Hennepin, << HEHN uh pihn, >> Louis, (1626?-1705?), was a Belgian missionary, explorer, and mapmaker who became famous for his journey to the Mississippi River Valley in North America. He accompanied the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, across the Great Lakes and then explored the upper part of the Mississippi River.
Hennepin was born in Ath, in what is now Belgium. He joined the Franciscans, a Roman Catholic order. In 1675, King Louis XIV of France sent him to what is now Canada, where France had established a colony. In 1676, Hennepin went to Fort Frontenac, on the site of the present city of Kingston, Ontario. There, he founded a mission among the Indigenous (native) Iroquois people.
In 1679, Hennepin set out with La Salle’s expedition near Niagara Falls. The explorers crossed Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan in the Griffon, the first ship to sail these waters. The expedition in time reached the Illinois River and constructed Fort Crèvecoeur (Fort Heartbreak) near present-day Peoria, Illinois. The fort was the first European settlement in what is now Illinois.
Early in 1680, Hennepin and two associates explored the upper Mississippi River Valley. Indigenous Santee, or Dakota Sioux, warriors captured them and held them for months. During this time, Hennepin saw and named the Falls of St. Anthony, at the site of what is now Minneapolis, Minnesota. He returned to Canada in the spring of 1681 and then sailed to France.
During the 1690’s, Hennepin wrote two books, which included maps. In the books, he took credit for being the first European to track the Mississippi River to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico. He said he reached the gulf before being captured by the Santee. But historians credit La Salle as the first to track the river to the gulf.
See also La Salle, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de; Mississippi River (History); Niagara Falls (History).
