The Great Lakes 1654 to 1670

A peace between the French and the western Iroquois in 1654 (Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga and Oneida) again opened the interior of New France to exploration. While the Jesuits explored the upper St. Lawrence River and the surrounding Iroquois country (lower Great Lakes area) in the pursuit of their missionary work, Médard des Grosseillièrs travelled west to Green Bay on Lake Michigan with some Ottawa and Huron-Petun to promote the renewal of the fur trade. The collapse of the Iroquoian mission in 1658, and the return of Des Groseilliers from a second voyage in 1660, directed Jesuit efforts to the upper Great Lakes where Des Groseilliers and Radisson had reported large concentrations of Aboriginal peoples. In an attempt to establish a mission on the shore of Lake Superior, Father Allouez successfully explored and mapped Lake Superior from Sault Ste. Marie to Lake Nipigon (1665 to 1667). In 1669 he mapped northern Lake Michigan through Green Bay and then west up Fox River into present-day Wisconsin.

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Radisson and Des Groseillers at Charles Fort, Hudson Bay

Following another French-Iroquois peace in 1666, the lower Great Lakes were thoroughly explored and mapped by Dollier and Galinée. Their orders had been to find a route to the Mississippi to begin missionary work among the Potawatomie, but these had been curtailed when the party lost its supplies on Lake Erie. The route explored by Dollier and Galinée had been traversed earlier the same year by Adrien Jolliet, returning from mining exploration with Jean Peré on the shores of Lake Superior.

The Saguenay system to Lac Saint-Jean had been explored by the Jesuits in 1647. By 1663, missionaries and traders' agents had pushed exploration to Lac Némiscau on the Rivière Rupert. Other missionaries, accompanied by traders' agents explored the Rivière Saint-Maurice and the Manicouagan rivers in the hope of instructing bands of the Montagnais. Similarly, the Péribonka and Shipshaw rivers north of present-day Chicoutimi were travelled by Jesuits but their routes are not known.

Voyages of Exploration

An audio description for each voyage of exploration shown on this map can be accessed from the list below or through the map using Get Statistics.

• 1654 to 1656 Médard Chouart des Groseilliers (French)
• 1659 to 1660 Médard Chouart des Groseilliers and Pierre-Esprit Radisson (French)
• 1665 to 1667 Claude Allouez (French)
• 1669 Claude Allouez (French)
• 1669 Jean Peré and Adrien Jolliet (French)
• 1669 to 1670 Adrien Jolliet, François Dollier and René de Bréhant de Gallinée (French)

The descriptions of the voyages of exploration are based on research by C.E. Heidenreich, Department of Geography, York University. An audio version of each description can be played as the user follows the exploration route made by the explorer on the map.

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• Probing the Rivers on the North Shore of the St. Lawrence 1651 to 1664 Map | Read about this map
• The Iroquois Country 1654 to 1656 Map | Read about this map
• Familiarization with Inadequately Known Areas in Hudson Bay and James Bay 1668 to 1689 Map | Read about this map
• Exploration of the Rivers to James Bay 1671 to 1686 Map | Read about this map
• Exploration West and Southwest Beyond the Great Lakes 1673 to 1688 Map | Read about this map
• French Exploration in Abeyance 1691 to 1729 Map | Read about this map
• The Western Interior 1731 to 1757 Map | Read about this map
• Exploration of the Ohio River 1739 to 1749 Map | Read about this map
• Early Probes of the North Pacific Coast 1741 Map | Read about this map
• The Search for a Northwest Passage and Exploration of the Eastmain 1742 to 1749 Map | Read about this map

• History
• Exploration 1497 to 1760
• Exploration 1651 to 1760
• References and Links