Description de la Louisiane

work by Hennepin

Also known as: “Nouvelle découverte d’un très grand pays situé dans l’Amérique”(Show More)

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June 17, 2026

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Louis Hennepin, a Franciscan missionary, wrote Description de la Louisiane in 1683. This work provided the first published description of the region explored with explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. Hennepin's account details their journey through the Great Lakes region into what is now Illinois. He also described an expedition up the Mississippi River, during which he named the Falls of St. Anthony near present-day Minneapolis. While Hennepin claimed to have reached the mouth of the Mississippi, this assertion was later discredited. The book offered early European insights into the geography and indigenous peoples of this vast North American territory.12

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Louis Hennepin
…full account of his exploits, Description de la Louisiane (1683), later revised as Nouvelle découverte d’un très grand pays situé dans l’Amérique (1697; “New Discovery of a Very Large Country Situated in America”), in which he claimed to have explored the Mississippi to its mouth. This bold assumption was, however,…
Read More
…full account of his exploits, Description de la Louisiane (1683), later revised as Nouvelle découverte d’un très grand pays situé dans l’Amérique (1697; “New Discovery of a Very Large Country Situated in America”), in which he claimed to have explored the Mississippi to its mouth. This bold assumption was, however,…
Read More