Pierre de La Verendrye:

Introduction:

What you are about to read are all you need to know about his fantastic explorer, Pierre de La Verendrye. This has everything about his personal information, personality, important life events, accomplishments, challenges and difficulties, and last but not least, the impact or importance to future Canadian's he left. After your finished reading this you are going to be amazed about what Pierre had to go through his life but along with that, the great things he accomplished. So sit back with this written piece and enjoy the read!

Personal Information:

Pierre Gaultier de Varranes la Verendrye was the real name of this man but for short, people knew him by Pierre de La Verendrye (4). He is known in Canada, as the man who extended the fur trade west and yes, that is correct. He wasn't the only one in the house with is parents, he had twelve other siblings around him (4). Pierre's father was a well-known man as he was the once the Governor of the Trois-Rivières (5). Like his father, Pierre eventually became an explorer but before that he was a soldier and a farmer (5). While he was a soldier he went to war in 1708 but was injured and taken prisoner by France (4). France released him in 1712 and so he decided to become a farmer back at Trois-Rivières and married a woman by the name of Marie-Anne (4). It was sixteen years later that he actually became an explorer (4).

Personality:

Everyone has a personality but everyone has different ones. Some peoples are mostly good attributes but there are some that have those black hearts and their personality is filled with hatred and horrible traits. Pierre de La Verendrye is an example of a man whose personality is a good one and he cares for everyone. His attributes are ones that anyone would want because they are so amazing. Some being that he is a loyal, honourable, a person with ambition, caring and loving, and so much more wonderful traits. Well, everyone can just say these things about someone else but to prove they are what you say you have to back it up with some proof. Now I say that he is a loyal and honourable man is because when he was a soldier he went to war and served his country with honour (5). Along with that, he has to have lots of guts and courage to go to war, without it; you would most likely not come out alive (5). Ambition is one that I chose because when he was younger he set goals to find the ocean and he kept trying and trying without giving up (2). While searching for the ocean he extended the fur trade west which is an accomplishment indeed. Pierre is a caring and loving man because he loves his family as much as Romeo loved Juliet (5). When the Cree demanded that Jean-Baptiste join them in war, he was definitely crushed to have to let his son go. So those are the reasons why I gave Pierre de La Verendrye those personality traits.

Important Life Events:

Everybody has important life events but some are better than others say that another child that was the same age as you went to Hollywood and you went to your friend's house as an important life event. Which would be better? The same goes towards Pierre, his life events are amazing, he's an explorer, lives a long life, has a happy family, and his life if almost perfect. Well, here are some more of his life events, Pierre was born in the Trois-Rivières Quebec on November 17th 1685 and died on December 5th 1749 in Montreal (4). He was 64 when Pierre passed away into the after-life but his life was a successful one. During his life he made a map of the Trois-Rivières and by the time of 1743 (which was fifteen years after he first became an explorer) he already had established eight trading posts in the Western Interior (5). Some sad but important life events is that Pierre's son, Jean-Baptiste, came back from the war when he was with the Cree but then two years later, died from a revenge attack (5).

Accomplishments:

Now through Pierre de La Verendrye's life there are tons of accomplishments that he had done, as he was a great explorer. What he really wanted to accomplish throughout his exploring years was to find a route to the western sea. That accomplishment never added to his collection but he did more. The things he has done are that the extended the fur trade west into the present day Manitoba, commanded a trading fort on Lake superior, explored the waterways of Lake Superior, and built a few trading posts from Lake Superior to the Manitoba lakes. All the trading post he made in-between those two rivers included Fort St. Pierre, Fort St. Charles, Fort Rouge, and Fort de la Reine (5). There are only four trading post in-between those rivers but he made 4 more in a span of fifteen years (5). What Pierre also did was name the Saskatchewan and the Missouri rivers but I'm surprised he didn't name it after himself because those are two well-known rivers and if he named it after himself he could be even more famous (4). Another great thing he did was he proposed a route from Late Superior which ran across the trapping grounds of the Natives who traded with the Hudson's Bay Company, and he would build an inland trading post and cut off the supply to the English. The governor and French court agreed and so in June 1731, Pierre set off with military discipline and a party of fifty including three of his sons, a nephew, and more than two thousand pounds of trading goods (5). Although I must say, the best accomplishment that Pierre de La Verendrye did was he found a back door leading to the heart of the fur country. That launched a battle of mastery of the west that would last a hundred years. (5)

Challenges/Difficulties for This Person:

Riding a ship in the middle of the ocean is a for sure danger and if you don't have the right crew you can be blown away into a place. That would be a difficulty to Pierre but he had lots more. His dream of finding the western ocean before he died would be another challenge because it is really hard to find and in the end, he never found it (4). Forming allies with the Natives was a challenge but he soon established one and they helped Verendrye and his crew out at times of needs (5). Family was a big issue of difficulties; Pierre had to take care of his family, mostly his sons that went along with him on his journeys. His sons were his responsibilities but they were mostly old enough to somewhat take care of themselves. Along the lines of family, a great devastating difficulty for Pierre was to let his son Jean-Baptiste go to war. The Cree demanded that he give them his son to join them in a war party. Pierre, who didn't want to, had to. Eventually, Jean-Baptist's father knew he made a huge mistake and would mourn of the loss of his son when he found out his son died of a revenge attack (5). Sort of the same thing happened but with himself when he went to war in Queen Anne's War, Mr. Verendrye had to take care of himself in the war but he had much better fortune because he came out alive (4). Those were the challenges and difficulties that Pierre de La Verendrye had throughout a part of his life.

Impact or Importance to Future Canadians:

Verendrye might be an importance to future Canadian's because he made a goal to find the western ocean and throughout his life he keep on trying and so he can be a role model to others (4). The people around the nation will take that as a hero achievement that when he made a goal; he always continued and never gave up. I now know that Verendrye did that so my perspective on him has changed. Another reason why this explorer has an impact on Canada is that the he found a back door leading to the heart of the fur country which later became rivers that we still use in the present day (5). When he was the first explorer to open up the fur trade out west, he made the west more of a popular place to live instead of everyone just living in Quebec. So he could have balanced where everyone lived so that not just a one place could be overpopulated (5). The time when he went to voyage with fifty crew members and two thousand pounds worth of trading goods, he made more allies with the Natives. Since a lot of the Natives were friendly with Pierre de La Verendrye, they could probably also trust later New France explorers. That means Verendrye made a string of allies with the Aboriginals that New France could depend on in later day's (5). Pierre Gaultier de Varrenes la Verendrye was a great impact on future Canadians and had a huge amount of importance that he did during his lifetime.

Conclusion:

There you have it, everything you need to know about this Quebec born man and his journeys through life. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you learned about another honourable man for Canada. It's been my pleasure to have the honour of writing about this specific explorer and I learned a lot from this assignment.

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