Eric La Salle is an actor from ER. Biography: Journey along the Mississippi River
LA SALLE, RENEE ROBERT CAVELIER(La Salle, René Robert Cavelier) (1643–1687), French explorer North America. Born in Rouen on November 22, 1643. Studied at a Jesuit college. Obsessed with the desire to discover new lands, in 1666, following his brother, who was a member of the congregation of St. Sulpicia in Montreal, went to New France (Canada). Upon arrival, he received the status of a landowner and a land plot in Lachine (in the vicinity of Montreal). Having learned from the Indians of a large river in the southwest that was believed to flow into the Gulf of California, La Salle decided to explore it. Having developed a plan for the expedition, he presented it to Governor Courcelles, who persuaded him to team up with two Sulpicians - Dolier de Casson and Galina. In 1668 they went up the St. Lawrence River and along south coast Lake Ontario to Burlington Bay. Next, La Salle decided to follow his own path to Ohio, but Dollier de Casson and Galina had other plans. During this journey, La Salle probably only went as far as the Ohio River, turning back in 1671.
In 1672, Count Frontenac, governor of New France, approached La Salle with a proposal to discuss plans for expanding the colony. The first step was to build Fort Frontenac on Lake Ontario - a base for future expeditions. In 1677, La Salle went to France, where he received broad powers from King Louis XIV to further develop lands in the New World. Returning to New France, La Salle, together with Lieutenant Henri de Tonti, went west in 1679. Having built a fort at the mouth of the Niagara River, he went to a place located near modern Buffalo, where he built the Griffin, the first merchant sailing ship to sail on the Great Lakes. La Salle's detachment headed for Lake Michigan, crossed it and reached an island at the entrance to Green Bay, where a tribe of friendly Potawatomi Indians lived. From here La Salle decided to send the Griffin to Niagara with a load of furs, and he himself followed by canoe to the southern tip of Lake Michigan and further to the mouth of the St. Joseph River, where he built another fort.
Subsequently, La Salle decided to continue his exploration further south. He received additional funds, and in 1681–1682 he went down the Mississippi River to its confluence with Gulf of Mexico. Reached the mouth of the Mississippi on April 9, 1682, declared the entire area the possession of Louis XIV and named it Louisiana. Upon his return to New France, La Salle found himself out of favor with the governor. To restore the situation, La Salle again went to France and, after appealing to the king, returned the property taken from him. In 1684 he set out on four ships to create a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi, but from the very beginning this expedition was plagued by failures. The ships passed the mouth of the Mississippi and mistakenly landed in Matagorda Bay. The forces of the detachment were undermined by a shipwreck and the departure of the last ship to France. Then La Salle tried to reach Mississippi by land and, having failed here too, in January 1687 decided to return to New France. Along the way, the detachment mutinied, and La Salle was killed near the Brazos River (now in Texas) on March 19, 1687.
René-Robert Cavelier de la Salle was born in Rouen on November 22, 1643. He came from a wealthy merchant family. His student years were spent at a Jesuit college. In 1658 he entered the Order as a novice and took his vows two years later. Beginning in 1665, Cavelier twice submitted requests to be sent as a missionary to China or North America, but they were rejected by the order's authorities. After this, La Salle decided to leave the Order. On March 27, 1667, he was dissolved from his vows.
Begin " new life"Cavelier decided overseas, in New France. This choice was supported by the fact that Rouen had been focused on trade with Canada for many years, they were part of the same diocese, and besides, in 1666 his older brother Jean-Pierre, a member of the congregation of St. Sulpicius in Ville-Marie, moved there (present-day Montreal). This order immediately allocated La Salle a plot of land in the vicinity of the city, at the thresholds of Lachine. Arriving in Canada in 1667, Cavelier began visiting Indian settlements, studying native dialects, and becoming acquainted with customs and customs. local residents. At the same time, he tried to learn as much as possible about rivers and lakes: Cavelier, like many of his contemporaries, dreamed of discovering the shortest route from Atlantic Ocean in Quiet. ABOUT big rivers south of the Great Lakes, Cavelier learned from the Indians who delivered skins and furs to his estate: in addition to farming, the Frenchman traded in furs.
2 Journey to Lake Ontario
In January 1669, Cavelier sold his plot (but retained the house) to the original owners and set out to explore the lands in the southwest. Having the means and having developed a plan for the expedition, Cavelier introduced him to the governor of Montreal, Courcel, who persuaded him to team up with the Sulpician, Father Dollier de Casson. Casson recommended including Deacon Briand de Galinay in the expedition. On July 6, 1669, 24 French travelers set out in canoes up the St. Lawrence River. They were joined as guides by Seneca Indians in two canoes. After many days of travel, they reached Lake Ontario on August 2, and six days later - the border of the lands of the Seneca Indians (part of the alliance of “five tribes”, which the French called “Iroquois”). Moving along the southern shore of Lake Ontario, the French reached its western tip - Burlington Bay. Here the expedition leader fell ill with a fever.
On October 1, the expedition split up. The Sulpicians went in search of the "unconverted" natives. Cavelier stated that “for health reasons” he was returning to Ville-Marie. Several of his men did so, but he himself continued his travels in the company of Nick, a Cheyenne Indian, guide and translator. Where exactly they went is unknown. It is believed that, moving southwest from Lake Ontario, Cavelier discovered the Ohio River, a powerful left tributary of the Mississippi.
3 Journey to the Illinois River
In 1672, Count Frontenac, governor of New France, approached La Salle with a proposal to discuss plans for expanding the colony. The first step was to build Fort Cataraqui on Lake Ontario - a distant outpost to repel Indian attacks and a base for future expeditions. The construction, supervised by Cavelier, was completed in 1673.
Cavelier shared with Count Frontenac his grandiose plan to trace the entire course of the Mississippi and annex its basin to the possessions of the French king. He was able to interest the Governor of Canada and received letters of recommendation from him to the Minister of the Navy and other influential persons. With them he went to France to obtain a royal patent for discoveries in the New World. Minister Colbert introduced him to the king, who showered him with favors: he bestowed nobility on Cavelier and brought him into possession of the fortification built under his leadership.
Returning to Canada, Cavelier again went to Fort Cataraqui. In a short time, he was able to transform an unprepossessing structure into a powerful fortification made of cut stone by colonial standards. The renovated fort was named after the governor. While running his fort, La Salle became rich in the fur trade, earning up to 25,000 livres a year, but this did not dampen his obsession with uncharted lands.
In 1677, La Salle again went to meet the “Sun King”. His progress report was received favorably. Cavelier applied for permission to build two structures: one on Lake Erie, the other at the tip of Lake Illinois (Michigan). He also asked permission to become the governor of those countries that he would discover in the future. In May 1678, La Salle was granted the right to explore the entire western part of the North American continent within the limits limited by New France itself and the then possessions of the Spanish crown - Florida and Mexico, permission to build log fortifications at his own expense, as well as a monopoly on the trade in buffalo hides, for a period for five years.
On July 14, 1678, La Salle sailed from La Rochelle for Canada. About thirty soldiers, noblemen Dominique de La Motte and Henri de Tonti, and the Franciscan monk Louis Annepen, who was the priest of Fort Frontenac and then accompanied La Salle on all his travels, went with him. Anchors, sails and gear were captured from France to build a river vessel. Returning to New France, La Salle first sent a small group led by La Motte to the Niagara River to find a suitable site and prepare to build a sailing ship. Around Christmas 1678, La Salle arrived at the construction site. By January, the ship was already on the stocks on Lake Erie in a place located near modern Buffalo. Fort Conti, on the site of which Fort Niagara later arose, was supposed to become a transshipment point; its advantageous location made it possible to keep trade routes under control.
While the ship was being built, La Salle continued to explore the surrounding areas, studied the life of the Indians and bought furs from them, setting up a large warehouse at Fort Conti. At the same time, Henri de Tonti was also engaged in buying furs in other areas. During La Salle's absence, his people built and equipped a ship for navigation on the Great Lakes and rivers of the Mississippi system: 18x4.8 meters, with a displacement of 45 tons and armed with 7 cannons. Returning to Lake Erie in late July, La Salle named it "Griffin".
On August 7, 1679, the ship set sail for the first time, and a few days later La Salle and his companions set off from Lake Erie along the Detroit Strait to Lake Huron. After twenty days' journey they went ashore at Mackinac, near the mission of St. Ignatius. Here the travelers did not stay long and on September 12, 1679, they anchored off an island (now Washington Island) at the entrance to Green Bay (Wisconsin). Despite the king's ban on "trading with the Indians called Ottawa and others who bring beaver and other furs to Montreal," La Salle did just that. Then the French detachment split up. La Salle sent the ship with a cargo of furs and other goods to Mackinac (according to other sources, to Niagara) to pay off creditors and stock up on provisions. Thus, the Griffin became the first merchant sailing ship to sail on the Great Lakes. But on the way back he disappeared without a trace.
La Salle himself, on September 19, 1679, with 14 people in 4 canoes, continued his journey along the western shore of Lake Michigan, where a tribe of friendly Potawatomi Indians lived. The French proceeded by canoe to the southern tip of Lake Michigan and on November 1 reached the mouth of the Miami River (now the St. Joseph River), where, appreciating the advantages of the location, La Salle founded a fort of the same name. On December 3, travelers set off up the river to what is now South Bend, Indiana. Here the French dragged boats onto the Kankakee River, along which they reached the Illinois River.
On January 5, 1680, La Salle's detachment reached the Indian settlement of Pimitou, near the present city of Peoria. On January 15, he founded Fort Crevecoeur on the shore of a lake 30 leagues (about 150 km) from Pimitou, which was to serve as a base for further research. He also began construction of another ship, which was never completed. After spending the winter on the shores of Illinois, the detachment split up. Leaving Tonti here at the head of a small garrison (10-15 people), La Salle instructed Father Annepin and two companions to continue exploring these regions and explore the way to the upper Mississippi. He was able to walk along the course of the Illinois River until it flowed into the “Father of Waters,” but here on April 11, 1680, he was captured by a detachment of Sioux Indians, who took their captive to the territory of what is now the state of Minnesota. However, in the fall they released the prisoners. Having passed a waterfall called Annepen (the area of present-day Minneapolis), they followed the Wisconsin River to Green Bay Bay, and later to the mission at Mackinac, where they spent the winter.
La Salle himself, in early spring, while there was still snow, set off with three Indians and one Frenchman on the return journey. Ice drift began, and on March 18 they were forced to leave the canoe and go on foot. 6 days later, they went to Fort Miami, where La Salle found Chapelle and Leblanc, who had been sent earlier to Mackinac in search of the “Griffin,” - they walked all over Lake Michigan, but did not find out anything. La Salle sent them to Tonti and from here, in the mud, moved with his companions to Lake Erie.
La Salle sent two men in a canoe ahead to Mackinac, and with the remaining two he crossed the Detroit Strait on a raft and reached the shore of Lake Erie at Cape Pili. They built another canoe and reached Fort Conti on April 21, 1680. Here La Salle received a “reward” for the tests: not only did the “Griffin” disappear without a trace, but the ship carrying La Salle from France many valuable goods worth 22,000 livres also crashed. Despite the sad news, La Salle continued on his way, leaving his exhausted comrades, and with three others on May 6 returned on foot to Fort Frontenac, which was located 2,000 kilometers from Crevecoeur.
On July 22, envoys from Henri de Tonti arrived. They said that the people left in Crevecoeur rebelled against Tonti, stole food and fled. The fugitives followed in the footsteps of La Salle: they plundered the forts of Miami and Conti, and twelve of them sailed to Fort Frontenac to deal with him himself. Having selected 9 reliable people, La Salle went to Lake Ontario. Here, in Cataraqui Bay, he set up an ambush, into which the deserters ended up in early August.
On August 10, La Salle with 25 companions, among whom were carpenters, joiners, masons, and even a surgeon, again set off for the Illinois River. They were carrying equipment for an unfinished ship. Along the way, he learned from the Potawatomi Indians that the Griffin had apparently sank in a storm. La Salle went to Lake Michigan, to Mackinac. From there, leaving some of his people in the mission with Lieutenant La Forest, he and 12 companions through Fort Miami (where he left five people) reached the village of Pimitou on December 1. The village was burned by the Iroquois.
In search of Tonti and his companions, La Salle descended the Illinois down to its confluence with the Mississippi, everywhere finding traces of massacre. The river of his dreams lay before him, but the pioneer was forced to turn due to fears for the fate of Tonti. La Salle reoccupied the dilapidated Fort Crevecoeur and, entrusting it with a small garrison, returned to Fort Miami. Along the way, he discovered a bark hut that only Tonti and his people could build. Here he, having compared all the facts, came to the conclusion that there was Tonti in the canoe that he saw near Mackinac (La Salle was looking for him on east coast Michigan, and Tonti was in the west at that time). La Salle sent two people there with a letter, and on March 1, 1681, he set out from Fort Miami with La Forest and 19 companions. They met the Fox Indians, from whom the travelers learned that Tonti had spent the winter with the Potawatomi.
At the end of May, the French left Fort Miami for Canada. La Salle and Tonti met at St. Ignatius Mission on Mackinac (in what is now Chicago).
4 Journey along the Mississippi River
In the summer of 1681, La Salle hurried to Montreal, where the governor summoned him to equip a new expedition. Despite all the troubles of the previous expedition, La Salle still decided to try again, because last time he essentially limited himself to exploring the Canadian water system, crossing with his detachment the line separating the great lakes from the Mississippi basin, and reached Illinois. On December 19, La Salle met with Tonti at Fort Miami, and a month later the members of the new expedition (23 French and 18 Indians) assembled at Fort Crevecoeur.
Setting out from Fort Crevecoeur, a detachment of French and Indians led by La Salle descended the ice of the frozen Illinois River in a very original way - on a sleigh with pies tied to them. On February 6, 1682, travelers reached the Mississippi: huge ice floes were floating along the river, and La Salle decided to wait out the ice drift, but in the meantime he sent two people north to explore the upper section of the river.
A week later, La Salle and his companions sailed down the great river and in the evening reached the mouth of the Missouri, and five days later they felt the rapid current of the Ohio River. So they sailed, stopping to inspect the banks and tributaries. At the site of the present city of Memphis (Tennessee), they had to stay for ten days - the gunsmith Pierre Prudhomme went hunting and disappeared. They feared that he might be captured: the French, who were looking for their comrade, came across two Chickasaw Indians on the sixth day and with them they handed over gifts to the leaders. La Salle took advantage of the delay to establish a small fort, named after the unlucky hunter. He himself, hungry and wet, was later fished out of the water: he swam downstream, holding on to a log.
However, the adventures did not end there. The travelers set up camp on March 5th, and a week later the beating of drums was heard from the other bank. Fortunately, a clash with the Kuapa Indians was avoided: they smoked a peace pipe and exchanged gifts. The natives brought them firewood and treated them to maize, beans and dried fruits for three days in a row. “In gratitude for their hospitality,” the French erected a pillar on their land with the coat of arms of France, thereby declaring it the property of the French king. Taking two guides, La Salle and his companions moved on.
Having sailed 15 leagues (85 km), they reached another tributary of the Mississippi - the Arkansas River. On March 22, the French saw the Tainza Indians. They lived in adobe houses with domed thatch roofs and had poultry. The Indians gave the travelers a magnificent welcome, which was prepared by the “master of ceremonies” with six assistants: the chief visited the travelers’ camp, dressed in white; two of the attendants carried white fans, and the third carried a disk of polished bronze, symbolizing the sun. The guest was generously presented with trinkets. The next day there was almost a skirmish with the Natchez.
Then on their way the French met the Koroa Indians. They informed the travelers that they were ten days' journey from the ocean. On Easter, the detachment left the village and reached the delta on April 6. La Salle sailed along the western branch, Henri Tonti - along the central one, and Bourdon d'Autray - along the eastern one. All three made it safely into the Gulf of Mexico.
The next two days, La Salle himself, Tonti and d'Autray explored the river delta, and on April 9, a cross was erected on the shore and a plate was buried with the engraved inscription: "Louis the Great, King of France and Navarre, April 9, 1682." La Salle declared the basin of the river he passed through as the possession of the French crown and gave it the name “Louisiana,” that is, “Louis’s.”
The very next day the travelers set off on their return journey. The lack of food was becoming increasingly felt. Already on April 29, the French were in the village of Koroa, and on May 3 - at Tainza, where they replenished food supplies. Then they went upstream to Fort Prudhomme, where they were forced to stop: La Salle fell ill. He sent Tonti to Fort Saint-Joseph (Miami), instructing him to write to the governor from there about the success of the expedition. On June 15, La Salle felt better and continued on his way. A month later he was at Fort Crevecoeur. He made the rest of the journey - through Fort Saint-Joseph to Mackinac - in a canoe. Here, at the St. Ignatius Mission, he met Tonti.
“Our expedition ended without loss, not a single Frenchman or Indian or anyone else was even wounded, for which we owe to the protection of the Almighty and the great abilities of M. de La Salle” (Father Zenobius Membre's account of La Salle's journey down the Mississippi) .
Russian Cossacks and industrialists covered the entire vast Siberia over several decades and by the middle of the 17th century. reached the shores of the Pacific Ocean. The exploration of North America by Europeans proceeded much more slowly. There are a number of reasons for this. The Urals are still not such a serious obstacle as the Atlantic. As for the Arctic seas, there is a paradox: they turned out to be insurmountable for dozens of travelers looking for a northern route to India and China, but they became the main road for Russian explorers who conquered Siberia. In general, the number of Russian pioneers beyond the Urals was much greater than the number of European colonists in North America. And if the Russians, in their advance to the east, encountered resistance only from individual Siberian tribes, then the British, Dutch and French, who experienced opposition from numerous Indians, also competed with each other. First of all, they had to worry not about expanding their own possessions, but about limiting the sphere of influence of competitors.
During the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), the British abandoned attempts to find the Northwest Passage and concentrated their efforts on strengthening their positions on the Atlantic coast of the mainland. New England in the 1620s actively expanded and was populated, mainly by Puritans. The Dutch chose lands a little to the north, around the mouth of the Hudson. In 1625 they founded a settlement on the island of Manhattan and called it New Amsterdam.
The French, thanks to Jacques Cartier, occupied even more northern territories near the St. Lawrence River, both lost and won from this. Every winter, the river estuary was covered with ice, so maritime trade ceased. But French trappers and “forest tramps” were able to move further and further into unexplored areas of the continent in search of fur. The colonists abandoned their settlements and went into the forests, Agriculture did not develop. Back at the beginning of the 16th century. “Father of New France” Samuel Champlain, having concluded an alliance with the Algonquins and Hurons, thereby doomed the French colonists to war with the Iroquois, which was a big mistake. After Champlain, French colonization was led by... monks: first the Recollets (Augustinians), and then the Jesuits. Founding more and more missions, the Jesuits extended their influence to Lake Huron.
Meanwhile, the British and Dutch did not sleep. They were also involved in the fur trade and sought to prevent the French from dominating this lucrative market. The conflict flared up and developed into the so-called beaver wars, which lasted from 1630 almost until the beginning of the 18th century. The Indians also took an active part in them. The Iroquois, pressing against the Hurons, attacked Jesuit missions, tortured and killed priests, and then began raiding Montreal, the main center of the fur trade.
In 1672, Count Louis de Frontenac, a talented organizer who managed to regain control over previously lost territories and temporarily pacify the Iroquois, many of whom even accepted baptism, became the governor of New France. In 1673, Fort Frontenac (now the city of Kingston) was founded on the shores of Ontario, where the St. Lawrence River flows from the lake. Cavelier de La Salle was appointed to command the fort. Meanwhile, French trappers moved further into the continent, and the fur trade gradually spread to the headwaters of the Mississippi. No one knew where this giant river flowed. What if in Pacific Ocean? This is what La Salle believed, who dreamed of opening the way to Asia.
René Robert Cavelier arrived in Canada in the late 1660s. (at that time he did not yet have a noble title). The son of a rich merchant from Rouen, he was raised in a Jesuit school for several years, but did not want to become a monk and went to New France. There he received land plot, was a fur trader and heard from the Indians about large rivers west of the Great Lakes. In 1669, having sold the land, Cavelier set off on a journey to the southwest of Ontario, discovered a tributary of the Mississippi Ohio and walked along the river more than 1.5 thousand km. In the fall of 1671, together with trappers, he followed the Erie and Huron to the western shore of Michigan. Having reached southern region lake, Cavelier and his companions went out to the Illinois River and reached the Mississippi by boat. He did not dare to go down it, especially since the river, contrary to his expectations, flowed not to the southwest, but to the southeast.
However, Cavelier was not one to give up easily: although the Mississippi does not flow into the Pacific Ocean, it certainly flows into the Gulf of Mexico. Finding a new route from Canada to the Antilles was worth a lot! Cavelier shared his plans with Frontenac and found an ally in him. But his idea was met with hostility by merchants from Montreal and the Jesuits (the latter even tried to poison him). Then Cavelier went to France, where he enlisted the support of Louis XIV himself. At the same time, he received a noble title and began to be called Señor de La Salle (perhaps this happened during his second visit to his homeland). However, La Salle had to raise money for the trip himself.
Having mortgaged his property in Quebec, he founded a fort at the mouth of the Niagara flowing into Ontario and began building the ship “Griffin” for sailing the lakes and rivers of America. While construction was underway, La Salle and his companions began exploring the surrounding area and buying furs. When the Griffin was completed, they went from Lake Erie to Huron, and from there to Michigan. After this, for some reason the ship turned back - either La Salle heard rumors that creditors were selling his property, and he decided to pay them with furs that were stored in the Niagara Fort, or he urgently needed provisions.
La Salle himself, without waiting for the ship to return, went to the Illinois River and built Fort Crevecoeur, i.e. “Deep Chagrin,” on the shores of Lake Peoria. The title says it all: obviously, La Salle’s plans were thwarted (although other explanations are possible).
Leaving a small garrison at the fort, La Salle, according to some sources, went to Montreal and Quebec to settle matters with creditors, and according to others, he took a trip to the upper reaches of the Mississippi. New troubles awaited him. It turned out that the Griffin, loaded with furs, was missing - either sank during a storm, or was captured by the Indians or La Salle's enemies. In addition, a ship sailing from France to Canada with cargo for him sank. And finally, the garrison of Crevecoeur rebelled. I had to negotiate with the Indians to recapture the fort from the rebels.
At the end of 1681, La Salle led a detachment of several dozen people to the Mississippi. On a sleigh they reached the mouth of the Illinois and began to wait for the ice drift to pass. After the river was cleared of ice, the detachment set off on a long journey in pirogues. La Salle passed the mouth of the Missouri, Ohio, at the confluence of which he founded a fort, and on April 9, 1682, reached the Gulf of Mexico. Claiming the lands around the Mississippi and its tributaries to be the property of the French crown, La Salle named it Louisiana in honor of the king.
Returning along the Mississippi and the Great Lakes to Canada, the traveler discovered that Frontenac had been replaced by another governor who harbored open enmity towards La Salle. Moreover, in his report to Louis XIV new governor painted the expedition along the Mississippi with black paint, accusing La Salle of abuse of power, abuse, etc. Tom had to go to France and seek an audience with the king.
He achieved his goal and, having presented the king with a rich gift - Louisiana, which was several times larger than France, managed to interest Louis and the ministers in plans for a naval expedition to the mouth of the Mississippi and the founding of a colony on the Gulf of Mexico. The king appointed La Salle governor of Louisiana and ordered the equipping of several expeditionary ships. But here’s the problem: the Jesuits intervened in the matter, ensuring that the command of the flotilla was entrusted to their nominee, Captain Bozho. And La Salle could not do anything about this.
In June 1684, four ships left La Rochelle. La Salle and Bojo did not hide their mutual hostility, although matters had not yet come to an open clash. In November, the ships found themselves in the Gulf of Mexico. Following along the coast, La Salle and Bojo passed by the Mississippi Delta without noticing it, which, in general, is not surprising, because coastal strip here it is extremely rugged, with many bays and straits, and the river itself enters the bay not in a continuous stream, but in dozens of branches hidden in the thickets. Finally, the travelers landed on the island of Matagorda, located much west of the mouth of the Mississippi, and in the spring they built a fort at the mouth of the Lavaca River. But one of the ships sank, the other was captured by the Spaniards, and the remaining two were taken to France by Bojo, abandoning La Salle with a small detachment. The latter persistently searched for the Mississippi, sending scouts to the west and east. Unsuccessfully…
The colonists plowed and sowed the area, but rainfall and floods washed away all the crops. And then illnesses came, and after a year only about 30 people remained in La Salle’s detachment. He decided to head east and, with luck, reach the Mississippi and follow it up to the Great Lakes. Of course, there was a high probability of being captured by the Spaniards, but it was better than dying of hunger. In February 1687, La Salle set out on the road with several exhausted and angry people. And on March 19, in the area of the Brazos River (now in Texas), his companions killed him.
In the middle of the 18th century. As a result of the Seven Years' War, France ceded the west of Louisiana to the Spaniards and the east to the British. After the formation of the USA West Side Louisiana again passed to France. And in 1803, Napoleon sold this huge territory to the Americans for $15 million. He was too busy preparing to conquer Europe.
FIGURES AND FACTS
Main character
René Robert Cavelier de La Salle, French trader and explorer
Other characters
Louis XIV, King of France; Louis de Frontenac and Lefebvre de la Barre, governors of New France; God, captain
Time of action
Route
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico; from France to the Gulf of Mexico
Target
Expansion of French possessions in the New World, establishment of a colony on the Gulf of Mexico
Meaning
First passage of the Mississippi by Europeans; declaring the vast territory around the river and its tributaries the property of France
La Salle Rene Robert Cavelier de
French explorer of North America. He was the first to descend the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico (1681-1682). Declared the entire Mississippi River basin the possession of the French king Louis (Louis) XIV and named it Louisiana. Explored Ohio and Big lakes. Killed by one of his servants.
After Champlain, the most notable explorer of North America was René Robert Cavelier de La Salle, who came to Canada in the late sixties of the 17th century. "He was born in Rouen,- says his biographer Charlevoix, - in a wealthy merchant family. For several years he was brought up in a Jesuit school, and was an educated and gifted man, ambitious and persistent. He lacked neither the determination to dare a risky undertaking, nor the constancy to bring any task to the end, nor the fortitude to withstand obstacles, nor the means to carry out his plans. However, he failed to win the love and gain the favor of those people whose services he most needed, and having achieved power, he used it with cruelty and arrogance..."
It was La Salle who made a discovery that may be as important as the discovery of the Amazon by Francisco de Orellana in the 16th century and Henry Morton Stanley's discovery of the Congo River in the 19th century.
Arriving in Canada, La Salle began visiting Indian villages, diligently studying the native dialects, and becoming acquainted with the customs and manners of the local residents. At the same time, he tried to collect as much information as possible about rivers and lakes from hunters. La Salle dreamed of opening a short and convenient route from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean and made a number of trips for this purpose.
In 1669, moving southwest from Lake Ontario, he discovered the Ohio River, a powerful left tributary of the Mississippi. Then he still thought that the Mississippi flowed either directly into the “Western” (Pacific) Ocean, or into a vast bay, which, according to the fantastic idea of \u200b\u200bcartographers of the 17th - first half of the 18th centuries (mainly French), jutted deep into the continent of North America in the temperate latitudes or even into the “Crimson Sea” (Gulf of California).
By informing Count Frontenac of the plan for his future explorations, he not only secured his support, but was also appointed commander of a remote fort built at the outlet of the St. Lawrence River from Lake Ontario. There La Salle met a “forest scout,” fur buyer Louis Joliet, who told him about his journey with Father Marquette along the great lakes and the great Mississippi River. Joliet and Marquette saw for themselves that the river continued to flow south toward the Gulf of Mexico and below the mouth of the Arkansas.
La Salle immediately appreciated the benefits that could be derived from such an important route, especially if, as he assumed, the Mississippi flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, and a plan for a journey from the source to the mouth of the Mississippi immediately matured in his mind. “In this case,” La Salle reasoned, “through the great lakes and the Mississippi tributary, the Illinois, it will be possible to establish communication between the St. Lawrence River and the Antilles. What invaluable benefit will France derive from this discovery!”
La Salle shared with Count Frontenac his grandiose plan for exploring the Mississippi and expanding French possessions to the Gulf of Mexico and, having received letters of recommendation from him to the Minister of the Navy and other influential persons, went to France to obtain a royal patent for discoveries in the New World and a monopoly trade in buffalo. skins. The all-powerful Colbert introduced La Salle to the king, who granted him nobility, brought him into possession of lands in the New World and appointed him governor of those countries that he would discover in the future.
La Salle built a fort at Niagara and equipped a ship for navigation on inland waters from Niagara to the mouth of the Mississippi. To do this, he went into debt, and creditors seized his Canadian estates.
Contemporaries considered La Salle a proud, cold, merciless person. Fur traders assumed that he wanted to gain a monopoly on the fur trade in North America. The Jesuits hated him and even tried to poison him. Not yet recovering from the consequences of poisoning, the sick La Salle set off on his journey.
On July 14, 1678, La Salle left La Rochelle for Canada. About thirty soldiers went with him, the knight Henri de Tonti, who lost an arm in one of the battles, and the Franciscan monk Louis Annepin, who then accompanied La Salle on all his travels. Anchors, sails and gear were captured from France to build a river vessel on Lake Erie.
While the ship was being built, La Salle continued to explore the surrounding areas, studied the life of the Indians and bought furs from them, setting up a large warehouse in the fortress he founded on the banks of Niagara. At the same time, Henri de Tonti was also engaged in buying furs, but only in other areas, and Father Annepen preached the Christian faith among the Indians and compiled the first known description of Niagara Falls.
By mid-August 1679, the Griffin ship was ready to sail. La Salle, adding two more Franciscan friars to his crew, set out from Lake Erie to Lake Huron, and from there to Lake Michigan. On the way, the Griffin withstood a terrible storm, which forced the trip along the Mississippi to be postponed. While Knight Tonti was collecting the scattered crew, creditors sold off La Salle's property in Quebec, and now all his hope was in the furs stored in the Niagara Fortress. However, the "Griffin", sent there for furs, disappeared without a trace on the way back; Whether it sank or was plundered by the Indians has never been established. Despite all these troubles, La Salle still decided to proceed with his plan.
He crossed the line separating the great lakes from the Mississippi basin with his detachment and reached Illinois. Here La Salle found himself in a very difficult situation, since he could not rely on his people, and the Illinois Indians, who had previously been allies of the French, went over to the side of the Iroquois and did not hide their hostile feelings.
La Salle had to regain the trust of the Indians at all costs. He had nothing to lose, and he and twenty soldiers unexpectedly appeared at the Indian camp, in which there were more than three thousand warriors, and calmly drove through the entire village. The Indians, amazed by such courage, immediately changed their attitude towards La Salle and stopped obstructing him. Then La Salle, without wasting any time, built Fort Crevecoeur (Chagrin) on the shores of Lake Peoria, calling it so in memory of the hardships he had endured. Fort Crevecoeur was to serve as a base for further research.
Leaving Tonty here at the head of a small garrison, La Salle, still hoping for the return of the Griffin, set out with three Indians and one Frenchman to Fort Cataroqua, five hundred leagues distant from Crevecoeur. At the same time, he equipped Father Annepen on his journey, instructing him to climb the Mississippi River and, if possible, reach its sources. "Both travelers- writes Charlevoix, - left Fort Crevecoeur on February 28, 1680 and, having reached the Mississippi, sailed up the river to 46° N. sh., until they were stopped big waterfall. Annepin gave him the name in honor of St. Anthony of Padua (Saint Antoine). Then they fell into the hands of the Sioux Indians, who held them captive for a long time."
After spending the winter on the shores of the Illinois, La Salle and five companions returned to Cataroqua on foot in early spring during the muddy season.
Sad news awaited him in Cataroqua: the Griffin with a cargo of furs worth ten thousand crowns disappeared without a trace, the ship carrying La Salle from France many valuable goods was wrecked. Meanwhile, his enemies spread a rumor that he had been dead for a long time. The only thing La Salle was able to do was to refute the rumor about his imaginary death. With great difficulty he made his way back to Fort Crevecoeur, where, to his surprise, there was not a single Frenchman. It turned out that the people left in Crevecoeur rebelled against Tonti, stole food and fled. Tonti, left with five soldiers among the Illinois Indians, outraged by the robberies of the French, was forced to leave the fort on September 11, 1680. He headed to Lake Michigan, to the village of Mackinac.
La Salle reoccupied the dilapidated fort of Crevecoeur and, entrusting it with a small garrison, went in search of Tonti. La Salle was looking for him on the eastern shore of Michigan, while Tonti was on the western shore at that time. It was not until May 1681 that they met at Mackinac, in the place where Chicago now stands.
Having lost his funds, La Salle could no longer build a new ship and purchased several ordinary pirogues. In December 1681, at the head of a detachment of fifty-four men, he passed through the Great Lakes, descended on a sleigh with pirogues tied to them along the Illinois and reached the Mississippi in February of the following year. Having reached the Mississippi, he sent two men north to explore the upper section of the river. When the ice drift ended, he himself swam down the great river, stopping to inspect the banks and tributaries. La Salle explored the mouth of the Missouri, the mouth of the Ohio, where he built a small fort, penetrated Arkansas and declared it the possession of France, went deep into the country inhabited by Indians, and concluded an alliance with them; finally, on April 9, having traveled three hundred and fifty leagues by pirogue, he reached the Gulf of Mexico. So La Salle achieved his goal.
La Salle declared all the lands he discovered, irrigated by the Mississippi and its tributaries, to be the possession of the French king Louis (Louis) XIV, giving them the name Louisiana.
He then traveled up the Mississippi and returned through the Great Lakes to the St. Lawrence River.
Returning to Canada took La Salle more than a year. This is not surprising, considering that on the way back the travelers had to fight the fast current of the Mississippi and suffer from hunger. But La Salle's indestructible energy and strong will helped him overcome all difficulties.
Meanwhile, in Quebec, instead of the recalled Frontenac, the post of governor was taken by Lefebvre de la Barre, who was prejudiced against La Salle and, in his report to Louis XIV, assessed his discovery as follows: “This traveler, with two dozen French and native vagabonds, actually reached the Gulf of Mexico, where he pretended to be a monarch and committed all sorts of outrages, covering up violence against people with the right granted to him by your Majesty to conduct monopoly trade in those countries that he manages to open.”
To justify himself to the king and restore his reputation, La Salle went to France. He brought his king news of the annexation of his dominions. giant country, many times larger than France (however, exact dimensions He didn’t know Louisiana himself). King Louis XIV, of course, graciously accepted such a gift. La Salle managed to interest the Minister of the Navy in a plan to explore the mouth of the Mississippi from the sea, inviting him to build a fortress there and found a colony. The king, approving this proposal, appointed La Salle governor of Louisiana. A huge territory from Lake Michigan to the Gulf of Mexico was to come under his rule.
On June 24, 1684, La Salle sailed from the port of La Rochelle with four ships with a crew of four hundred people. A naval officer, Captain Bozho, was appointed commander of the flotilla. The hastily selected soldiers and artisans turned out to be ignorant of their craft. From the very beginning, disagreements arose between both commanders, which soon turned into irreconcilable hostility.
Five months later, La Salle's flotilla reached the Florida peninsula and entered the Gulf of Mexico. Following west along the coast, La Salle and Bojo passed without noticing the Mississippi Delta and began to argue where to sail next - west or east.
Finally, the travelers landed on the deserted island of Matagorda (off the coast of Texas), set up a camp and sent detachments in both directions in search of the Mississippi. But the great river “disappeared.” La Salle could not recognize the places familiar to him, since he landed west of the Mississippi, on the coast of Texas, in Galveston Bay.
In the spring of 1685, La Sal moved to the mainland to Matagorda Bay and built a fort at the mouth of the Lavaca River.
After each trip into the interior of the country, La Salle returned to the camp more and more gloomy and harsh, and this inspired even greater anxiety in his embittered companions. Indeed, the situation was desperate. One ship sank, the second was captured by the Spaniards, and with the last two Bozho went back to France, leaving La Salle and his detachment to the mercy of fate. In order not to die of starvation, the colonists plowed the plot and sowed grain, but heavy rains destroyed all the crops. Diseases soon broke out among the French. The number of colonists began to decrease catastrophically and after a few months reached thirty people. In the fall of 1686, La Salle decided to return by land to the Great Lakes - in other words, cross the mainland from southwest to northeast. He intended to reach the Mississippi and then go upstream to the Indians with whom he had once made an alliance.
On January 12, 1687, La Salle and a handful of exhausted, hungry people went out to sea in boats. During the voyage, when the French were already close to the populated country, the sailors and soldiers decided to put an end to their boss and a few days later killed him with a musket shot. This is how Rene Robert Cavelier de La Salle, a brave traveler who accomplished great things, died geographical discovery, for the first time exploring the Mississippi, the central waterway of North America.
At the end of the 17th century, a French colony was founded at the mouth of the Mississippi. But this village served as a storage point for fur traders and eventually fell into disrepair. In 1718, the city of New Orleans arose in the Mississippi Delta, which in the mid-18th century had only a few hundred inhabitants. In 1803, New Orleans, together with all of Louisiana, was sold to the United States government, and thus France finally parted with its possessions, which had been acquired through the energy of La Salle.
(1643-1687)
La Salle Robert Cavelier de, French traveler to North America, was born in Rouen on November 22, 1643, died in Louisiana on March 19, 1687. Explored the course and mouth of the Mississippi. In 1667, La Salle arrived in New France (Canada) and settled in Montreal. To explore the possibilities of the fur trade, he made several trips to the Great Lakes region. In 1669 he visited Lake Erie and the upper Ohio region and until 1671 wandered through the lands located south of the lakes as far as upper Illinois, south of the lake Michigan. In 1673, on Lake Ontario, he built Fort Frontenac, which he received as a gift during a visit to France. In 1678, he began searching for the Mississippi, after he was given the right to explore new areas and build forts there. In 1682, La Salle traveled from the river. Illinois down the river Mississippi before it flows into the Gulf of Mexico and thus was the first to cross the interior of North America from north to south. He named the country on both sides of the mighty river in honor of King Louis XIV Louisiana and hastened to France to obtain funds for its colonial takeover. In 1684, he returned back with four ships and more than 200 French settlers. La Salle intended to establish a settlement in the Mississippi Delta, but passed by the mouth of the river and landed on the Texas coast near the Rio Colorado. Abandoned by the ships, which, after the landing of La Salle and the settlers, went to sea, he tried to reach the Mississippi again, setting off on an adventurous campaign through the prairies of Texas, where the Indians by that time, following the example of the Spaniards, had already begun to use horses. Frustrated and embittered by difficulties and hardships, the settlers blamed all the failures on La Salle. In 1687, during a dispute between them, he was killed. The Louisiana colony later began to prosper, but in 1763 France was forced to cede it to England.
From La Salle’s legacy, his companion Joutel published “Historical Diary of the Last Voyage of the Late M. de La Salle,” 1723.
Bibliography
- 300 travelers and explorers. Biographical Dictionary. – Moscow: Mysl, 1966. – 271 p.
