The French were in a bind for cash due to impending conflict with the British, and we were kinda down with that cause. Plus they had just paid for our war against the British.
Napoleon: how the fuck do I defend this stupid thing from the British.
America: did someone say cheap real estate?
the french : ah finally, I can focus on the jewel of the americas: guyana.
It’s more of a case of nobody offering to buy it.
ok.
The french : I FUCKING HATE THIS STUPID TERRITORY AND I WISH SOMEOME WOULD FUCKING TAKE IT OFF MY HANDS
The Guyanans : I like being french, in south america and the caribbean.Which turned out pretty well - it gave europe a suitable site for launching rockets into an equatorial orbit.
Yes, and the people there are happy to be French nowadays. Those results varied through history, but are quite good right now.
Then we tried to buy California from Mexico. Which didn’t go as smoothly, but the sale occurred.
US, a little bit later: “Fuck… What the hell did we just buy? We’d better send somebody to go explore it…”
TBF New Orleans paid off culturally
Did they ever “pay off” Katrina?
No, I don’t think New Orleans provided a direct payoff for that one specific climactic catastrophe. I do know that they’re back stronger than ever, though.
