Le Grand Champ Bottom

Le Grand Champ Bottom
Alluvial Floodplain
Le Grand Champ Bottoms
Country	United States
State	Missouri

Le Grand Champ is (French for "the big field") is an alluvial floodplain, also called a bottom, extending along the Mississippi River in Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri.

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 Grand Champ" or Big Field Bottom, which includes Kaskaskia Island.

Le Grand Champ was so named because it served as the main common agricultural land for Old Ste. Genevieve (Le Vieux Village de Ste. Genevieve). This name was the usual name for the common field of a French village. The field was also known as the "grand carre" or "quarre" to the French. Later, the Americans referred to the field as "The Big Field".

The Mound Builders are the earliest Native American groups known to have inhabited the area. The Mound Builders cultivated corn and constructed large earthen mounds, particularly in the flood plains along the Mississippi River. The Mississippian Culture was in decline by the 12th and 13th centuries, and had largely disappeared by the time of European contact. At the time of European contact the most prominent Native American nation in the area were the Illiniwek who inhabited much of present-day Illinois and eastern Missouri. One particular Illiniwek tribe, the Kaskaskia Indians, 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 another Illiniwek tribe, the Peoria tribe, left the east bank of the Mississippi River to escape British and American oppression, with most settling in New Ste. Genevieve and around the Grand Champ Bottom. They were later followed by another Algonquian speaking tribe, the Kickapoos.