La Salle, René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de

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La Salle, René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de (1643–87) French explorer of North America. In 1668, he sailed for Canada to make his fortune in the fur trade. He explored the Great Lakes area and was governor of Fort Frontenac on Lake Ontario (1675). On his greatest journey, he followed the Mississippi to its mouth (1682), naming the land Louisiana and claiming it for France.

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Robert Cavelier sieur de La Salle

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