EXPLORER

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle

1643 - 1687

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René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (; November 22, 1643 – March 19, 1687), was a 17th-century French explorer and fur trader in North America. He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, and the Mississippi River. He is best known for an early 1682 expedition in which he canoed the lower Mississippi River from the mouth of the Illinois River to the Gulf of Mexico; there, on April 9, 1682, he claimed the Mississippi River basin for France after giving it the name La Louisiane, in honor of Saint Louis and Louis XIV. One source states that "he acquired for France the most fertile half of the North American continent". A later, ill-fated expedition in 1687 to the Gulf coast of Mexico (today the U.S. state of Texas) gave the United States a putative claim to Texas in the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803; La Salle was assassinated during that expedition. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle is the 119th most popular explorer (up from 140th in 2019), the 1,374th most popular biography from France (up from 1,774th in 2019) and the 11th most popular French Explorer.

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Among EXPLORERS

Among explorers, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle ranks 119 out of 498. Before him are Martín Alonso Pinzón, Carsten Niebuhr, Thomas Cavendish, Sacagawea, Bernal Díaz del Castillo, and Juan de la Cosa. After him are Calamity Jane, Lope de Aguirre, Hugh Glass, Michael Rockefeller, Chris McCandless, and George Vancouver.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1643, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle ranks 7. Before him are Isaac Newton, Ahmed II, Afonso VI of Portugal, Charles V, Duke of Lorraine, Philippe, Chevalier de Lorraine, and Mary of Jesus de León y Delgado. After him are Alessandro Stradella, Johann Adam Reincken, Ilona Zrínyi, Jean Chardin, Henri Jules, Prince of Condé, and Fran Krsto Frankopan. Among people deceased in 1687, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle ranks 4. Before him are Jean-Baptiste Lully, Johannes Hevelius, and William Petty. After him are Constantijn Huygens, Ferdinand Albert I, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern, Margravine Magdalene Sibylle of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, Nicholas Mercator, Henry More, Nell Gwyn, Geminiano Montanari, and Laura Martinozzi.

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In France

Among people born in France, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle ranks 1,374 out of 6,770. Before him are Hélène Langevin-Joliot (1927), Laurent Schwartz (1915), André Campra (1660), Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier (1742), John of Matha (1150), and Marie Anne de Bourbon (1666). After him are Louis Vierne (1870), Antonio I, Prince of Monaco (1661), Frederick Michael, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken (1724), Sebastian Castellio (1515), Otto Meissner (1880), and Pierre Bergé (1930).

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Among EXPLORERS In France

Among explorers born in France, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle ranks 11. Before him are Samuel de Champlain (1567), Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse (1741), Jules Dumont d'Urville (1790), Jeanne Baret (1740), Jean de Béthencourt (1362), and Charles Marie de La Condamine (1701). After him are Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier (1705), Jean Chardin (1643), Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux (1737), Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac (1658), Henri Mouhot (1826), and Constantin François de Chassebœuf, comte de Volney (1757).

French born Explorers

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