GRAVIER (Gabriel). CAVELIER DE LA SALLE of Rouen. Paris, Mai - Lot 285

GRAVIER (Gabriel). CAVELIER DE LA SALLE of Rouen. Paris, Maisonneuve et Cie, 1871. In-8 paperback, printed cover (spine reinforced). Small portrait of the explorer printed on chine after an engraving in the cabinet of Rouen bibliophile Édouard Pelay. Ex-libris JM. A native of Rouen, explorer René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle (1643-1687) joined his older brother in New France in 1667 in Montreal, from where he launched several expeditions to the Great Lakes region and then along the Mississippi. In April 1682, he took possession of these vast territories along the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico on behalf of France, naming them Louisiana in honor of King Louis XIV, who initially showed him little gratitude. In 1684, however, La Salle received royal approval for his plan to establish a French colony in Louisiana. Unfortunately, after several incidents of damage, his ship left France off course and arrived in present-day Texas. La Salle made repeated attempts to find the Mississippi, but to no avail. A colony is established on the spot, but the tensions linked to the calamitous voyage worsen: La Salle was murdered by his own men, and the few survivors of the colony were massacred or captured by Indians.