French Explorer And Naturalist

Background.

Louis Hennepin 's fame rested on a journey into the wilderness of the upper Mississippi River valley and his subsequent narrative of his adventures, the Description de la Louisiane (1683). The story of his life in Europe remains obscure. He was born in Belgium, and when he was about twenty, he joined the Roman Catholic religious order of Franciscans. He served as a priest and military chaplain until 1675 when he immigrated to New France to become a missionary to the Native American tribes of the Saint Lawrence River, Great Lakes, and Mississippi River.

Explorer for God.

There were many Jesuit and Franciscan priests in New France who devoted their lives to missionary work. They lived sparingly and dressed simply. The natives called them "bare feet." In 1678 Hennepin set out from Quebec "in a little bark canoe with [a] portable altar, a...