The impetus to cede the French colony of Louisiana to the Spanish was the long, expensive conflict of the French and Indian War, also known as the Seven Year's War, between France and Great Britain. Initially, France offered Louisiana to Spain in order to bring Spain into the conflict on the French side. Spain declined. Spanish officials were uncertain about what exactly constituted the vague and immense colony of Louisiana. When the "Family Compact," a supposedly secret alliance between France and Spain, became known to the British, they attacked Spain. In November 1762 in the secret Treaty of Fontainebleau, France handed over Louisiana and the Isle of Orleans to Spain in order to "sweeten the bitter medicine of Spanish defeat and to persuade them not to fight on" against the British. 6
The cession of Louisiana was kept secret for over a year. France feared that Louisiana would become British. As a result, France sought to preempt any actions that Britain would undertake if it became known that Louisiana no longer enjoyed French protection before the Spanish were able to occupy and defend it. Great Britain officially conceded Spanish ownership of Louisiana in February 1763 in one of the series of treaties ending the French and Indian War. This gesture was a mere formality, for the territory had been in Spanish hands for almost three months.
Naturalization is the process of becoming a citizen of a country where you don't come from. After you naturalize, you get the rights and responsibilities of being that country's citizen.
