What is Jacques Marquette best known for?
French missionary and explorer Jacques Marquette is best known as the first European to see and map the northern portion of the Mississippi River. Jacques Marquette was born in Laon, France, on June 1, 1637. He joined the Society of Jesus at age 17 and became a Jesuit missionary.
Who is Father Jacques Marquette?
Marquette was born in Laon, France, on June 1, 1637 and joined the Society of Jesus at 17 years old. At a young age he seemed to show a passion for the ministry and his peers recognized it. In 1666 the Jesuits assigned him to New France as a missionary to the natives in the area.
What did Marquette do in 1673?
Permission was given, and in 1673, Marquette joined the expedition of Louis Jolliet, a French-Canadian explorer. They departed from St. Ignace on May 17, with two canoes and five voyageurs of French-Indian ancestry. They followed Lake Michigan to Green Bay and up the Fox River, nearly to its headwaters.
What happened to Marquette after he went west?
In the spring of 1675, Marquette traveled westward and celebrated a public Mass at the Grand Village of the Illinois near Starved Rock. A bout of dysentery he had contracted during the Mississippi expedition sapped his health.
What happened to Marquette on his mission?
In the spring, Marquette reached the Indians he sought, but illness—dysentery he contracted while on his mission—forced him to return home. He died on May 18, 1675, en route to St. Ignace at the mouth of a river later named Père Marquette in his honor.
Who were Jacques Marquette and Robert Cavelier?
…a French government agent, and Jacques Marquette, a Jesuit priest. Portaging from the Fox River to the Wisconsin, they paddled down the Mississippi as far as the mouth of the Arkansas River. Nine years later the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, sieur (lord) de La Salle, reached the delta itself, having…