Louis Hennepin (Priest and Missionary in Ath, Belgium)

Louis Hennepin (Priest and Missionary in Ath, Belgium)

Hennepin and others were led by Dominique La Motte de Lucière to Niagara to build a fort and a “bark”. Hennepin was famously known for bringing attention to the beautiful waterfalls claiming it was “the most beautiful and altogether the most terrifying waterfall in the universe”. They were successful in both projects despite the many difficulties that arose. This included external challenges like watching out for the Indigenous people who lived in the area. They also dealt with internal issues of lacking supplies and/or food and the discontentment of the crew. The fort they built in the winter was named Fort Conti. He was sent off to get Gabriel and Zénobe to bring them back there and never returned to Niagara Falls.

December 6, 1678 - May 11, 1679

Text

Niagara Falls, Ontario

Jean-Roch Rioux, “HENNEPIN, LOUIS,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 2, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed October 3, 2021, https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/hennepin_louis_2E.html.

1626

Ath, Belgium

1705

Rome, Italy

Author; priest; Recollet; missionary; explorer; historiographer.

French; Flemish His books were translated into: Italian; Dutch; German. (But I don’t think it was Hennepin that translated them).

Louis Hennepin arrived December 6, 1678 to Niagara Falls, Ontario. He was a writer and often wrote about his experiences in New France as a settler to Europe who had never been to North America. This pertains to his travels to Niagara because he made the Niagara Falls well known to the world (or at that time, Europe). He also worked on establishing a Fort in Niagara Falls and a “bark” (which I will have to research more. I assume it is referring to a structure made of tree bark?). After it was done, he left Niagara to go travel with René-Robert Cavalier De La Salle.

Hennepin at Niagara Falls. 1942. The Picture Gallery of Canadian History Vol I, Library and Archives Canada. By C.W. Jefferys https://www.cwjefferys.ca/father-hennepin-at-niagara-falls.

Conflict and Change in Early Canadian History (Carleton HIST 1301)

Meghan Moore