Treaty of Aranjuez (1801)

Treaty of Aranjuez (1801)

Italy 1796 (simplified); note Duchies of Parma (light green) and Tuscany (yellow)
Context	Confirmation of the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso; Spain agrees to transfer Louisiana to France in exchange for six ships of the line, and territories in Italy
Signed	21 March 1801 (1801-03-21)
Location	Aranjuez, Spain
Negotiators	Lucien Bonaparte Manuel Godoy
Parties	France Spain

The Treaty of Aranjuez (1801) was signed on 21 March 1801 between France and Spain. It confirmed a previous secret agreement in which Spain agreed to exchange Louisiana for territories in Tuscany. The treaty also stipulated Spain's cession of Louisiana to be a "restoration", not a retrocession.^{[1]: 50–52}

Napoleon wanted Louisiana as the hub of a new French empire in North America, to replace that lost after the 1763 Treaty of Paris. While Spanish chief minister Manuel Godoy was happy to transfer the territory, he demanded six French ships of the line and compensation in Italy to make it politically acceptable to Charles IV of Spain.

Terms were agreed in the October 1800 Third Treaty of San Ildefonso but kept secret, as French Foreign Minister Talleyrand was negotiating the Convention of 1800 with the United States, which was deeply concerned by French ambitions in North America. He was also proposing to compensate Spain with territories France did not yet control. This was achieved by the February 1801 Treaty of Lunéville agreed with Austria, and the Treaty of Florence signed with the Kingdom of Naples on 28 March 1801.

Talleyrand used the treaties to create the Kingdom of Etruria for Charles IV's son-in-law Louis I, and in return Spain announced the transfer of Louisiana. However, these arrangements proved short-lived; France sold Louisiana to the US in 1803, while Etruria was dissolved in 1807.