Notable Coureurs Des Bois
Jean Nicolet (Nicollet) de Belleborne (Ca. 1598 – 1 November 1642) was a French coureur des bois noted for exploring Green Bay in what is now the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Nicolet was born in Normandy, France in the late 1590s and moved to New France in 1618. In that same year, he was recruited by Samuel de Champlain who arranged for him to live with a group of Algonquians, designated as the “Nation of the Isle” to learn Native languages and later serve as an interpreter. The Natives quickly adopted Nicolet as one of their own, even allowing him to attend councils and negotiate treaties. In 1620, Nicolet was sent to make contact with the Nipissing, a group of natives who played an important role in the growing fur trade. After having established a good reputation for himself, Nicolet was sent on an expedition to Green Bay to settle a peace agreement with the Natives of that area.
Médard Chouart des Groseilliers (1618–1696) was a French explorer and fur trader in Canada. He was born at Charly-sur-Marne in France in July of 1618, although little is known of his early life. In the early 1640s, Des Groseilliers relocated to Quebec, and began to work around Huronia with the Jesuit Missions in that area. There, he learned the skills of a coureur des bois, and in 1653 married his second wife, Margueritte. Her brother, Pierre-Esprit Radisson, also became a notable figure in the fur trade and is often mentioned in the same breath as Des Groseilliers. Radisson and Des Grosseilliers would also travel and trade together, as they did throughout the 1660s and 1670’s. Together, they explored west into previously unknown territories in search of trade. Having incurred legal problems in New France because of their trade, the two explorers went to France in an attempt to rectify their legal situation. When this attempt failed, the pair turned to the English. The two are credited, through this liaison with the English, with the establishment of the Hudson’s Bay Company because of their considerable knowledge and experience in the area.
Pierre-Esprit Radisson (1636–1710) was a French-Canadian fur trader and explorer. His life as explorer and trader is crucially intertwined with that of his brother-in-law, Médard des Groseilliers. The two explorers are famous not only for their explorations and trade, but also notably for their participation in the formation of the Hudson's Bay Company. Little is known of Radisson’s early life in France. He was born near Avignon in 1636 and came to New France in 1651, settling in Troi-Rivieres. His life would change dramatically in that same year, when he was captured by the Mohawks, while duck-hunting. Although two of his companions were killed during this exchange, the Natives spared Radisson’s life and adopted him. Through this adoption, Radisson learned native languages that would later serve him well as an interpreter. He worked throughout the 1660s and 1670’s with his brother-in-law, des Groseilliers, on various trade and exploration voyages into the west of the continent. Much of Radisson’s life during this period is wrapped up in the story of des Groseilliers. Together they are credited with the establishment and shaping of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Radisson died in the summer of 1710.
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Famous quotes containing the words notable, coureurs, des and/or bois:
“Every notable advance in technique or organization has to be paid for, and in most cases the debit is more or less equivalent to the credit. Except of course when it’s more than equivalent, as it has been with universal education, for example, or wireless, or these damned aeroplanes. In which case, of course, your progress is a step backwards and downwards.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“The Canadians of those days, at least, possessed a roving spirit of adventure which carried them further, in exposure to hardship and danger, than ever the New England colonist went, and led them, though not to clear and colonize the wilderness, yet to range over it as coureurs de bois, or runners of the woods, or, as Hontan prefers to call them, coureurs de risques, runners of risks; to say nothing of their enterprising priesthood.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“When I was growing up I used to think that the best thing about coming from Des Moines was that it meant you didn’t come from anywhere else in Iowa. By Iowa standards, Des Moines is a mecca of cosmopolitanism, a dynamic hub of wealth and education, where people wear three-piece suits and dark socks, often simultaneously.”
—Bill Bryson (b. 1951)
“This spirit it was which so early carried the French to the Great Lakes and the Mississippi on the north, and the Spaniard to the same river on the south. It was long before our frontiers reached their settlements in the West, and a voyageur or coureur de bois is still our conductor there.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)