Louis Jolliet
Jolliet, Louis
Louis Jolliet, explorer, cartographer, king's hydrographer, fur trader, seigneur, organist (bap at Québec 21 Sept 1645; d near Île d'Anticosti late summer 1700), best known as the co-discoverer of the Mississippi. In 1656 Jolliet entered the Jesuit college at Québec where he studied for the priesthood and became an accomplished organist. He took his minor orders in 1662 but left in 1667 to become a fur trader. In 1672 he was chosen by Intendant Jean TALON to lead an expedition to determine whether the Mississippi, known from native accounts, flowed into the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific Ocean. By 17 June 1673, Jolliet, with Father MARQUETTE and 5 others, was on the Mississippi and in mid-July he reached 33°40´ N lat near the mouth of the Arkansas River, sufficiently far south to prove that the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico.
Upon his return to Québec, Jolliet was denied a fur concession he sought for the Illinois area and joined his father-in-law about 1676 in a company trading at Sept-Îles. In March 1679 Jolliet was granted a trade concession at MINGAN in the Gulf of St Lawrence to which Île d'Anticosti was added in 1680. After an overland voyage to Hudson Bay in 1679, Jolliet concentrated on trade and fisheries at his concession until 2 raids by the English in 1690 and 1692 dealt him a financial blow from which he never recovered. Jolliet was commissioned in 1694 to chart the Labrador coast, a task he accomplished to 56°8´ N lat near the present Zoar. In 1697 he succeeded Jean-Baptiste-Louis FRANQUELIN as king's hydrographer and teacher of navigation.
Exploration, Western Interior
Author C.E. HEIDENREICH
Links to Other Sites
The mystery of Pere Marquette's final resting place
Archaeologists and history buffs offer their theories about where Father Jacques Marquette was buried. Includes interesting notes about the life of this intrepid French priest and explorer. From the Detroit News.
Louis Jolliet And Jacques Marquette: Discovering The Mississippi
This site recounts Jolliet and Marquette’s search for a water route to the Pacific Ocean. From Library and Archives Canada.
Map of Marquette and Jolliet's exploration of the Mississippi River
Follow the route of Marquette and Jolliet's 1673 journey down the Mississippi River. From The Illinois State Museum.
The Dominion government's advertisement asked for volunteers "able to read and write either the English or French language" with "good antecedents" who were good horsemen...
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