The French explorer and soldier of fortune Pierre-Esprit Radisson (ca. 1636-1710) is the most romantic and least known of all the famous explorers of the Canadian North and West. He was one of the originators of the Hudson's Bay Company.

Pierre-Esprit Radisson was born in France, but virtually no information survives concerning his early life. When still quite young, he somehow made his way to New France, where his half sister Marguerite lived. After her husband's death at the hands of the Iroquois, Marguerite married again. Her second husband, Medard Chouart Des Groseilliers, was to share much of the adventurous life of Radisson.

From his own sketchy account of his career, it appears that Radisson was captured by the Iroquois in the early 1650s, was adopted by an Indian family, and spent some two years traveling and hunting with his captors. He escaped in 1654, sailed to Amsterdam, and...