Tonty, Henri de, << TON tih, ahn REE duh >> (1650-1704), was a French fur trader, explorer, and assistant to the French explorer Sieur de La Salle. Tonty’s name is sometimes spelled Tonti.
Born in France of Italian parents, Tonty came to Canada in 1678 with La Salle. Tonty supervised the construction of Fort Conti, near Niagara Falls, and of a ship called the Griffon. In 1680, Tonty was appointed commandant of Fort Crevecoeur, near what is now Peoria, Illinois. In 1682, he and La Salle explored the Mississippi River to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico.
In 1686, Tonty again traveled south, this time to join La Salle, who had planned to found a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi. But Tonty could not locate him. Three years later, he learned La Salle had been murdered. He tried to rescue the survivors of La Salle’s expedition but had to turn back in what is now Texas.
Tonty traveled down the Mississippi for the last time in 1699. He spent the remainder of his life working to support the establishment of the French colony of Louisiana.
