Editing Manuel Lisa (section)

==Early life==
Little is known of the early life of Manuel Lisa, but he is believed to have been born in 1772 in [[New Orleans]], then part of [[Spanish Louisiana]]. It was ceded to Spain by France after the British victory in the [[Seven Years' War]], when the British gained Florida in exchange with Spain for French lands west of the Mississippi River.<ref name="Goodwin, 152">Goodwin, 152.</ref><ref>Certain sources suggest Lisa was born in the West Indies, possibly Cuba. Chittenden, 125.</ref> His father, Christoval de Lisa, was born in [[Murcia]], [[Spain]], while his mother, Maria Ignacia Rodriguez, was born to a colonial family in [[St. Augustine, Florida]].<ref name="Goodwin, 152"/> It is likely that Christoval came to Spanish Louisiana in the service of the governor [[Alejandro O'Reilly]], who started his tenure in 1769.<ref name="Goodwin, 152"/> Manuel had at least one elder brother, Joaquin Lisa, who worked with him in his early trade expeditions.<ref>{{cite book |last=Toledano |first=Roulhac |title=New Orleans Architecture: Faubourg Tremé and the Bayou Road |edition=1 |year=2003|publisher=Pelican Publishing Company |pages=30 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Dickins |first=Asbury |title=American State Papers: Documents and Legislative Parte 8, Volumen 6 |edition=1 |year=1860|publisher=Gales & Seaton |pages=772 }}</ref>

By 1789, Manuel Lisa and his brother Joaquin were trading on the [[Mississippi River]] in [[New Madrid, Missouri]]; the next recorded mention of Manuel Lisa was again in New Madrid, after he had returned from trading along the [[Wabash River]].<ref name="Goodwin, 152"/>