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Louis Jolliet (; September 21, 1645after May 1700) was a French-Canadian explorer known for his discoveries in North America. In 1673, Jolliet and Jacques Marquette, a Jesuit Catholic priest and missionary, were the first non-Natives to explore and map the Upper Mississippi River.
On May 17, 1673, Jolliet and Marquette departed from St. Ignace, Michigan, with two canoes and five other voyageurs of French-Indian ancestry. The group sailed to Green Bay. They then paddled upstream (southward) on the Fox River to the site now known as Portage, Wisconsin. There, they a distance of slightly less than two miles through marsh and oak forest to the Wisconsin River. Europeans eventually built a trading post at that shortest convenient portage between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins. On June 17, the canoeists ventured onto the Mississippi River near present-day Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.
The Jolliet-Marquette expedition paddled along the west bank of the Mississippi until mid-July. When they passed the mouth of the Arkansas River, they became satisfied that they had established that the Mississippi flowed into the Gulf of Mexico. By this point, they had encountered natives carrying European goods and worried about a possible hostile encounter with explorers or colonists from Spain.Bruce Catton (1984). Michigan: A History, p. 14. W. W. Norton & Company. . Louis Jolliet 1673–1694, Virtual Museum of New France, Canadian Museum of History The voyageurs then followed the Mississippi back to the mouth of the Illinois River, which friendly natives told them was a shorter route back to the Great Lakes. Following the Illinois river upstream, they turned up its tributary, the Des Plaines River near modern-day Joliet, Illinois. They continued up the Des Plaines River and portaged their canoes and gear at the Chicago Portage. They followed the Chicago River downstream until they reached Lake Michigan near modern-day Chicago. Father Marquette stayed at the mission of St. Francis Xavier at the southern end of Green Bay, which they reached in August. Jolliet returned to Quebec to relate the news of their discoveries. On his way through the Lachine Rapids, Jolliet's canoe overturned, and his records were lost. His brief narrative, written from memory, is in essential agreement with Marquette's, the chief account of the journey." Jolliet or Joliet, Louis" in The New Columbia Encyclopedia. Columbia University, 1975.
In 1694, he sailed from the Gulf of St. Lawrence north along the coast of Labrador as far north as Zoar, a voyage of five and a half months. He recorded details of the country, navigation, the Inuit and their customs. His journal ("Journal de Louis Jolliet allant à la decouverte de Labrador, 1694") is the earliest known detailed survey of the Labrador coast from the Strait of Belle Isle to Zoar.
In May 1700, Louis Jolliet left for Anticosti Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. He then disappears from the historical record. There is no listing of his death or burial place, and the sole record of his fate is the notation that a mass for his soul was said in Quebec on September 15, 1700.
The several variations in the spelling of the name "Jolliet" reflect a time when illiteracy or poor literacy was common and spelling was unstandardized. Jolliet's descendants live throughout eastern Canada and the United States.
The Jolliet Squadron of cadets at the Royal Military College Saint-Jean in the Province of Quebec was named in Jolliet's honor. A street in Montreal, Quebec, is named after him. The Louis Jolliet rose, developed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, was named in his honor. Louis Jolliet rose Joliet Junior College in Joliet, Illinois, is named after the explorer, and numerous high schools in North America. The Louis Joliet Mall in Joliet, Illinois, is named for the explorer. A cruise ship sailing out of Quebec City is also named in his honour.
Jolliet appears with Jacques Marquette on a 1968 United States postage stamp honoring their exploratory voyage.
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