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4 HISTORY FOR KIDS FALL 2001 DURING THE 1600S Europeans explored and settled North America. People from France chose the continent’s most northern part, including , the and Michigan. The first Frenchman to reach the Great Lakes was Samuel de Champlain. In 1622, Etienne Brule, another French explorer, was the first European to visit Bonjour!. The Brule and early Frenchmen French explored the Great Lakes look- Settle ing for a shortcut to China. They hoped they could go by Michigan boat through North America to China. Soon it was clear that this was not possible. Then the French turned their attention to Christianize enlarging their colonial empire to teach the and Christianizing Native

Christian t religion. Americans. In the 1660s, the French established outposts at Sault Ste. Marie and at the Straits of Mackinac.

FALL 2001 MICHIGAN HISTORY FOR KIDS 5 he French found women and had families. Americans to Catholicism. Michigan attractive Native Americans intro- The Jesuit order of the because of the many duced the French to the Catholic Church oversaw fur-bearing animals birch-bark . They most of the French mis- T living here. In the also showed them how to sionary work in the Great get food in the wilderness Lakes. A missionary is 1600s France was the fash- and how to survive the someone who is sent to a ion center of Europe. Furs, harsh winters. foreign land to introduce especially from the , other people to his beliefs. were used for men’s broad- VOYAGEURS Being a missionary was dif- brimmed hats. However, Some of the most color- ficult and often dangerous. there weren’t enough ani- ful Frenchmen of the fur The missionaries kept mals in Europe to satisfy trade were the voyageurs. written records of their the demand. Voyageurs transported furs experiences. They sent Native Americans eager- through the Great Lakes these reports to France to ly participated in the fur back east to raise support for their trade. They killed the ani- where they were shipped to work. We know much mals and traded the furs to France. about Michigan’s French the French for guns, Known for their physical period from these writings. knives, hatchets, cloth strength, voyageurs pad- In 1668 the mission blankets, iron cooking pots dled filled with furs Jesuits built their t a place where and liquor. Frenchmen also up to eighteen hours a day. first mission missionaries married Native American At places where they had in Michigan at lived and to carry their canoes over- Sault Ste. Marie. taught others about their WILLIE FACT land (called ), Three years later, religion. voyageurs also carried the they moved their When Cadillac built his heavy packs of furs. mission south to St. Ignace. fort he named it “Fort Pontchartrain du De Troit” According to one observer, The best-known mission- in honor of Count Pontchar- the voyageurs moved along ary was Father Jacques train, an important French the portages “at a pace Marquette. Like most official. The settlement’s which made unburdened Jesuits, Marquette was name was shortened to travelers pant for breath.” also an explorer. In 1673 Detroit, which Marquette and Louis means “the JESUITS Jolliet became the first straits.” French missionaries Frenchmen to explore the tried to convert Native River.

6 MICHIGAN HISTORY FOR KIDS FALL 2001 Other Frenchmen fol- lowed Marquette and toque (knitted wool hat) waistcoat Jolliet. One of the most linen shirt famous was Robert trade silver Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, who founded a settlement at the mouth of the St. medicine pouch Joseph River in 1679. that held personal items La Salle built the first crucifix and sailing vessel on the trade beads Great Lakes. sash The French also opened haversack for forts at the present-day carrying food, wool breechcloth cities of Port Huron and tobacco and tea Niles. The settlements were both called Fort St. WHAT leather leggings Joseph. The fort at Port voyageurs Huron was soon aban- leather moccasins doned. The fort at Niles WORE remained an important outpost and mission for Cadillac asked the fort that he named Fort people traveling to the French king for permission Pontchartrain du De Troit. Mississippi River. to establish a new settle- Between 1689 and 1763 ment that would keep the France and Great Britain DETROIT British out of the Great fought four wars as they The last major French Lakes and also control struggled for world power. outpost in Michigan was the . The king The last war, called the founded by Antoine de la said yes. French and Indian War, Mothe Cadillac. Born in On July 24, 1701, after a started in 1754. 1658 to a middle-class six-week canoe trip from The British won. A treaty, French family, Cadillac Montreal, Cadillac and 100 signed in 1763, ended arrived in New France in men under his command French control of the 1683. After becoming an landed on a sandy beach at Great Lakes although army officer, Cadillac com- the foot of a 30-foot bluff many French people manded the French post at along the Detroit River. continued living in the Straits of Mackinac. Here, Cadillac built a log the area.

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