La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West (Modern Library Exploration)

  • Author : Francis Parkman
  • Binding : Kindle Edition
  • Creator : Rick Bass
  • EISBN : 9780679642299
  • Format : Kindle eBook
  • Label : Modern Library
  • Languages : Published: English
  • Manufacturer : Modern Library
  • Number Of Items : 1
  • Number Of Pages : 353
  • Product Group : eBooks
  • Publication Date : 2000-10-31
  • Publisher : Modern Library
  • Release Date : 2000-10-31
  • Studio : Modern Library

René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle (1643-1687), one of the most legendary explorers of the New World, is best known for claiming the entire Louisiana Territory for France in 1682. Two years later, he was given the order to colonize and govern the great expanse of territory between Lake Michigan and the Gulf of Mexico. He set out from France with four ships but never reached his destination. Landing somewhere in East Texas, he and his men were ravaged by disease, weakened by hard labor, even gored by buffalo as they tried to locate the mouth of the Mississippi River, which was obscured by the sandy sameness of the Gulf coastline. In 1687, on a third attempt to locate the river by an overland route, La Salle was murdered by his own men in the desolate country between the Trinity and Brazos rivers. His body was never found. First published in 1869, La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West is the vivid, richly detailed story of that final grim expedition, told by America's foremost historian. From the Trade Paperback edition.

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On April 9, 1682, Robert Cavalier, Sieur de la Salle, paddled into the Gulfof Mexico. He and a small band of men in three canoes had become the first to navigate the entire length of the Mississippi River--"the object of hisday-dreams, the destined avenue of his ambition and his hopes." He claimed the river and its enormous watershed for France and named it after KingLouis XIV. Five years later, while searching for an overland route to the Mississippi, La Salle was killed by mutinous members of his party. La Salle spent nearly half of his 42 years in North America, enjoying some triumphs and enduring many hardships. Francis Parkman, one of America's greatest historians, tells the story of LaSalle, his rivals and the struggle over North America in La Salle andthe Discovery of the Great West. Parkman was an adventurer himself (herecounts his own five-month trek through the American wilderness in <ahref="/exec/obidos/ASIN/0192823469/${0}">The Oregon Trail) and his experiences on the (admittedly different) frontier lent him a certain authority. He wrote with a fluid, 19th-century grace--"All day there was feasting without respite, after the merciless practice of Indian hospitality"--though some readers may find his prose too florid. First published as part of his epic seven-volume study, France and England in North America, La Salle has been inexplicably out of print fordecades. Jon Krakauer (Into Thin Air) rescued this classic for reissue in the Modern Library's Exploration series. With an introduction by Rick Bass, LaSalle and the Discovery of the Great West is a welcome addition to theearly history of North America. --Sunny Delaney

- Amazon.co.uk Review

René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle (1643-1687), one of the most legendary explorers of the New World, is best known for claiming the entire Louisiana Territory for France in 1682. Two years later, he was given the order to colonize and govern the great expanse of territory between Lake Michigan and the Gulf of Mexico. He set out from France with four ships but never reached his destination. Landing somewhere in East Texas, he and his men were ravaged by disease, weakened by hard labor, even gored by buffalo as they tried to locate the mouth of the Mississippi River, which was obscured by the sandy sameness of the Gulf coastline. In 1687, on a third attempt to locate the river by an overland route, La Salle was murdered by his own men in the desolate country between the Trinity and Brazos rivers. His body was never found.First published in 1869, La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West is the vivid, richly detailed story of that final grim expedition, told by America's foremost historian.From the Trade Paperback edition.

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