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Louis Joliet - Explorer (1645 -
1700) |
Louis Joliet (also known as Jolliet) was a Jesuit
educated Canadian fur trapper who went on to
become an explorer. He was present at Sault
Ste. Marie when the great lakes area was claimed
for France, and headed expeditions to explore
the Mississippi River and the Labrador Coastline.
He also assessed the extent of English trading
in the Hudson Bay area.
This page details facts about Louis Joliet's
life and the events that shaped his history.
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Louis Joliet the Explorer -
Fun Facts for Kids ! |
Louis Joliet Fact
1: |
Louis Joliet (also spelled Jolliet) was
born in Quebec, Canada, sometime before 21st September 1645,
which was the day of his christening. |
Louis Joliet Fact
2: |
He was the son of a wagon maker, Jean
Joliet, and his wife Marie D’abancourt. |
Louis Joliet Fact
3: |
At the age of 10 Louis Joliet was sent
to the Jesuit College in Quebec where he was educated until
he left in 1667. |
Louis Joliet Fact
4: |
He became a fur trader at the age of
23, dealing with the Native Indians. |
Louis Joliet Fact
5: |
On 4th June 1671 Simon Daumont de Saint-Lusson,
a military officer from New France, claimed the lands of
the great lakes area for France. The ceremony in Sault Ste.
Marie was attended by many of the local Indian nations and
Louis Jolliet was one of the declaration’s signatories. |
Louis Joliet Fact
6: |
Louis de Buade Frontenac, the French
Governor of Quebec, Commissioned Louis Joliet to explore
the Mississippi River with Father Jacques Marquette, a Jesuit
Priest. |
Louis Joliet Fact
7: |
In October 1672 Louis Joliet, Father
Jacques Marquette and five others men left Quebec and headed
for the St. Ignace mission in Michigan. They arrived in
December and began making their preparations for the expedition. |
Louis Joliet Fact
8: |
On 17 May 1673 Louis Joliet and his party
left St. Ignace in two birch bark canoes. They headed for
Green Bay on Lake Michigan before traveling along the Fox
River and, after a portage (carrying water craft overland),
they arrived at the Wisconsin River. Louis Joliet eventually
reached the Mississippi River in June 1673. |
Louis Joliet Fact
9: |
Believing that the river would flow into
the Pacific, Louis Joliet and Father Jacques Marquette explored
the Mississippi writing notes and drawing maps along the
way. After reaching an Indian village near present day Arkansas,
Louis Joliet was able to conclude that the Mississippi would
flow into the Gulf of Mexico rather that into the Pacific. |
Louis Joliet Fact 10: |
The friendly Indians in this village
warned Louis Joliet and his party of the danger from hostile
Indians further down the river. Taking into account this
warning and the danger of running into the Spanish near
the Gulf of Mexico, they decided to turn round and head
back to Quebec. |
Louis Joliet Fact 11: |
Louis Joliet returned via the Illinois
River and Green Bay, where, in 1674, Father Jacques Marquette
decided to leave him and remain at the Saint Francis Xavier
mission. |
Louis Joliet Fact
12: |
While traveling through the Lachine
Rapids on the Saint Lawrence River, his canoe was capsized
and he lost all of his maps and journals. He was rescued
by fishermen and continued on to Quebec where, after
traveling 2500 miles, he arrived in 1674. |
Louis Joliet Fact
13: |
Louis Joliet reported their discoveries
to the French Governor Louis de Buade Frontenac, and
went on to rewrite some of his journals from memory.
However, the notes written my Marquette were relied
on as being the more accurate resource. |
Louis Joliet Fact
14: |
On 7th October 1675 Louis Joliet
married Canadian Claire-Francoise Bissot and had one
child, Jean-Baptiste. He returned to fur trading in
1676. |
Louis Joliet Fact
15: |
In 1679 the presence of the English
in the Hudson Bay area was proving a worry to the French
Colony, so Louis Joliet was sent over to assess the
situation. Together with seven others he left on 7th
April 1679 and traveled via Saguenay, Lake St. John,
Lake Mistassini and Rupert River to James Bay. The English
invited him to join them, however he declined and made
his way back to Quebec. He reported that the English
control over Hudson Bay was a threat to Canadian trade
as the area was the richest source of furs in the country. |
Louis Joliet Fact
16: |
In March 1680 King Louis XIV of France
granted Louis Joliet the island of Anticosti, in the
mouth of the Saint Lawrence River. |
Louis Joliet Fact
17: |
In 1681 he built a fort on the island
and settled there. In the winter of 1690 the fort was
briefly captured and occupied by the English. |
Louis Joliet Fact
18: |
Louis Joliet undertook an expedition
sponsored by a merchant, François Viennay-Pachot, to
explore the Labrador Coastline. He set off in the spring
of 1694 sailing through the Strait of Belle Isle and
Eskimo Bay to Zoar. He kept a journal and made notes
and sketches of the people he met. |
Louis Joliet Fact 19: |
He was appointed professor of hydrography
at Quebec College on 13th April 1697. |
Louis Joliet Fact 20: |
Louis Joliet died in 1700 sometime between
May and October. The exact place of his death is unclear
although it is generally believed to have been on the island
of Anticosti. |
Louis Joliet the Explorer
(1645 - 1700) Fun Facts Info for Kids ! |
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