• What would it take to get from untouched frontier to you sitting in an air conditioned school?– Write your answers on a sheet of paper

The French in Illinois

Main Ideas• Samuel de Champlain

– “Father of New France”• Made Canada a major colony for France

• First Europeans to document their journeys in Illinois– Joliet and Marquette

• Explorers searched for the North West Passage– Water rout through North America

• Atlantic to Pacific• Did not exist

• La Salle established the first permanent forts in Illinois• Jesuit missionaries established many missions along

the waterways of North America• France established a lucrative fur trade industry in

North America

Vocabulary• Jesuit• French monk with the life goal of converting indigenous people

across the world• First Europeans to set up settlements in Illinois

• Indigenous People– Native peoples living across the world– Regarded as “savages” by Europeans

• Colony– An area under the control of another country, and occupied by

settlers from that country• Portage

– Moving a boat across land to get to another waterway• Illinois River

– River running roughly from Chicago to the Mississippi River near St. Louis

Marquette and Joliet's Exploration of Illinois

• First records of Europeans exploring the land which would become Illinois

• Traveled by Canoe• May 17, 1693 through

September• 2,500 Mile long

journey

Expedition’s Goal

• To find what the American Indians Called “Misi Sipi”– Meant “Big River”– North West Passage• Could lead to the Pacific Ocean

• Expand the French Empire

The Men

• Joliet– Fur Trapper– Map Maker– Surveyor– “The Brawn”

•Marquette• Jesuit Missionary• Wanted to spread

Catholicism• Spoke 6 Indian Languages• “The Brain”

Early Journey• St. Ignace to Fox River• Portage to Wisconsin River• Wisconsin to Mississippi river

• Marquette and Joliet meet with Illini tribe and receive a piece pipe to protect them in the future– Chiefs son joins team as a guide• Only 10 Years old

Piasa Bird

• “The Bird that Devours Men”– Illini legendary bird

• Painted on the face of a cliff of the Mississippi

Marquette’s Description of Piasa

• While Skirting some rocks, which by Their height and length inspired awe, We saw upon one of them two painted monsters which at first made Us afraid, and upon Which the boldest savages dare not Long rest their eyes.

• They are as large As a calf; they have Horns on their heads Like those of a deer, a horrible look, red eyes, a beard Like a tiger's, a face somewhat like a man's, a body Covered with scales, and so Long A tail that it winds all around the Body, passing above the head and going back between the legs, ending in a Fish's tail. Green, red, and black are the three Colors composing the Picture.

Turns Around at Arkansas and Shortcut Home

• Warned by tribe of other armed whites down river– Figured it would be the Spanish

• Take a short cut home – Mississippi River to Illinois

River– Illinois River portage to Chicago

River

Plans for the Land

• Joliet wanted to use the open plains to grow crops

• Marquette wanted to establish a mission among the Kaskaskia Tribe

• Both predicted a great city where Chicago ended up

Origins of the Name “Chicago”

• Means pungent onions or garlic• Later French Explorer wrote of the area

• “We arrived at a place which is named Checagou, which, according to what we learned, has taken its name from the quantity of garlic which grows in this district, in the woods … a species of garlic in quantity which is not entirely like that of France, having its leaf broader and shorter, and is also not so strong, though its taste closely approaches it but is not like the little onions or the onion of France”

Film Black Robe

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L7qnVjMSgI

• 8:13• 56:36

Assignment

• Write at least 1 paragraph (5 sentences) for each of the following questions

• What was the purpose and outcome of Joliet and Marquette's journey?

• What were the dangers facing Joliet and Marquette?

• What would you have brought in your canoe if you were one of them?

LaSalle and Tonti