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La Salle and Hennepin (1678-1681)Hennepin, Louis (1626-1705?). Description de la Louisiane, nouvellement decouverte [...]. Paris: La veuve S. Huré, 1683.
The explorer René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle, who discovered the mouths of the Mississippi, was born in Rouen in Normandy on November 21, 1643. After coming to New France in 1667, he was soon haunted by the desire "not to leave to someone else the honour of finding the way to the South Sea and then on to China." In the spring of 1678 he finally obtained permission from the King of France to discover the western part of North America situated between New France, Florida and Mexico. At the beginning of the following year, La Salle undertook a first voyage of exploration that took him to the village of Pimitéoui, in the vicinity of the present city of Peoria, Illinois, in January 1680. He then learned from the Indians of North America that the nearby Mississippi River led to the sea in 20 days of navigation. At the end of February, La Salle decided to return to Fort Frontenac (today Kingston, Ontario) to look for the material for building a small boat. At the same time he sent Father Hennepin, together with two other members of his expedition, on a reconnaissance mission down the Illinois River to the Mississippi. Louis Hennepin, a Récollet missionary, explorer and writer, was born in Belgium in 1626. He arrived in New France in 1675; three years later he was chosen to accompany La Salle. After separating from La Salle near Peoria, Hennepin went down the Illinois River to its mouth, before going back up the Mississippi to a place in the vicinity of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota. After spending the winter of 1681 in Michilimakinac, he returned to France. Published in Paris at the beginning of 1683, Description de la Louisiane was a great success and was translated into Italian, Dutch and German. A few years later, for reasons that are still obscure, Hennepin fell into disgrace and was expelled from France. In spite of this he published several works and became the most fashionable writer of his time: his work went through no less than 46 editions.
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