Arrival of the First Europeans

The first European to visit Wisconsin may have been interpreter Etienne Brule (ca. 1592-1632). In 1622 or 1623 he traveled around Lake Superior, but the account of his trip was only written down from hearsay after his death by Gabriel Sagard-Theodat. Unique information about Wisconsin also appears on Samuel de Champlain's map of New France published in 1632 -- two years before Jean Nicolet reached Wisconsin, and is presumed to have come to Champlain from Brule. We give both documents here so you can decide for yourself whether you think Brule was the first European to set eyes on our... more...

Original Documents and Other Primary Sources

	Mining in the lead region, 1670-1829
	The Ho-Chunk recall meeting Europeans for the first time.
	The Menominee recall meeting Europeans for the first time.
	Father Marquette's diary of his 1673 trip with Joliet
	An 1875 history of the Chippewa Valley
	The history and traditions of the Chippewa Valley
	A priest journeys to a Wisconsin village of exiled Hurons in 1661.
	A young interpreter skirts the shores of Lake Superior about 1622.
	Two traders nearly starve in the northwoods during the winter of 1659-60.
	Marquette and Joliet's 1673 voyage is leaked to the world.
	Nicolet's 1634 landfall in Wisconsin (1904)
	Joliet is interviewed on his trip down the Mississippi in 1673.
	Fr. Marquette's hand-drawn map of his 1673 journey with Louis Joliet.
	The first map of the entire Mississippi River, published in 1681.
	The Wisconsin portion of Champlain's 1632 map.
	Madeline Island Historical Museum

Primary Sources Available Elsewhere

	An early French overview of Wisconsin
	Fr. Jean St. Cosme describes Wisconsin at the turn of the 18th century.
	The explorer Duluth describes the Upper Mississippi about 1680.
	Father Jean Claude Allouez on Lake Superior, 1665-1667
	The first fur traders reach Wisconsin about 1654.
	Father Jean Claude Allouez in the Fox Valley, 1669-1670.
	LaSalle's chief lieutenant recounts his adventures, 1678-1690
	Jean Nicolet steps ashore at Green Bay in 1634.
	The death of Father Rene Menard.
	Fr. Louis Hennepin describes Wisconsin and Minnesota in the 1670's.
	Memoirs of Nicolas Perrot in Wisconsin, 1665-1670.
	An electronic text of the complete Jesuit Relations, at Creighton University.
	Selected volumes of the Wisconsin Historical Collections series.
	A historical, documentary, and descriptive history of Wisconsin to 1854
	Joliet's manuscript map of North America, 1674

Related Links