Louis Hennepin (Priest and Missionary in Ath, Belgium)

Dublin Core

Title

Louis Hennepin (Priest and Missionary in Ath, Belgium)

Description

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.

Date

December 6, 1678 - May 11, 1679

Type

Text

Coverage

Niagara Falls, Ontario

Source

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.

Person Item Type Metadata

Birth Date

1626

Birthplace

Ath, Belgium

Death Date

1705

Place of Death

Rome, Italy

Occupation

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

Languages Spoken or Written

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

Biographical Text

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.

Portrait Credit

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.

Associated Course

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

Student Cataloguer

Meghan Moore

Citation

meghanmoore4, “Louis Hennepin (Priest and Missionary in Ath, Belgium),” Recipro: The history of international and humanitarian aid, accessed November 22, 2024, http://omeka.uottawa.ca/recipro/items/show/436.

Output Formats

Geolocation