Early pioneers and explorers crossed the Mississippi River using canoes and small keel boats. Early explorers imitated the indigenous peoples
Conquistadors went north looking for gold. The conquistadors fought against and enslaved the American Indians they met. In 1540, Francisco Vásquez de Coronado and his men traveled 3,500 miles looking for gold. Spanish explorers were the first Europeans to see most of North America.
| Hernando de Soto |
|---|
| Died | May 21, 1542 (aged 46) Bank of Mississippi River, present-day Ferriday, Louisiana |
| Nationality | Castilian |
| Occupation | Explorer and conquistador |
| Spouse(s) | Isabel de Bobadilla |
De Soto explored and mapped parts of nine states in the southeastern part of the United States. His explorations took him from present day Florida up to North Carolina, and west of the Mississippi River.
Along with the idea of looking for new trade routes, they also hoped to find new sources of gold, silver, and other valuables. Additionally, Europeans saw exploration as a way to bring Christianity to other cultures that lived in other lands.
Perhaps the single greatest impact of European colonization on the North American environment was the introduction of disease. Microbes to which native inhabitants had no immunity caused sickness and death everywhere Europeans settled.
The name "Mississippi" comes from the Anishinabe people (Ojibwe Indians.) They called the river "Messipi" or "Mee-zee-see-bee," which means "Big River" or "Father of Waters." Dakota Indians called the river "Hahawakpa," meaning "River of the Falls" in reference to the falls we now call the Falls of St. Anthony.
It is also one of the world's most important commercial waterways and one of North America's great migration routes for both birds and fishes. Native Americans lived along its banks and used the river for sustenance and transportation.
The Mississippi provides hydroelectric power and water to several states. So the Mississippi River gives electricity and water to many people around the United States, all without polluting our planet! Another reason the Mississippi River is important is that it is used as a drainage system.
Why was the Mississippi River important in the early history of Louisiana? It gave the French access to the region as a transportation route. It enabled the English to easily attack Spanish settlements along the river's banks. It limited exploration of the continent by European explorers.
Marquette and Joliet Exploring the MississippiOn May 17, 1673, Father Jacques Marquette and fur trader Louis Joliet set out on a four-month voyage that carried them thousands of miles through the heart of North America to explore the path of the Mississippi River.
explorer Christopher Columbus
Early travelers on the river carried goods in dugout canoes, rafts and small wooden boats. Cotton Steamers brought cotton from the plantations down to New Orleans and other ports. Steamboats also brought passengers up and down the river.
The first Europeans to ever set eyes on the river were Hernando De Soto and his group of explorers in 1541. In 1682, a Frenchman by the name of Robert de La Salle reached the mouth of the Mississippi and claimed the entire valley in the name of France.
Louis Jolliet (September 21, 1645 – after May 1700) was a French-Canadian explorer known for his discoveries in North America. Jolliet and Jesuit Father Jacques Marquette, a Catholic priest and missionary, were the first non-Natives to explore and map the Mississippi River in 1673.
In 1673, Joliet embarked on a privately-sponsored expedition with Jacques Marquette, a missionary and linguist, to be among the first Europeans to explore what was called by Native Americans the "Mesipi" river and ascertain where it led to, with hopes of finding a passage to Asia.
In 1672 he was commissioned by the governor of New France to explore the Mississippi, and he was joined by Marquette. On May 17, 1673, the party set out in two birchbark canoes from Michilimackinac (St. Ignace, Mich.)
After hearing Indian tales about a great river that “lost itself in the great sea,” the French governor of Canada sent Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet to find and explore that river. The voyage revealed to the French the strategic importance of the Mississippi River.
Jacques Marquette S.J. (June 1, 1637 – May 18, 1675), sometimes known as Père Marquette or James Marquette, was a French-Canadian Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Ste. Marie, and later founded St.
When was Jacques Marquette born?
Father Marquette National Memorial pays tribute to the life and work of Jacques Marquette, French priest and explorer. The memorial is located in Straits State Park near St. Ignace in the modern-day U.S. state of Michigan, where he founded a Jesuit mission in 1671 and was buried in 1678.
Where is Louis Jolliet from?
The first significant Canadian-born explorer, Louis Jolliet achieved international fame in his lifetime as the first non-Aboriginal person, together with Jacques Marquette, to travel and map the Mississippi River.
