Louis Jolliet

(born before Sept. 21, 1645, probably Beaupré, near Quebec — died after May 1700, Quebec province) French Canadian explorer and cartographer. He led an expedition in the Great Lakes region in 1669. In 1672 he was commissioned by the governor of New France to explore the Mississippi in the company of Jacques Marquette and five others. In 1673 the party set out in birchbark canoes across Lake Michigan, following the Fox and Wisconsin rivers to the Mississippi, then down the Mississippi to its confluence with the Arkansas. They concluded that the river flowed south to the Gulf of Mexico and not, as hoped, into the Pacific Ocean. After their return, Jolliet explored areas of Hudson Bay and the Labrador coast.

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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.

Louis Jolliet

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Jolliet or Joliet, Louis (both: jō'lēĕt', jō'lēĕt', Fr. lwē zhôlyā'), 1645-1700, French explorer, joint discoverer with Jacques Marquette of the upper Mississippi River, b. Quebec prov., Canada. After a year's study of hydrography in France and some years as a trader and trapper on the Great Lakes, Jolliet was appointed (1672) as leader of an expedition in search of the Mississippi. He and Father Marquette, with five voyageurs, set out from St. Ignace in May, 1673, went to Green Bay, ascended the Fox River, portaged (at the site of Portage, Wis.) to the Wisconsin River, and descended to the Mississippi. The group followed the west bank south until they passed the mouth of the Arkansas River; then, having convinced themselves that the river emptied into the Gulf of Mexico, they ascended its eastern bank. They came to the Illinois River, ascended it, and, on the site of modern Chicago, portaged to the Chicago River, and again reached Lake Michigan. Marquette remained in the West while Jolliet went east to make his report, but in the Lachine Rapids, near Montreal, Jolliet's canoe overturned and his records were lost. His brief narrative, written from memory, is in essential agreement with Marquette's, the chief source account of the journey. Jolliet was rewarded with the gift of Anticosti Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which was, however, seized by the British while Jolliet was absent on explorations in Labrador and around Hudson Bay. In 1697 he was made royal professor of hydrography and given a small seigniory near Quebec.

Bibliography

See biographies by J. Delanglez (1948) and V. L. S. Eifert (1961); M. S. Scanlon, Trails of the French Explorers (1956).

Wikipedia on Answers.com:

Louis Jolliet

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Louis Jolliet
Alfred Laliberté's Louis Jolliet sculpture in front of Parliament Building (Quebec)
Born	September 21, 1645
Died	1700 (aged 54)
Awards	Jolliet was also granted land south of Quebec in return for his favors
Other work	Canadian explorer

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

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 City. When he was seven years old, his father died and his mother remarried a successful merchant. Jolliet's stepfather owned land on the Ile d'Orleans, an island in the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec that was home to First Nations. Jolliet spent much time on Ile d'Orleans, so it was likely that he began speaking Aboriginal 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.

Jolliet attended a Jesuit school in Quebec and received minor orders in 1662, but abandoned his plans to become a priest in 1667.^[2] He spoke English, Spanish, and French.

Discovery of the Mississippi

Ca. 1681 map of Marquette and Jolliet's 1673 expedition.

Plaque commemorating Jolliet in Chicago.

May 18, 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 Green Bay (Lake Michigan) a distance of slightly less than two miles through marsh and oak plains to the Wisconsin River. At that point Europeans eventually built a 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 they turned back north at the mouth of the Arkansas River. By this point, they had encountered natives carrying European goods, and they were concerned about an encounter with explorers or colonists from Spain.^[3] They followed the Mississippi back to the mouth of the Illinois River, which they learned from natives was a shorter route back to the Great Lakes. Following the Illinois and the Des Plaines rivers, via the Chicago Portage, they reached Lake Michigan near the location of modern-day Chicago. Marquette stopped at the mission of St. Francis Xavier in Green Bay, Wisc., in August, 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 over 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 Indian corn.^[4]^[5]

Later years

Jolliet married Claire-Francoise Bissot, who was Canadian. In 1680, he was granted the Island of Anticosti, where he created 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).

In 1694 he sailed north from the Gulf of St. Lawrence north along the coast of Labrador as far north as Zoar, a voyage of five and a half months. He recorded details of the country, navigation, the Inuit and their customs. His journal (“Journal de Louis Jolliet allant à la descouverte de Labrador, 1694,”) is the earliest known detailed survey of the Labrador coast from the Strait of Belle Isle to Zoar.

In May, 1700, Louis Jolliet left for Anticosti Island and was presumed to have died, although his body was never found, and the place and date of his death are unknown. A mass for his soul was said on September 15, 1700.^[6]

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 scortums 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' main 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); and the Joliet Junior College in Joliet, Illinois. Also, there are numerous Joliet High Schools in North America.

The several variations in the spelling of the name "Jolliet" reflect spelling that occurred at times when illiteracy or poor literacy was common, and spelling was still highly unstandardized.^[7] Jolliet's descendants live throughout eastern Canada and the United States. The Louis Jolliet rose, developed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, was named in his honor.^[8]

The Jolliet Squadron of cadets at the Royal Military College Saint-Jean in the Province of Quebec was named in his honor.

Notes

^ Jolliet, Louis 1645 - 1700
^ Wilson, James Grant & Fiske, John (Eds.). Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton and Company (1887), Vol. III, p. 461.
^ Catton, Bruce (1984). Michigan: A History, p. 14. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-30175-3.
^ Wisconsin Historical Society
^ Zeldes, Leah A. (September 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.
^ miggie love donoled, Renée (2003), "Marquette, Jacques (1637–1675), and Louis Jolliette (1645–1700)", in Speake, Jennifer, Literature of Travel and Exploration: an Encyclopedia, 2, Taylor & Francis, p. 771, ISBN 9781579584245, http://books.google.com/books?id=a2esfSswEc8C&pg=PA771
^ Joliet, Louis
^ http://www.canadianrosesociety.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=80&Itemid=55 Louis Jolliet rose

External links

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Louis Joliet". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.

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Louis Jolliet

Louis Jolliet

Louis Jolliet

Louis Jolliet

Louis Jolliet

Early life

Discovery of the Mississippi

Later years

Legacy

See also

Notes

External links