Early life and explorations

La Salle was born René Cavelier on November 22, 1643, in Rouen, France. (He earned the title of Sieur de La Salle later in life). He studied to become a priest but as a young man found himself more attracted to adventure. In 1666 he set out for Canada to seek his fortune. He obtained land near Montreal and became involved in the fur trade. Like other European traders, he offered Indian hunters cloth, firearms, and other goods in exchange for furs. La Salle then sent the furs back to Europe, where they sold for a huge profit.

From his Indian trading partners, La Salle heard stories of a broad river that ran from the Great Lakes to a sea. La Salle thought the river might cut across North America to the Pacific Ocean. If so, it would be a faster trade route. La Salle, like other Europeans of his time, was looking for an easier way to make trading expeditions to China.

In 1669 La Salle sold his land and set out on his first expedition. He and his men sailed down the Saint Lawrence River to Lake Ontario. They did not reach the Mississippi, but may have made their way to the Ohio River.

Returning home, La Salle gained the support of Count Louis de Frontenac. Frontenac was the governor of New France, the lands France claimed in Canada. Together, La Salle and Frontenac made plans to build a chain of forts and trading posts along the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. The forts would keep English traders out of the area, so the French could control the fur trade there. They started by building Fort-Frontenac near what is now Kingston, Ontario, Canada, in 1673.

In 1674 and 1677, La Salle visited France. He convinced Louis XIV to allow him to explore “the western parts of New France” and build as many forts as he wanted. The king also gave La Salle the title sieur (“sir,” in English).

Voyage down the Mississippi

In early 1682 La Salle set off on another expedition to find the Mississippi. After sailing down the Illinois River, he finally reached the great river. La Salle and his men then traveled south along the Mississippi all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. There, on April 9, 1682, the explorer claimed the Mississippi River valley for France and named it Louisiana.

Last expedition

Following his return, La Salle traveled to France to make a new proposal to Louis XIV. He wanted to build a fort at the mouth of the Mississippi and to invade and conquer part of the Spanish land of Mexico. The king approved the project and gave La Salle men, ships, and money. They set out from France planning to sail through the Gulf of Mexico to the mouth of the Mississippi.

The expedition that set sail from France was doomed from the start. La Salle and the naval commander fought constantly. Several ships were lost, and many of La Salle's men became ill. Worst of all, La Salle could not find the Mississippi River's mouth. He and his men had sailed past it in the Gulf of Mexico and finally landed at Matagorda Bay, 500 miles (800 kilometers) west of the river. After several more failed attempts to locate the Mississippi, his men grew angry. On March 19, 1687, they murdered La Salle in what is now Texas.