Jacques Marquette

Jacques Marquette Jacques Marquette was a fifteenth century Jesuit explorer whose most revered goals were to find the Mississippi River in the New World and convert Indians along the way. As a young boy in France, he had already started his Jesuit training in Jesuit University in Reims. Marquette’s childhood wish was to become a missionary and spread Christianity. In 1666, Marquette’s wish was granted by King Louis XIV, who was eager to expand French territory to the New World. At the same time, Marquette would be able to preach Christianity to the natives settled there. He sailed along with one of France’s armies going to Quebec. Once in Quebec, he spent two years there and then finally moved on to his mission in Sault St. Marie in present day Ontario. There, he preached to the Ojibwe and Odawa tribes; Marquette also bumped into an old acquaintance named Louis Jolliet. Both men had heard that many French people, including traders, hoped that there was a way west to Asia through the Mississippi River. They wished to embark upon a mission to see if the Northwest Passage was true. Taking five other men, Marquette and Jolliet departed on May 17, 1673 with the permission of the administrators of New France. Marquette’s goals were to find out if the Mississippi provided a link to Asia and to convert natives along the way. Jolliet on the other hand, was a fur trader and wanted to trade for furs in areas he had never been to before. The men took a type of boat called “canots du maiture” or “boats of the master” and also basic provisions such as dried beef, cornmeal, and little trinkets for the natives along the way. Along the way, Marquette dined and familiarized himself with the natives to gain trust for his preaching. Some of these tribes were the Illinois, Mascuten, Miami, and Kickapoo peoples. The Mississippi was harsh to the men: it threw horrid currents and drove deathly whirlpools at them. Rocks rammed against their canoes and sometimes