High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! From 1685 until 1689, a French colony, Fort Saint Louis, existed near what is now Inez, Texas (USA). Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle intended to found the colony at the mouth of the Mississippi River, but inaccurate maps and navigational errors caused his ships to instead anchor 400 miles (650 km) west, off the coast of Texas near Matagorda Bay.