Louis Hennepin

Louis Hennepin ( born May 12, 1626 Ath, Hainaut, † 1705 in Rome ) was a Franciscan Rekollekt, missionary and explorer.

Today in Belgian Hainaut (then Spanish Netherlands ) Although born, he became a French citizen in 1659 after his place of residence Bethune had been occupied by troops of Louis XIV and was awarded the Treaty of the Pyrenees France.

On behalf of Louis XIV, the Franciscan missionaries sent to New France, among them Hennepin, who set off to the New World in May 1675. Hennepin accompanied from 1678 René- Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. In the course of this expedition the Niagara Falls were discovered, as well as the two navigated on the Erie, Huron and Lake Michigan and explored so the first time the Great Lakes region. The aim of this expedition was the mapping of the area and the salvation of souls ( for this reason he even wore a small altar on his back ).

In 1680 there were disagreements with La Salle, the expedition members mutinied. Also Hennepin separated from the group and followed the Illinois to the Mississippi River, which he followed up in the area now Minneapolis upstream. He discovered the Saint Anthony Falls, the only waterfalls on the Mississippi.

On April 11, 1680 Hennepin was captured by Sioux near the mouth of the Illinois, but was released in July. Hennepin managed to return to the mouth of the Mississippi, he returned back to France in 1681.

In 1683 he published his first work Description de la Louisiane, Nouvelle ment découverte au Sud'Oüest de la Nouvelle France. In this book, we find the first map of Louisiana. His second work was followed in 1698, it was published in London, entitled A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America.

Then he accused of fraud in France and was refused the return, Hennepin went to Rome into exile, where he died around 1705.

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