Old Biloxi

The settlement of Fort Maurepas or Old Biloxi, in colonial French Louisiana (New France), began in April 1699 along the Gulf of Mexico (at present-day Ocean Springs, Mississippi). Fort Maurepas was designated temporarily as the capital of Louisiana (New France) in 1719. The capital being moved from Mobile (in present-day Alabama) to New Orleans, but government buildings in the latter city were still under construction.

The fort had been completed on May 1, 1699 under direction of French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, who sailed for France on May 4. He appointed his teenage brother Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville as second in command after the French commandant Sauvolle de la Villantry (c.1671–1701).

The name Biloxi in French was spelled Bilocci. (The military camp was also known in French as fort Maurepas to honor Louis Phélypeaux, comte de Maurepas). The name of the site was sometimes transliterated into English as "Fort Bilocci" on maps updated circa the years 1710/1725.

French Louisiana (part of New France) was known in French as La Louisiane in colonial times. In modern times it is referred to as La Louisiane française to distinguish from the modern state of Louisiana (also "Louisiane" in French).

In 1719, the administrative capital of French Louisiana was moved to Old Biloxi from Mobile (or Mobille), during the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718–1720) against Spain. Due to hurricanes and shifting sand bars blocking harbor waters during the early 18th century, the capital of French Louisiana was moved from Mobile to Nouveau-Biloxi (present-day Biloxi), across Biloxi Bay. However, later in the same year, Fort Maurepas (at Old Biloxi) burned. It was never reconstructed.

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