Jean Nicolet

1910 painting of Jean Nicolet's 1634 arrival in Wisconsin

Jean Nicolet (Nicollet) de Belleborne (ca. 1598 – 1 November 1642) was a French coureur des bois noted for exploring Green Bay of Lake Michigan, in what is now the U.S. state of Wisconsin.

Early life

Nicolet (Nicollet) was born in Cherbourg, France, in the late 1590s, 'the son of Thomas Nicollet, who was "messenger ordinary of the King between Paris and Cherbourg", and Marguerite de la Mer. They were members of the Roman Catholic Church. He was a known friend of Samuel De Champlain and Etienne Brule. He was attracted to Canada to participate in Samuel Champlain's plan to train young French men as explorers and traders by having them live among native Americans. The French were setting up fur trading under the Compagnie des Marchands.

Arrival at Quebec

In 1618, Nicolet immigrated to Quebec as a clerk to train as an interpreter for the Compagnie des Marchands, a trading monopoly owned by members of the French aristocracy. As an employee, Jean Nicolet was a faithful supporter of the Ancien Régime.

To learn the language of the First Nations, Nicolet was assigned to live with the Algonquins on Allumette Island, a friendly settlement located along the important fur trade route on the Ottawa River. Nicolet returned to Quebec in 1620. He was assigned to the Lake Nipissing area, where he spent more than eight years among the Nipissing First Nation. He ran a store and traded with the various indigenous people in the area.

He had a relationship with Jeanne Nipissing (une sauvagesse de Nipissing, meaning "a Nipissing Indian woman"), a Nipissing native, and they had a daughter, whom he named Madeleine Euphrosine Nicolet. When Nicolet returned to Quebec, he brought his daughter Madeleine with him to educate her among the French. On July 19, 1629, when Quebec fell to the Kirke brothers who took control for England, Jean Nicolet fled with his daughter to the safety of the Huron country. He worked from there against English interests until the French were restored to power.

Exploration of Wisconsin

Nicolet is noted for being the first European to cross Lake Michigan. In 1634 he became the first European to explore what would become Wisconsin. He landed at Red Banks, near modern-day Green Bay, Wisconsin, in search of a passage to the Orient. He and other French explorers had learned from their native contacts that the people who lived along these shores were called Ho-Chunk, which the French translated as "People of the Sea". In their language, it meant "harvest (cutting) the rice," as they used wild rice as a staple of their diet. Nicolet concluded that the people must be from or near the Pacific Ocean, and would provide a direct contact with China.

Nicolet became the French ambassador to the Ho-Chunk people. He wore brightly colored robes and carried two pistols, to convey his authority. The Ho-Chunk people appreciated his ritual display. With some Ho-Chunk guides, Nicolet ascended the Fox River, portaged to the Wisconsin, and travelled down it until it began to widen. So sure was he that he was near the ocean, that he stopped and went back to Quebec to report his discovery of a passage to the "South Sea," unaware that he had just missed finding the upper Mississippi River.

Legacy

• Nicolet's landing at Red Banks is commemorated by a 1910 mural at the Neville Public Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
• 1950, a statue of him was erected and is now located at Wequiock Falls County Park along Wisconsin Highway 57, about 10 miles northeast of Green Bay and a mile from where it is believed he landed.
• Nicolet High School in suburban Milwaukee is named after him.
• The city of Nicolet, Quebec is named after him.

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• The Canadian Encyclopedia - Jean Nicollet de Belleborne
• Jean Nicollet de Belleborne (French)

References

• Brook, Timothy (1998), The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China, Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-22154-0