Grand Isle is one of several barrier islands formed about one thousand years ago when the Mississippi River flowed through Bayou Lafourche on its way to the Gulf of Mexico. Today it is Louisiana's best known island resort. The island was settled during the years of Spanish rule in Louisiana, and from 1781-1787 four Royal Land Grants were given by Governor Galvez to Jacques Rigaud, Joseph Caillet, Francois Anfrey, and Charles Dufresne. In the early 1800s, Jean Lafitte, claimed by many to be a pirate though he called himself a privateer, inhabited the area, operating a fort and a slave barracoon.