Bay The fleet passes between Cat and Ship Islands and comes to anchor on the northeast shore. He learns about a large river some distance to the southwest from natives and believes it to be the Mississippi. |
| 1699 February 27 |
With 2 row boats, several bark canoes and 53 men,
including Sauvolle
and Bienville,
Iberville sets out for the mouth of the big river. They are possibly the first Europeans to find the mouth of the Mississippi River from the Gulf of Mexico. |
| 1699 March 3 |
The explorers enter the river on the night of March 2nd. The winds prevent them from making soundings between petrified wooden rafts floating at the head of three outlets about three leagues from the sea. The next day, March Third, is Shrove Tuesday. They stop at a point 12 leagues from the mouth of the river which Iberville gives the name of Pointe du Mardi Gras. Some time in the next week they camp at the future site of New Orleans. |
| 1699 March 14 |
On this date Iberville's party reaches the village of the Bayougoula Indians . The explorers name the area the District of Iberville, which is now Iberville Parish. They are looking for proof that this is truely the Mississippi River. That proof is in the form of a letter that the explorer Tonti left in 1686 when he came down the river searching for the lost settlement of LaSalle. Iberville is already 30 leagues up the river, and it is not without some suspicion that he accepts the offer of the chief of the Bayagoulas to take him to the letter. They travel as far as the Red River and there, across the river from the mouth of this tributary, is a Houmas Indian village. He learns that Tonti's letter was left with the chief of the Quinipissas of Mongoulachas. Sauvolle and Bienville are sent to retrieve the letter. |
| 1699 March 23 |
Having the proof he needs that he is on the Mississippi River, Iberville turns back toward the base camp on Ship Island. Sending Bienville and Sauvolle down the big river, he enters Bayou Manchac, which he names the Iberville River. The next day his group enters the Amite River and then passes through Lake Maurepas and Lake Pontchartrain. He names these lakes after his boss, France's Minister of Marine (Navy) and establishes the New Orleans area as an "island". He reaches Ship Island ahead of Bienville and Sauvolle who have taken the river . |
| 1699 April 12 |
Iberville explores and names Bay St. Louis. |
| 1699 May 1 |
By this date the fort and cabins at Biloxi are completed, the fort is armed with 12 cannon and stocked with ammunition. On May 4, 1699 Iberville sails for France, leaving Sauvolle in charge of the colony. |
| 1699 December 8 |
Iberville returns to Louisiana bringing supplies and reinforcements, and learns of the attempt by the English to plant a colony somewhere on the Mississippi. To prevent a repetition of the visit, he proceeds at once to the Mississippi and 54 miles from the mouth builds a fort, which some writers have called Ft. Maurepas and others Fort Iberville (or Fort De La Boulaye, Ft. Mississippi). Bienville is placed in command of this fort. |
| 1700 February 24 |
Pierre Le Sueur and other Canadians meet Iberville at Bustard s Cove (New Sarpy, Jefferson Parish). Le Sueur, a cousin and explorer, will explore the Missouri River, as far as Kaskaskia to establish not only the crown's interest, but also the family's mining rights for lead and silver. |
| 1700 March 5 |
After ascending the river to their village he concludes a treaty with the Natchez Indians. Baton Rouge is named by Iberville from the Indian name "Iti Humma", Red Pole. In what is now Pointe Coupee Parish, a narrow stream over portage is widened by Iberville and Bienville. Shortly after 1700 the Mississippi River will form a "point cut off," a crescent shaped land in the river. |
| 1700 March 20 |
Iberville and party pass through Houmas Landing. Later a chapel will be built here by Father Du Ru and a mission founded by Father de Limoges. |
| 1700 May |
Iberville again returns to France. |
| 1701 December 18 |
Iberville returns to Biloxi. when he arrives with
two ships, the Renommee, under his personal command, and the Palmier,
commanded by his brother Joseph (Sieur de Serigny). During his absence Sauvolle
has died and the colony had become reduced to 150 members, all of whom were
in great distress. Many the colonists preferred adventure to agriculture and they spend their time seeking gold, jewels or valuable furs among the natives. They do find pearls of an inferior property and buffalo hides, an object of curiousity among the Europeans, but few of them is willing to perform the rude labor necessary to thrive in the new colony. |
| 1702 |
In May, 1702, England declares war against France and Spain, and Louis XIV orders the capital of Louisiana to be moved to Mobile Bay. Leaving Bienville to carry out this order, Iberville leaves the colony and sails for France. It is his intention to return to Louisiana, but he is ordered to duty in the French Navy. The colony is neglected for a time, but he finally manages to send his brother Chateauguay, with a ship load of supplies to its relief. |
| 1703 |
Iberville returns to Versailles after a third expedition and is assigned to fight the British navy. |
| 1706 |
During the War of Spanish Succession Iberville wins his final battle over the English at Nevis in early 1706, but the English, under the Duke of Marlborough, continue to take major battles. |
| 1706 July 9 |
Later in the Spring, Iberville leaves France for Mobile, but contracts Yellow Fever in Havana and dies on the 9th of July. He dies under the cloud of scandal. Indictments allege that Iberville and his family have received considerable fortunes as a result of fraud. Bienville and Chateauguay, still in Louisiana are held suspect. The investigations into the Affaire d Iberville will last until 1735. |