The three-day symposium brought together historians and experts from Spain and the United States to explore the decisive role of Spanish Louisiana and the Mississippi River during the American Revolution.
From September 24–26, the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute and The Historic New Orleans Collection presented the III America&Spain250 Symposium, “Spain and the American Revolution along the Mississippi River,” bringing together leading historians and experts from Spain and the United States for three days of academic and cultural programming across New Orleans.
Her Majesty Queen Sofía presided over the official opening and closing of the symposium, which examined the strategic, military, social, and cultural importance of Spanish Louisiana and the Mississippi River corridor during the American Revolution.
The New Orleans gathering marked the third major academic symposium of America&Spain250, an initiative launched by the QSSI in 2023 to promote greater awareness of Spain’s role in the independence and formation of the United States ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary. It followed the first symposium in Madrid in 2024 and the second in Washington, D.C., in 2025.
The symposium program began on September 24 at Tulane University with the opening of the exhibition Spain, Spanish America, and the Atlantic World in an Age of Revolution, organized by the Doris Z. Stone Latin American Library and Research Center. The exhibition explored Spain and Spanish America within the broader transformations of the Atlantic world during the Age of Revolution. During the visit, Her Majesty Queen Sofía received a tour of the exhibit by Hortensia Calvo, Director of the Latin American Library at Tulane University.
On Friday, September 25, Her Majesty Queen Sofía presided over the symposium’s official opening at the historic St. Louis Cathedral. The program included presentations by Frances Kolb Turnbell, who explored Louisiana’s place within the Spanish Empire, and John Eugene Rodriguez, who examined Spanish New Orleans as an imperial city between 1766 and 1803.
Following the official opening at St. Louis Cathedral, Her Majesty visited the exhibition “Gálvez and Louisiana in the American Revolution” at The Cabildo, followed by a reception that brought together symposium participants, guests, and representatives of the participating institutions.
Her Majesty also visited the historic Spanish street plaques near The Cabildo, which preserve the Spanish names once used for the city’s streets and remain a visible reminder of New Orleans’ Spanish heritage. During the visit, New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno presented Her Majesty with the Key to the City.
Academic sessions continued on Saturday at The Historic New Orleans Collection’s Williams Research Center, examining the region from multiple perspectives: Spain’s strategy in Louisiana, Bernardo de Gálvez’s Mississippi campaign, the expedition against the British fort at St. Joseph, slavery under French, Spanish, and British rule, relations between Spain and Indigenous peoples, and the life of Felicitas St. Maxent de Gálvez.
Speakers included Rafael Torres Sánchez, Manuel Trillo, Stephen L. Kling, Jane Landers, Andrew K. Frank, Gonzalo M. Quintero Saravia, and the QSSI Academic Director Richard L. Kagan, whose lecture Erasure and Recovery concluded the academic program.
One of the highlights of the day was the special Food for Thought: A Lunch With Bernardo de Gálvez at Napoleon House. Led by Antonio Sánchez de Mora, archivist and historian at Spain’s General Archive of the Indies, and Chef Chris Montero, the experience drew on historical documents and 18th-century culinary sources to explore what a meal in Spanish Louisiana during the era of Gálvez might have looked like.
Looking Towards the Next Generation
Her Majesty Queen Sofía presided over the symposium’s closing ceremony, which placed particular emphasis on education and the next generation of history lovers.
The QSSI recognized Elodie Colón and Magnolia Walsh, students at Benjamin Franklin High School in New Orleans and winners of the first U.S. edition of the Quizstory Podcast Award, and announced the opening of the competition’s second U.S. edition. Adele Baer was also announced as the first recipient of the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute – IE Foundation Scholarship for the Humanities.
The three-day program concluded with a musical performance by Krewe de Voix, under the direction of Paul Weber, featuring 17th- and 18th-century repertoire evoking the musical traditions of the Viceroyalty of New Spain.
