Expansion of the French Great Lakes Fur Trade (1670s)

Timeline

1. 1670–1672Shores of Lake Superior and Lake Michigan · Lake SuperiorFrench coureurs de bois penetrated deep into Ojibwe, Ottawa, and other tribal territories, exchanging European goods for beaver pelts, and strengthened transshipment posts at places like Sault Ste. Marie. Jesuit missionaries accompanied the caravans northward, forming a trinity of trade, mission, and diplomacy as the model of expansion.
2. 1673Wisconsin River to the Mississippi River · Upper MississippiLouis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette advanced west from Lake Michigan, followed the Wisconsin River into the Mississippi River, reached the confluence with the Arkansas River, and turned back, confirming the river led to the Gulf of Mexico, providing a geographical basis for France's claim over the entire basin and opening new trade corridors.
3. 1674–1679Lake Michigan and the Illinois River Valley · Lake MichiganFrance strengthened fur-buying stations along the shores of Lake Michigan and competed with the Iroquois Confederacy and British Hudson Bay–New York merchants for supplies. Explorers such as La Salle pushed westward in the same period, making the Great Lakes trade network and the Mississippi claims mutually reinforcing, forming the prototype of French hegemony in the North American interior.