The French in Minnesota

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The French in Minnesota

Click here to start!

Which places in our state have French history??

Notice all these Midwest place names that are French!

France in North America

What OTHER places in Minnesota have a French name? Make a list!

At that time, the French wanted to develop their trade with China and Asia. From France, it was hard to go to China by traveling on land. Maybe they could travel to China by boat, if they could find a water route that went through North America! So, they wanted to explore.

In the 16th century (the 1500s), North America was populated by many Native American tribes. But the French, like the English and the Spanish, thought they could benefit from this rich land--a land that was new to the French.

Who were the Native people living in Canada?

France in North America

Next, the French founded a second settlement on an island in the St. Lawrence River, a site that was also inhabited by Native people: this was Montreal!

In 1603, Samuel de Champlain first came to North America. In 1608 he founded a small "habitation" or settlement on a site where Native people lived already. Today, this is Quebec City.

The French king decided to send men to explore this new continent. First, Jacques Cartier came down the huge St. Lawrence River several times starting in 1534. He met Native people who lived in that region. But the French did not build any towns at that time.

Who were the Native people living in Minnesota?

France in North America

In 1673, Louis Jolliet and Father Marquette were the first Frenchmen to see the Mississippi River. They came down Green Bay and crossed what is today Wisconsin by taking the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers. They traveled south partway to the Gulf of Mexico and returned home through Illinois and Lake Michigan. On their trip, they were guided by Native people and they met other Natives up and down the Mississippi. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THEIR TRIP!

By 1645, the French had founded small settlements in Canada: Quebec City, Trois-Rivières, and Montreal. Frenchmen continued to travel from these towns toward the region of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. Louis Jolliet and Father Marquette, Jean Nicolet, René-Robert Cavelier de LaSalle, and other men traveled into the middle of the continent.

Explore Native nations in Minnesota today!

The Native people were important partners for the French in the fur trade and they were very important in helping the French survive.

The Fur Trade and Native People

A fur (pelt) of a beaver, stretched on a frame. They had to process the furs before trading them.

The French saw that they could buy furs (also called pelts) like beaver and send them to Europe to sell them there. In Europe, there was a large demand for furs. This business--the fur trade--seemed like it might be very valuable!

Who were the Native people that the French traded and lived with? In Minnesota and the larger Great Lakes area, there were many tribes: Odawa, Ojibwe, Potawatomi, Illinois, Menominee, Ho-Chunk, Miami, Meskwaki, Hurons, and more!

What have you learned?

The French said that the whole territory was a French colony. But the Native people lived everywhere in this region, and they continued to see this land as their land where they had the right to live.

• The Native people knew how to survive in this environment, which was different from France!

• The Native people supplied the furs that the French people wanted to export to Europe.

• The Native people could help the French be integrated into the trade network that already existed among Native tribes.

In North America, the French needed Native people for several reasons.

Native People and the French

Who came? Soldiers, priests, traders, and habitants.

Some towns like Duluth and Faribault were named after French-speaking people who explored Minnesota (like Duluth) or who settled here with their families (like Faribault).

Some forts didn't last very long and don't exist today: Fort Beauharnois and Fort St. Antoine are examples.

Learn about voyageurs!

Forts and villages

After the explorers, French-speaking people came little by little to live in the territory that is Minnesota today. They built:

• forts
• religious missions
• villages

What are habitants?

What have you learned?

Plaque in Québec City saying that the city was founded by Champlain

New France was divided into two regions: Canada (in the north) and Louisiana (in the south). The area around the Great Lakes, including Minnesota, was called "the Upper Country."

More Info!

The territory in blue on this map was the French colony that they called "New France" ("la nouvelle France"). The smaller red area was the British colony. The situation changed in 1763, after the end of the French & Indian War.

The end of New France, but ...

In 1763, France lost the French & Indian War to Great Britain. As a result, all the land east of the Mississippi became British territory. To the west of the Mississippi, like in Minnesota, it became Spanish territory. It was no longer New France. And in 1803, with what we call the "Louisiana Purchase," the area that is now Minnesota became part of the new country, the United States of America. For the Native people, of course, this was still their territory. They still had to deal with European people, whether they were French or British or Spanish.

After 1763, the French territory in North America became British land. But this was only true for the part EAST of the MIssissippi River. The land that would be MInnesota was WEST of the river, and it became land claimed by Spain.

The land east of the MIssissippi River became part of the new United States after 1783. The part west of the River including Minnesota became part of the U.S. in 1803!

Learn about the history of Grand Portage!

Learn more with MNopedia!

Jean-Baptiste Faribault house in Mendota, Minnesota

Jean-Baptiste Faribault was born in Quebec in 1774 and worked as a fur trader in Minnesota. His wife, Pelagie Kinie Ainsse, was the daughter of a French-Canadian father and a mother who was Wahpekute Dakota. He lived in Mendota. The town of Faribault is named after Jean-Baptiste's son Alexander.

The area at Grand Portage on Lake Superior became an important site for fur traders in the 1700s and 1800s. We can use the French word for these fur traders and men who paddled the canoes: voyageurs! They used canoes to travel west from Grand Portage on the Pigeon River. Almost all the voyageurs were French-speaking Canadians from Quebec!

French in Minnesota!

Painting: Daniel Greysolon sieur Dulhut at the Head of the Lakes -- 1769 Artist: Francis Lee Jaques. Minnesota Historical Society

Early in the 1700s, a Frenchman named Vérendrye was sent to explore the route from Lake Superior to Lake of the Woods and north. In 1732 he built a fort on Lake of the Woods which he called Fort St. Charles.

The city of Duluth was named for Frenchman Daniel Greysolon sieur Dulhut (we can just call him Duluth!). He came to Canada from France and then came to the Lake Superior area in 1679. He worked with members of the Ojibwe and Dakota tribes. He went as far into Minnesota as Lake Mille Lacs.

What have you learned?

• Choose a French site in Minnesota and research it. Create a brochure for tourists or other visitors that gives them good information about this place.

• French settlements--forts, fur trade posts, or villages--in Minnesota are almost always on a river or a lake. Why?

• Research the Native tribes that were and are in Minnesota: Ojibwe (Chippewa) and Dakota (Sioux). Where are there Native tribal land holdings in Minnesota today? (There are 11 federally-recognized tribes!)

• The French needed their Native trade partners in order to survive! Make a list of the things that the French needed, in this land that was new to them, which the Native people could give them or help with.

Click here to learn more about these tribes!

Let's think about it!

The French in Minnesota

For more info...

Which places in our state have French history??

"Shooting the Rapids," painting by Frances Anne Hopkins (1879)

And you can go to Voyageurs National Park to travel on lakes and rivers just like the "voyageurs" (the French name for the men who paddled the canoes. They were mostly French-Canadian!).

Today you can visit Grand Portage National Monument and see a replica of the original fort and trading post.

Voyageurs and Minnesota

Starting in the late 1700s, fur traders from Canada used Lake Superior and the lakes in northern Minnesota to travel farther north and west to get more furs. The French trading post at Grand Portage became very important! And the men and goods traveled in very large canoes.

Painting by Charles Deas: "The Trapper and his Family" (1847)

MNopedia link

The online resource from the Minnesota Historical Society at https://www.mnopedia.org/ will help you learn more about many topics! Here's an article on Dulhut:

Traders traveled a lot to trade for furs with the Natives and usually didn't have farm crops. Traders often married Native women.

"Habitants" raised crops and didn't travel as often, though they often did some fur trading. The land of much of the southern part of Minnesota was rich and productive.

Reconstructed Trading post, stockade, and dock at Grand Portage

Let's EXPLORE!

Traders and habitants

What's the difference between fur traders and habitants?

Map showing water routes from Montreal through Grand Portage (Map: National Park Service)

Do you know what a portage is? It's when you need to carry your canoe and walk from one river or lake to another. The Anishnaabe (Ojibwe) people called this spot near Lake Superior "The Great Carrying Place" because it linked the big lake with rivers and lakes to the north and west.The French word for "carrying" is "portage"! Learn about the history of Grand Portage at the webpage of Grand Portage National Monument.

Link to the Grand Portage National Monument website

Learn about Grand Portage!

A view of the MIssissippi River from near Prairie du Chien

Marquette and Jolliet started their trip in St. Ignace (in today's Michigan). They came south in Green Bay and took the Fox River south and west. They portaged (they carried their canoes over land) between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers at the site of the city of Portage, Wisconsin. They first saw the Mississippi River near today's city of Prairie du Chien. When they returned, they came north through what is today Illinois.

Many of Minnesota's 11 federally recognized Native tribes have websites that you can explore. Here are a few: click on the blue symbol to go to their website.

• Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe:

• Red Lake Nation:
• Lower Sioux Indian Community:
• Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe:

Native people today

You can get the full list and links here: https://www.dot.state.mn.us/tribaltraining/nations.html