“The Age of Exploration: France”
“Louis Jolliet & Jacques Marquette”
My project is about explorers from France. The two people that I chose for the French explorers are people named: Louis Jolliet & Jacques Marquette. These explorers are the first white explorers of the Upper Mississippi River. Jolliet was born in Quebec (which is what we know today as Quebec City). Jolliet was baptized on September 21st 1645. He w2as educated at the Jesuit College in Quebec he soon became a music master there and an organist at the cathedral. He also then soon defended his Master of Arts thesis in philosophy in the year 1666.
Jacques Marquette was born in Laon, France. He was also the first white man to discover the Upper Mississippi River with his partner Jolliet. Marquette was born on June 1st 1637 (about eight years before Jolliet was born). Marquette was a Jesuit missionary in New France, he established many missions throughout the time in the American Midwest. Marquette joined the Roman Catholic Society of Jesus when he was at the age of seventeen (17). After twelve full years of teaching and also studying in France, the Jesuit was sent over to New France as a missionary. Jacques meet Marquette sense they both were as Jesuit and soon Marquette was motivated as a desire to extend the influence of missionaries to the west and south, Jolliet and him soon explored the Mississippi.
Marquette and Jolliet weren’t chosen to do this. It was just a matter of fact that they both were Jesuit missionary that they both were to explore and when they meet each other Marquette was as I said motivated by his desire to extend his influence of the missionaries to the west and south, he soon then explored the Mississippi Upper River, plus the governor told them to do it because they were one of they best explores that were in their time. The unique part about it was that Marquette was motivated like he had a feeling that he was going to go and discover something that would make him famous and that did actually happen, and because New France’s governor said to them that they were to find the Mississippi river. They took many voyages together mostly because they were really explorers. I will name three of these voyages, including what they did and where they went. In the fall of 1669, Marquette traveled to the western end of Lake Superior, near the present-day Wisconsin city of Ashland. There he found the mission of Pointe du Saint-Esprit to serve the Ottawa and Huron people. Soon Native American tribes joined them. Marquette spent the winter learning their language.
Another one of his voyages was in the summer of 1671, he found the Saint Ignace mission on the north shore of Michigan’s Straits of Mackinac. The third voyage that I will explain was on May 17, 1673. The two men set out with a crew of five people in only two canoes. They followed the northern shore of Lake Michigan to Wisconsin’s River. So as I explained these voyages you can probably see that they were very good and came in handy. There ships really didn’t go crazy because they really didn’t sail during the winter most often. So as far as my research is found, Marquette and Jolliet’s ship wasn’t damaged often. Like I said on there voyages many things happened including the things they saw and the people they saw. But once they got to the Mississippi River they really didn’t find anyone but they did find a resource which is very common today. Which is the most important thing to people I think, which is water. 
When the team of Marquette and Jolliet came back home they were very happy that they impressed the governor and their home place was very happy too. They celebrated. They only returned because they feared that the Spanish solders might catch them so they returned back to their homes. Also although the voyage was extremely successful it seriously weakened Marquette’s health. The thirty – eight (38) year explorer died while trying to establish an Illinois mission. This death was on May 8, 1675. While teaching hydrograph at the Jesuit College, he was appointed royal hydrograph. Between times he exploited the resources or his seigneury of Mingan Anticosti Island. He soon died in the Quebec region in 1700. Their Mississippi River voyage helped open the region to new settlements, then strengthening France’s control over the region! 
By : ******** Nareman ********
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