Consolidation of Knowledge in the Eastern Great Lakes 1634 to 1647

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Abstract

In the period from 1634 to 1650, exploration in what is now Canada was largely carried out by Jesuit missionaries. Their findings consolidated European knowledge of the eastern Great Lakes. The map shows the routes of seven expeditions: Nicollet (1634), Bogaert (1634 to 1635), Brébeuf and Chaumonot (1640 to 1641), Jogues and Raymbaut (1641), Jogues and Couture (1642), Druillettes (1646) and De Quen (1647). The map also shows the extent of territory known to Europeans in the period 1497 to 1650; and the navigation of all exploration routes during the period of the penetration of the Eastern Great Lakes and Hudson Bay from 1600 to 1650. The historical names found on the map are derived from contemporaneous maps and written documents of the period.

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In 1628, the fledgling French colony on the St. Lawrence River was seized by the English bringing further exploration to a halt. When the colony was restored to France in 1632, the Jesuits were granted exclusive rights to missionary work on the St. Lawrence and in the interior by Cardinal Richelieu. In order to facilitate their missionary work, the Jesuits successfully managed to exclude all Frenchmen not directly under their control from the lands west of what is now Montréal. Consequently, the missionaries became explorers as they sought to open new missions or undertake trips to further French diplomacy into areas unknown. This phase and period of exploration came to an abrupt end in 1650 with the Iroquois wars which removed the French presence from the interior for the next four years.

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French exploration by canoe in Ontario in the 17th century

Voyages of Exploration

An audio description for each voyage of exploration shown on this map can be accessed from the list below or through the map using Get Statistics.

• 1634 Jean Nicollet de Belleborne (of Cherbourg, France; for France)
• 1634 to 1635 Harmen Meyndertsen van den Bogaert (Dutch; for the Dutch West Indian Company)
• 1640 to 1641 Jean de Brébeuf and Pierre-Joseph-Marie Chaumonot (France; for France)
• 1641 Isaac Jogues and Charls Raymbaut (of Orléans, France; for France)
• 1642 Isaac Jogues and Guillaume Couture (of Orléans, France; for France)
• 1646 Gabriel Druillettes (of Garat, France; for France)
• 1647 Jean de Quen (of Amiens, France; for France)

The descriptions of the voyages of exploration are based on research by C.E. Heidenreich, Department of Geography, York University. An audio version of each description can be played as the user follows the exploration route made by the explorer on the map.

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