La Salle (Robert Cavelier)
Robert Cavelier, a French explorer and fur trader, lived at La Salle but born in Rouen, Normandy. This place was owned by his father, a wealthy businessman. In La Salle, Robert Cavelier lived in a house near a bridge. There he would go every night and watch the watch boats heading to sea. Then on, his dream was to sail on the boats he saw at the bridge. It influenced his goal was to find a shorter route to Asia from the inside of America. King Louis XIV later was the one who gave him the name “Sieur de La Salle” (gentlemen form La Salle) or “La Salle” for short.
He was a bold and heroic knight of King Louis in his early life. This made him religious and meant for the church. The Jesuits were his guidance and they gave him a very fine scientific education. He obtained many abilities and a very determined mind. His traits only made him gloomy and depressing. This did not mean he worked with others but he worked alone and relied on his own self.
La Salle went to many voyages such as his voyage to Texas. These expeditions occurred while trying to accomplish his main goal, to go to Asia from North America. One of them was discovering the mouth of Mississippi about 190 years after America was discovered. Mississippi’s mouth was discovered by him in April 7, 1682. Two days later, Ling Louis XIV celebrated it with a ceremony. The news spread all across Europe when they returned to France. He was more close to find the route to Asia. Many thought of it as following in Christopher Columbus footsteps.
All of his treatments weren’t joyful; it grew an amount of enemies. His enemies evolved from their envy of his fame and glory. Another expedition was the one to Texas with the ship of Beaujeu. There was a bundle of disagreements like some with the former and La Salle which ended after the boat had to go back for repairs. Later they lost St. Francis because Spaniards took him away. Afterwards he reached Matagorda Bay in Florida.
He took another expedition to Mississippi’s mouth and found new Indian villages. They seeked revenge on La Salle and his crew because they think that they are those peoples that treated them dreadfully. They pursued La Salle and attacked them at night. The Indians launched arrows which wounded La Salle’s friends and his nephew. When he tried to look for the Mississippi River, which was thought as a myth, he ran short of supplies and his crew members killed him so they could go back. This was the end of his journey but it ended with a very disappointing detail, he never found the new route to Asia or the Mississippi River.
