René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, French-American explorer (born 1643)

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle

French explorer of North America (1643–1687)

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, was a 17th-century French explorer and fur trader in North America. He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, and the Mississippi River. He is best known for an early 1682 expedition in which he canoed the lower…