Louis Jolliet

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Louis Jolliet (1645-1700) was a Canadian explorer, musician, hydrographer, fur trader, and teacher. The most famous exploit in the career of this multifaceted man was the exploration of the Mississippi River in 1673.

The exact birth date of Louis Jolliet is unknown. He was baptized on Sept. 21, 1645, at the parish church of Quebec. In 1656 he entered the Jesuit college in Quebec City and began classical studies which, it was expected, would lead eventually to the priesthood. He took minor orders in the summer of 1662. During this early period of his life Jolliet became an accomplished musician, the first organist of the Cathedral of Quebec, where he played for many years.

Jolliet apparently lost his desire for the life of a religious and withdrew from the seminary in 1667. After a year in France, Jolliet determined to enter the fur trade, that magnet of the youth of New France, and began his career in the west. Two years later, the Comte de Frontenac, the new governor, authorized Jolliet to undertake an exploration of the Mississippi.

This mysterious river was already well, if imprecisely, known to many through contacts with the Indians. It was hoped that it would lead to the "Southern Sea" and the long-sought passage to China. Jolliet's precise mission was to discover into what body of water the Mississippi River emptied. The government did not underwrite the venture. It was to be profitably financed, hopefully, by a group of private individuals whose return would come from the fur trade. Following his instructions, Jolliet proceeded to Michilimackinac to join forces with Father Jacques Marquette, who had been ordered to accompany the expedition. Part of the group would remain at this settlement to engage in the fur trade.

Exploration of the Mississippi

In May 1673 Jolliet, Marquette, and five others set out on their great adventure. They followed the Fox and Wisconsin rivers to the Mississippi. During the journey southward past the confluence of the Missouri and then the Ohio, they marveled at the unfamiliar scenery and the exotic birds. The little group halted at the Arkansas River and went no further, deterred by their suspicion of the Indians and fear of the Spanish.

It was clear, however, that the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico and that the legendary route to the "Southern Sea" was not the Mississippi. The arduous trip upriver was accomplished without incident, and Jolliet passed the winter of 1673/1674 at Michilimackinac completing his log and maps. He set out in the spring for Quebec, but his canoe capsized when nearly home, and the precious map and logbook were lost (a duplicate set left at Sainte-Marie was destroyed by fire).

After his return from the west, Jolliet married in 1675 and engaged in commerce and the fur trade along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River. Four years later he was off on another mission, this time to Hudson Bay. He became quite convinced that if the English were left in uncontested control of the bay, they would soon dominate the whole fur trade of Canada. Jolliet then obtained Anticosti Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and for several years became a prosperous merchant.

Jolliet's last important expedition was undertaken in 1694, when he charted the coast of Labrador far to the north but returned disappointed with the meager prospects for trade in the area. At the age of 49, after another trip to France, Jolliet began a new career as a teacher at the Jesuit college. In 1697 he was appointed to fill the office of hydrographer and produced many excellent navigation maps of the St. Lawrence River and Gulf. He died sometime during the summer of 1700.

Further Reading

Almost all the studies of Jolliet are in French. The best book in English is Jean Delanglez, Life and Voyages of Louis Jolliet, 1645-1700 (1948).

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Louis Jolliet, also known as Louis Joliet (September 21, 1645 – 1700), was a Quebecker explorer known for his discoveries in North America. Jolliet and missionary Father Jacques Marquette, a Catholic priest, were the first Europeans to explore and map the Mississippi River in 1673.^[1]

Jolliet's signature

Contents 1 Early life 2 Discovery of the Mississippi 3 Later years 4 Legacy 5 See also 6 Notes 7 External links

Early life

This section requires expansion.

Jolliet was born in 1645 in a French settlement near Quebec. When he was five years old, his father died and his mother remarried a successful merchant. Joliet's stepfather owned land on the Ile d'Orleans, an island in the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec that was home to native Americans. Jolliet spent much time on Ile d'Orleans, so it was likely that he began speaking Native American languages at a young age. During his childhood, Quebec was the center of the French fur trade. The Natives were part of day-to-day life in Quebec, and Jolliet grew up knowing a lot about them.

A good student, Jolliet attended a Jesuit school, where he studied writing, mathematics, and Latin. He was also a talented musician who played the harpsichord, flute, and trumpet.

Discovery of the Mississippi

On May 17, 1673, Jolliet and Marquette departed from St. Ignace with two canoes and five other voyageurs of French-Indian ancestry (today's Métis). They followed Lake Michigan to the Bay of Green Bay, then up the Fox River, nearly to its headwaters. From there, they portaged their canoes a distance of slightly less than two miles through marsh and oak plains to the Wisconsin River. At that point Europeans eventually built a small trading post, Portage, named for its location. From there, they ventured on and entered the Mississippi River near present-day Prairie du Chien on June 17.

The Jolliet-Marquette expedition traveled down the Mississippi to within 435 miles (700 km) of the Gulf of Mexico, but turned back at the mouth of the Arkansas River. By this point, they had encountered natives' carrying European goods, and they feared an encounter with explorers or colonists from Spain.^[2] They followed the Mississippi back to the mouth of the Illinois River, which they learned from local natives was a shorter route back to the Great Lakes. Following the Illinois and Des Plaines rivers, they reached Lake Michigan near the location of modern-day Chicago. Marquette stopped at the mission of St. Francis Xavier in Green Bay in September, while Jolliet returned to Quebec to relate the news of their discoveries.

The party returned to the Illinois Territory in late 1674, becoming the first Europeans to winter in what would become the city of Chicago. As welcomed guests of the Illinois Confederation, the explorers were feasted en route and fed ceremonial foods such as sagamite.^[3][4]

Plaque commemorating Jolliet in Chicago.

Later years

Jolliet married Claire-Francoise Bissot, who was Canadian. In 1680 he was granted the Island of Anticosti, where he erected a fort and maintained soldiers. In 1693 he was appointed "Royal Hydrographer", and on April 30, 1697, was granted the Seigneurial system of New France seigneury (fiefdom) of Jolliet, southwest of Quebec City, making him a minor "lord", roughly the colonial equivalent of a hereditary baronet with the title of "Sieur Jolliet" (Sir Jolliet). Louis Jolliet died in May, 1700, being lost on a trip to one of his land holdings. His body was never found.

Jolliet was one of the first people of European descent born in North America to be remembered for significant discoveries. Though no authentic period portrait is known to exist, Jolliet is often portrayed wearing either typical frontiersman garb consisting of buckskins and fur hat or in sharp contrast, ensconced in the European nobleman's accoutrement his personal wealth and prestige would have commanded when living in colonial society.

Legacy

Louis Jolliet's legacy is most tangible in the Midwestern United States and Quebec, mostly through geographical names, including the cities of Joliet, Illinois; Joliet, Montana; and Joliette, Quebec (founded by one of Jolliet's descendants, Barthélemy Joliette). Variations in the spelling of the name "Jolliet" reflect spelling that occurred at times when illiteracy was common and spelling unstandardized.^[5] Jolliet's descendants live throughout Canada and the United States.

See also

• French colonization of the Americas
• Jacques Marquette
• Sagamite, food eaten by Jolliet and Marquette on their trip to the Mississippi

Notes

1. ^ Jolliet, Louis 1645 - 1700
2. ^ Catton, Bruce (1984). Michigan: A History, p. 14. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0393301753.
3. ^ Wisconsin Historical Society
4. ^ Zeldes, Leah A. (Sept. 23, 2009). "Eat this! Sagamité: A native-Illinoisan vegetable medley". Dining Chicago. Chicago’s Restaurant & Entertainment Guide, Inc.. http://blog.diningchicago.com/2009/09/23/eat-this-sagamit-a-native-illinoisan-vegetable-medley/. Retrieved Sept. 23, 2009. 
5. ^ Joliet, Louis

External links

• Jolliet 1645-1700
• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• Joliet's map of New France, 1674
• 2006 Expedition following Jolliet's journey down the Mississippi

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.

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