Born 1645,
Beauport, Canada
Died 1700,
Quebec, Canada

When he discovered the upper Mississippi River, Louis Jolliet was accompanied by Father Jacques Marquette, a Jesuit missionary. On Jolliet’s return trip to Quebec province (then known as New France) to present a report on the expedition, his canoe overturned and he lost all of his papers. He wrote another report entirely from memory; this narrative corresponds closely with Marquette’s description, which is considered the official account of the journey.

Jolliet was born in the new colony of New France in 1645, the son of a craftsman who died while Jolliet was still a child. His mother was widowed twice before she married Jolliet’s father, who was a farmer, and settled down in the town of Beauport near Quebec City.

At the age of 11, Jolliet entered the Jesuit college in Quebec, where he studied philosophy...