Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye
Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye | |
|---|---|
Portrait of de Varennes by Edgar Samuel Paxson (1912) | |
| Born | 17 November 1685 Trois-Rivières, New France |
| Died | 5 December 1749 (aged 64) |
| Resting place | Notre-Dame Church (Montreal) |
| Occupations |
|
| Known for | exploration of lands beyond Great Lakes |
Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye (17 November 1685 – 5 December 1749) was a military officer, fur trader, and explorer. In the 1730s, he and his four sons explored the area west of Lake Superior and established trading posts there. They were part of a process that added Western Canada to the original New France territory that was centred along the Saint Lawrence basin.
He was the first known European to reach present-day North Dakota and the upper Missouri River in the United States. In the 1740s, two of his sons crossed the prairie as far as present-day Wyoming, United States, and were the first Europeans to see the Rocky Mountains north of New Mexico.