Bois Brule Bottom

Bois Brule Bottom
Bois Brule Bottoms
Type	Alluvial floodplain
Location	Perry County, Missouri, United States

The Bois Brule Bottom (French: Bois Brûlé) is an alluvial floodplain in Bois Brule Township in Perry County, Missouri stretching between Bois Brule Creek to the west and the Mississippi River to the east.

The American Bottom stretches from St. Louis south along the east side of the Mississippi River all the way to the mouth of the Kaskaskia River, just north of Fort Kaskaskia, Illinois. At Morrow Island the American Bottom is broken by the Mississippi River, and on the west side of the Mississippi River the alluvial plain continues as the "Le Grande Champ" or Big Field Bottom, which includes Kaskaskia Island. South of Kaskaskia Island the alluvial flood plain continues on as the Bois Brule Bottom. The Bois Brule Bottom is bounded on the north by an old channel of the Mississippi River which flows around Kaskaskia Island, and is bounded on the south by Cinque Hommes Creek (also known as St. Cosme creek), with the Mississippi River lying to the east. The Brazeau Bottom continues further south along west side of the Mississippi River.

Bois Brûlé, French for "Burnt Wood" was given to the flood plain by early French settlers. The name was applied by the French to describe a burnt tract of forest.

The first Native American groups known to have inhabited the area were the Mound Builders. The Mound Builders constructed large earthen mounds in the area, particularly along the Mississippi River. By the 12th and 13th centuries, the Mississippian Culture was in decline and eventually disappeared. Later Native American groups in the Bois Brule Bottom area were the Kaskaskia Indians who originated from the area of present-day Peoria, Illinois, but had migrated south to the area of Kaskaskia, Illinois. In the late 1770s and 1780s, remnants of the Illinois Nation, the Peoria tribe, left the east bank of the Mississippi River to escape British and American oppression, with some settling in New Ste. Genevieve and about 100 settling in the Bois Brule Bottom.