Q 01/05

What does the French name 'le bâton rouge' mean in English?

A) The red river

B) The red stick

C) The red fort

D) The red bluff

Answer · why

B) The red stick

It translated a native place name, Istrouma, for a painted pole that marked a boundary between tribal hunting grounds.

Q 02/05

The 'red stick' that named the city was reportedly a pole how tall, adorned with fish bones?

A) About 60 feet

B) About 100 feet

C) About 30 feet

D) About 45 feet

Answer · why

C) About 30 feet

Iberville's 1698-99 expedition up the Mississippi recorded the landmark.

Q 03/05

Which French explorer led the 1698 expedition up the Mississippi that recorded the red stick?

A) René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle

B) Samuel de Champlain

C) Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville

D) Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville

Answer · why

D) Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville

His younger brother Bienville went on to found New Orleans in 1718.

Q 04/05

In what year did European settlement of Baton Rouge begin with a French military and trading post?

A) 1721

B) 1745

C) 1763

D) 1803

Answer · why

A) 1721

The city was not incorporated until 1817.

Q 05/05

From 1763 to 1783, Baton Rouge belonged to which British colony?

A) Carolina

B) West Florida

C) East Florida

D) Georgia

Answer · why

B) West Florida

Britain got it from France after the Seven Years' War, then lost it to Spain in 1779.