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Planning to expand its base from French Louisiana, France took a bold step in 1685, planting its flag in eastern Texas near the Gulf Coast. Although claimed by Spain, most of Texas had no Spanish presence at all; the
nearest Spanish settlements were hundreds of miles distant. French nobleman Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, founded a colony called Fort St. Louis. But the effort was doomed by a series of calamities: shipwreck,
disease, famine, hostile Indians, and internal strife resulting in La Salle's murder by one of his own company. By 1690, France's bold claim to Texas had evaporated. The French flag features a host of golden
fleurs-de-lis emblazoned on a field of white, which was actually the French merchant-marine banner of the period.
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