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The first europeans to visit what is currently missouri was During their voyage down the Mississippi River in the summer of 1673. The two were called Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet.

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In 1700 the first european settlement of what is now missouri was established. It was established by Jesuit missionaries sent by St. Francis Xavier(a Catholic missionary/ saint who was a co-founder of the Society of Jesus). the settlement was abandoned in 1703 due its swampy location

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Etienne de Bourgmont built Fort Orleans on the north bank of the Missouri River in what is now modern Carroll County. Originally meant to be the linchpin in the vast "new france empire" but again it was abandoned shortly thereafter in 1726.

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on November 3, 1762, the Treaty of Fontainebleau was signed. This treaty transferred French Louisiana to Spain. The King of Spain signed the Treaty on November 13 and the King of France signed on November 23.

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on February 15, 1764 Pierre Laclede Liguest with his stepson Auguste Choteau and other fur traders founded St. Louis. The founding of saint louis was preceded by a trading business. And the plan for St. Louis was based on the New Orleans street plan. Additionally for the first few years the city was not recognized by any government.

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due to the Northwest Ordinance which prohibited slavery in territory north of the Ohio River. Some French slave owners moved west of the Mississippi River into Spanish-controlled territory to avoid losing their enslaved people.

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on October 1, 1800 Spain returned the Louisiana Territory to France with the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso.

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The Louisiana Purchase, between France and the United States, was signed on April 30, 1803 doubling the size of the United States. which now included missouri

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on May 21, 1804 William Clark, Meriwether Lewis, and the Corps of Discovery set out from St. Charles.

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on January 8, 1818. A petition to Congress from Missouri requesting statehood was presented by Henry Clay the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

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Missouri became a state in 1821 thanks to the "missouri compromise" which made missouri a slave state even though it was mainly to the north of the 36-30 line. This was because there needed to be an equal amount of slave and non slave states. So missouri became the 24th state of the United states.