Joutel Carte Nouvelle de la Louisiane et de la Riviere de Missisipi 1713 UTA

Henri Joutel (c. 1643 – 1725), a French explorer and soldier, is known for his eyewitness history of the last

North American North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...

expedition of

René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle René (''born again'' or ''reborn'' in French) is a common first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus. René is the masculine form of the name (Renée being the feminine ...

. Joutel was born in

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

. After serving as a soldier, he joined La Salle's expedition and became the commander of La Salle's southern colony and base of operations in the New World at

Fort Saint Louis (Texas) The French colonization of Texas began with the establishment of fort St. Louis in present-day southeastern Texas. It was established in 1685 near Arenosa Creek and Matagorda Bay by explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle. He intended to found the ...

. After the loss of the colony's ships, a mutiny, and La Salle's murder by others, in 1687–88, Joutel led members of the expedition back to France, going north, over land and river, by way of the Illinois Country to

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spai ...

in what became Canada. Joutel's journal provides some of the earliest written information on the interior, natural history, and ethnography of central North America. After Joutel returned to France, he became a guard at the city gates of Rouen. He was unpersuaded by the Minister of Marine, Louis de Pontchartrain, to return to America but lent his journal. The journal returned to the Gulf Coast in the Iberville expedition that finally established a lasting French presence near the mouth of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

in 1699.

Notes

Resources

*Henri Joutel, Joutel's Journal of La Salle's Last Voyage (London: Lintot, 1714; rpt., New York: Franklin, 1968). *Pierre Margry, ed., Découvertes et établissements des Français dans l'ouest et dans le sud de l'Amérique septentrionale, 1614–1754 (6 vols., Paris: Jouast, 1876–86). *Robert S. Weddle, The French Thorn: Rival Explorers in the Spanish Sea, 1682–1762 (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1991).

External links

''Journal historique du dernier voyage que feu M. de La Sale fit dans le golfe de Mexique''
at

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Joutel's journal of La Salle's last voyage, 1684–7
at

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Joutel, Henri French explorers of North America People of New France 1643 births 1725 deaths Explorers of the United States Explorers of Canada French Texas Military personnel from Rouen 1680s in New France 1680s in Texas 17th-century explorers 17th-century French military personnel