| 1714 |
Louis Juchereau St Denis establishes the settlement of Natchitoches near an Indian community and soon afterward builds Fort St Jean Baptiste on the bank of the Red River, which became a false river in 1837 and is now called "Cane River Lake". |
| 1717 |
Spanish establish a mission, Los Adaes (west of Natchitoches near present-day Robeline, Louisiana). |
| 1718 |
New Orleans founded by French colonizer Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville. |
| 1729 |
Spanish govern Texas from Presidio Nuestra Senora del Pilar de Los Adaes (west of Natchitoches near present-day Robeline, Louisiana) through 1773. |
| 1763 |
Spain gains Louisiana from France. |
| 1778 |
Marie Therese Coincoin is freed from slavery. |
| 1795 |
Marie Therese Coincoin and her son develope a Spanish land grant into the thriving Melrose Plantation, complete with African-style structures. |
| 1801 |
Spain sells the Louisiana territory to France under Napolean, though residents do not learn of the exchange until three weeks before the United States purchases Louisiana from France. |
| 1803 |
France sells the Louisiana territory to the United States. |
| 1835-37 |
Steamboat inventor Henry Miller Shreve's clearing of the Red River upstream from Natchitoches causes the river to change course, moving it east of Natchitoches and creating the false "Cane River" and draining the Spanish Lakes (now farmland). |
| 1839 |
Henry Miller Shreve founds Shreveport, Louisiana. |
| 1878 |
Kate Chopin (author of The Awakening) moves to Cloutierville, south of Natchitoches on the Cane River. Her residnce later becomes the Bayou Folk Museum. |
| 1884 |
Northwestern Louisiana State University is established in Natchitoches. |
| 1898 |
"Miss Cammie" Garrett Henry restores the Melrose Plantation and promotes interest in local heritage through arts and a writers colony. |
| 1926 |
Natchitoches establishes its annual Christmas Festival. |
| 1988 |
Steel Magnolias is filmed in the vicinity. |
| 1995 |
United States government designates historic plantations in the Cane River region as the Creole Heritage National Historic Park. |
