LA SALLE

5 FACTS ABOUT LA SALLE

• La Salle traveled to Canada when he was 23
• Named Louisiana after the French king
• Now there is a college named after him
• His ship the Griffon was the first to sail in the Great Lakes; it unfortunately sunk there as well
• Was one of the first Europeans to sail down the Mississippi

La Salle was born in Rouen, France in 1643. he was educated by priests. At the age of 17, la Salle was asked to become a priest as well. at first he said yes and studied to be a priest, he then changed his mind and wanted explore the world instead. he moved to New France in Canada where he became a fur trader.

New France was at first about the size of north eastern part of Canada. la Salle's trips nearly doubled the size of New France. his first expedition was of the Great Lakes. he was told about them from Indians. the Indians taught la Salle a lot of things about the wilderness. la Salle took 14 men
With him to explore the Great Lakes. la Salle
Stayed about another year alone exploring the lakes. no one knows for sure what he did during that time.

Soon he decided to go down the Mississippi River. he got permission from the king of France, but the king asked him to build forts for France. la Salle built 4 including fort Miami and fort st.louis. he left his friend Henri de tonty in charge of fort Miami. after that he headed down the river. he claimed all the land that touched the river for France. and for the rivers that intercepted the Mississippi all the land by those rivers he also claimed for France.

When la Salle reached the Gulf of Mexico. he named the land there Louisiana after Louis XIV the king of France. it still is called that today. he went back to France and told king Louis he wanted to build a new colony in Louisiana. the king agreed and sent la Salle with 4 ships. however la Salle and the navel commander king Louis sent did not get along. eventually the navel commander left la Salle with only one ship,and very few men.

La Salle never reached Louisiana. in fact he was more than 400 miles off. he started to build a new fort. then he took 20 men with him back to Find tonty in Illinois. on the way 3 of his men killed him by the brazos river.and left his body in the woods.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Englar Mary"Sieur de la Salle"2005
• "La Salle"-http://school.eb.com/levels/middle/article 275408
• "Tsha online.org"http://tshaonline.org/handbook/online articles
• Petrie,Kristin"la Salle"2007