This paper will be about Rene-Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle the explorer. It will talk about different areas of exploration of the Americas that La Salle discovered and mapped. It will also discuss La Salle’s trials and tribulations of his discoveries and his final outcome.
La Salle was born on November twenty-first, 1643 in Roven, France, the son of a well-known merchant. At a young age, La Salle had joined the Jesuit College to become a Jesuit priest. His superiors noted that he was “stubborn, domineering, and hot tempered, “leading them to conclude that in La Salle there was much that was contradictory to the life of a Jesuit (Johnson 28). Once in Canada, La Salle claimed a large track of land at no cost from the Sulpician Seminary. …show more content…
By the following spring, La Salle traveled to Quebec, Canada to obtain approval from Sieur De Courrelles, the Governor of Canada. With this approval, La Salle goes back and sells his village along with the surrounding land, back to the Seminary for a profit. These funds are spent on canoes and provisions, along with the acquisition of fourteen men to assist him. Twelve other men from the seminary joined him bringing along another three canoes.
There were two types of canoes, built from the surrounding supplies of trees. The first, called the North Canoe, was a twenty-four foot vessel with the capacity to carry one thousand five hundred pounds of supplies. The other called the Montreal, was larger in size, thirty-three feet long, six feet wide in addition to a carrying capacity of six thousand pounds. The canoes were capable of traveling up to one hundred miles a day either by river or lake.
La Salle hesitated at first over which route to follow to the Mississippi Valley, but finally determined the journey via the Great Lakes (Chesnel 100). La Salle and his crew began their expedition down the St Lawrence River, they reached the Eastern part of Lake Ontario. This lake was so large that the crew, could not see land on the other side of the lake while they traveled along its shore. The crew had meet up with the Seneca Indian tribe, who agreed to guide them to the great …show more content…
Back in Ft. Frontenac, provisions where gathered along with a new crew, La Salle heads back out. No ships would be built for this expedition, La Salle would only depended on canoes of the region. By the end of January 1682, the expedition had arrived at the Mississippi River by way of the Illinois River. Before the expedition a wide and rapid current coursed athwart their way, by the foot of lofty heights wrapped thick in forest (Parkman45).Traversing down the Mississippi, the expedition comes upon many more unknown Indian tribes with most being friendly and accepting. The crew even spends time with these Indians, even staying in the villages at times. Along the river expedition, the crew would also stop and clear land for new colonies and forts which became modern day Memphis and Ft. St. Louis. On April sixth, 1682, the expedition arrived at the mouth of the Mississippi River in the Gulf of Mexico. La Salle claimed these new lands for France, it is one million square miles and three times larger than France. The expedition spent only four days in this area, with the fear of being too close to Spanish occupied Mexico the expedition headed back up river from which they came. During the trek back up the river La Salle becomes deathly ill from an unknown illness, stopping in Ft Prud’ Homme to
La Salle was born on November twenty-first, 1643 in Roven, France, the son of a well-known merchant. At a young age, La Salle had joined the Jesuit College to become a Jesuit priest. His superiors noted that he was “stubborn, domineering, and hot tempered, “leading them to conclude that in La Salle there was much that was contradictory to the life of a Jesuit (Johnson 28). Once in Canada, La Salle claimed a large track of land at no cost from the Sulpician Seminary. …show more content…
By the following spring, La Salle traveled to Quebec, Canada to obtain approval from Sieur De Courrelles, the Governor of Canada. With this approval, La Salle goes back and sells his village along with the surrounding land, back to the Seminary for a profit. These funds are spent on canoes and provisions, along with the acquisition of fourteen men to assist him. Twelve other men from the seminary joined him bringing along another three canoes.
There were two types of canoes, built from the surrounding supplies of trees. The first, called the North Canoe, was a twenty-four foot vessel with the capacity to carry one thousand five hundred pounds of supplies. The other called the Montreal, was larger in size, thirty-three feet long, six feet wide in addition to a carrying capacity of six thousand pounds. The canoes were capable of traveling up to one hundred miles a day either by river or lake.
La Salle hesitated at first over which route to follow to the Mississippi Valley, but finally determined the journey via the Great Lakes (Chesnel 100). La Salle and his crew began their expedition down the St Lawrence River, they reached the Eastern part of Lake Ontario. This lake was so large that the crew, could not see land on the other side of the lake while they traveled along its shore. The crew had meet up with the Seneca Indian tribe, who agreed to guide them to the great …show more content…
Back in Ft. Frontenac, provisions where gathered along with a new crew, La Salle heads back out. No ships would be built for this expedition, La Salle would only depended on canoes of the region. By the end of January 1682, the expedition had arrived at the Mississippi River by way of the Illinois River. Before the expedition a wide and rapid current coursed athwart their way, by the foot of lofty heights wrapped thick in forest (Parkman45).Traversing down the Mississippi, the expedition comes upon many more unknown Indian tribes with most being friendly and accepting. The crew even spends time with these Indians, even staying in the villages at times. Along the river expedition, the crew would also stop and clear land for new colonies and forts which became modern day Memphis and Ft. St. Louis. On April sixth, 1682, the expedition arrived at the mouth of the Mississippi River in the Gulf of Mexico. La Salle claimed these new lands for France, it is one million square miles and three times larger than France. The expedition spent only four days in this area, with the fear of being too close to Spanish occupied Mexico the expedition headed back up river from which they came. During the trek back up the river La Salle becomes deathly ill from an unknown illness, stopping in Ft Prud’ Homme to