1762 - France cedes Louisiana to Spain as part of the secret Treaty of Tontainebleau. David J. Weber suggests that 'France was eager to get rid of Louisiana' as a result of the numerous losses she had incurred during the Seven Years' War and as a way of fulfilling her promise to Spain from before the war. ¹

1. David J. Weber, The Spanish Frontier in North America, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1992, 198.