|
|
Article: La Salle Explorations
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
LA SALLE EXPLORATIONS
LA SALLE EXPLORATIONS.
Ren
é
-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, was among the foremost architects of French colonial expansion in North America. Between 1669 and 1687, he traversed the interior of the continent, from the Saint Lawrence River to the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, and claimed nearly all the territory in between for France. La Salle's prodigious explorations were made possible by the imposition of royal authority over New France, or Canada, in 1663. An imperialist-minded governor, Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac et Pallau, gradually reversed the colony's floundering economy and initiated a new era of expansion and growth. La Salle became ...