LaSalle :: essays research papers

La SalleLa Salle, Ren-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de (1643-1687), French venturer inNorth America, who navigated the length of the Mississippi River and claimed the Louisiana region for France.La Salle was born(p) on November 22, 1643, in Rouen, France, and educatedby the Jesuits. In 1666 he immigrated to Canada, was grant land on theSt. Lawrence River, and became a trader. From 1669 to 1670 he exploredthe region south of Lakes Ontario and Erie, and he later claimed to havediscovered the Ohio River in 1671. In the course of his explorations in thewilderness, La Salle became familiar with endemical languages andtraditions. Because of his capabilities, French colonial governor Louis deBuade, comte de Palluau et de Frontenac, positive him commander ofFort Frontenac, then being built as a trading station. In 1674 La Salle wassent to France as Frontenacs representative to loose the building of thefort. His mission was successful, and he received a patent of nobility.La Salle subsequently conceived a plan for exploring and trading fartherwest, and in 1677 he again visited France to secure royal approval of hisscheme. He returned with Italian explorer Henri de Tonty, who became hisassociate. In 1679 he set out on a preliminary examination expedition, and afterestablishing forts at the verbalise of the Saint Joseph River and along theIllinois River, in February 1680, he sent a group to explore the upperMississippi River. La Salle then returned to Fort Frontenac to procure virginsupplies and funds. By spring he was able to travel west again, and he andTonty proceeded with their party of French and indigenous peoples to theMississippi, which they descended to the Gulf of Mexico in 1682, claiming allthe land drained by the river for Louis XIV, business leader of France, and naming theregion Louisiana. La Salle subsequently commenced construction of forts inthe new territory. When Frontenac was recalled to France later in 1682,however, La Salles rivals succeeded in tu rning the new governor againsthim.Journeying to France in 1683, La Salle made a successful draw in to theking, who commended him for his discoveries and named him viceroy ofNorth America. In 1684 he sailed from France with a fleet of cardinal ships onan expedition to establish a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi River.When he reached the Gulf of Mexico he was unable to find the Mississippi,