Figure 1.-- |
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The rich North Atlantic fisheries played an important role in early French explorations. French navigator Jacques Cartier may have sailed to to the waters off Newfoundland as part of a fishing fleet in the early 1500s. He may have also been involved with Giovanni de Verrazano's expeditions. King Francis
I commissioned Cartier to find the Northwest Passage (1531). Cartier with two small ships and 61 crew members. After reaching Newfoundland, he discovered the Magdalen and Prince Edward islands and the Gaspe Peninsula, claiming them for France. Cartier’s accounts of his expedition created great interest in France and inspired many young men to persue their fortunes un North America. Francis I ordered a second expedition (1535). This time Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence River founding Mont Real now known as Montreal. Rene-Robert LaSalle (1643-87) sailed to Canada to persue the enormously profitable fur trade (1666). Indians accounts of two great rivers (the Ohio and the Mississippi) intrugued him especially the possibility that one might flow into the Pacific. He began his search in 1667 and pusued it for sevral years without success. After returning to France, King Louis XIV granted him land and a trading post he opened made him one of the most powerful man in Canada. LaSalle returned to France again (1679) and Louis XIV approved an expedition to find and explore the Mississippi River. LaSalle sailed through the Great Lakes claining them for France and then lead a small excpedition down the Illinois River in canoes to the Mississippi River. They canoed the Mississippi River, but found it flowed into the Gulf of Mexio rather than the Pacific (1682). LaSalle claimed the Great Lakes and Mississippi Valley for France.
The rich North Atlantic fisheries played an important role in early French explorations. French navigator Jacques Cartier may have sailed to to the waters off Newfoundland as part of a fishing fleet in the early 1500s. He may have also been involved with Giovanni de Verrazano's expeditions. King Francis
I commissioned Cartier to find the Northwest Passage (1531). Cartier with two small ships and 61 crew members. After reaching Newfoundland, he discovered the Magdalen and Prince Edward islands and the Gaspe Peninsula, claiming them for France. Cartier’s accounts of his expedition created great interest in France and inspired many young men to persue their fortunes un North America. Francis I ordered a second expedition (1535). This time Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence River founding Mont Real now known as Montreal.
Rene-Robert LaSalle (1643-87) sailed to Canada to persue the enormously profitable fur trade (1666). Indians accounts of two great rivers (the Ohio and the Mississippi) intrugued him especially the possibility that one might flow into the Pacific. He began his search in 1667 and pusued it for sevral years without success. After returning to France, King Louis XIV granted him land and a trading post he opened made him one of the most powerful man in Canada. LaSalle returned to France again (1679) and Louis XIV approved an expedition to find and explore the Mississippi River. LaSalle sailed through the Great Lakes claining them for France and then lead a small excpedition down the Illinois River in canoes to the Mississippi River. They canoed the Mississippi River, but found it flowed into the Gulf of Mexio rather than the Pacific (1682). LaSalle claimed the Great Lakes and Mississippi Valley for France.
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