The economic survival in the earlier Colonial period and the economic prosperity
in the later antebellum period, was key to the Creoles. Ownership of land
was vital. Its possession gave a variety of rights including voting rights. It
signaled citizenship and stability.

From the Colonial period onward as land was ceded by the native peoples
to both the Spanish crown and later the French crown, it was then reapportioned
to the European settlers, many of whom came to be known as the Creoles.
Land was granted first to the nobles who came to the colony, be they Spanish dons
or French comtes. Vast tracts of land were divided and given out by the
Company of the Indies with the hope of a fortune to be made in the New World
and riches returned to Europe.

However it was soon discovered that this new land was difficult to make a living
off and riches were, until the 19th century, far and few.
Despite the non native incursion onto the lands and rivers of the region, relations between the "invaders,"
the Spanish and French, were relatively peaceful. A policy of assimilation or tolerance of cultures
was pursued. This led to peaceable relations with the native peoples. The relationship developed
so much so that many tribes aided the Revolutionists in the American struggle to free themselves
from the British. The French remained, along with the Native peoples, sympathetic to the new Americans,
and in opposition to their traditional adversaries, the British. The Natives, along with the French and
Spanish colonists, allied themselves with the American revolutionaries. This alliance continued
throughout the lifetime of the colonial territory, until the Louisiana purchase occurred in 1803.

In the early colonial period, before the discovery that cotton would grow well inland, sugar along
with timber and products such as tar and pitch were economically important.

In addition, brick making was an industry pursued in those areas were the soil was
sufficiently clay. Still others, especially Germans originating from the Palatine, established
livestock and dairy operations. Rice was grown along the waterways and salt was mined.
In addition fur trapping was an important activity, but none of these was sufficient to enrich
the Crown government under which the colony existed. Land was the currency which
simultaneously gave rise to the varied economic activities and status as in the feudal days
of old Europe. Later in the next century, land would become the mark of the Planters and
its ownership vital to the creation of their fortunes; its loss was their undoing.