born June 9, 1666, Mont-de-Marsan, France
died 1715, Hannover, Hanover
French army officer and explorer.
He served in New France (1683–93), commanded Ft.-St.-Joseph (now Niles, Mich.), and explored territory along the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers (1688–89). In 1692 he stopped at Newfoundland and defended the French colonists at Plaisance against the English; after the governor there accused him of insubordination, he fled to Portugal in 1693 and thereafter remained in Europe. His New Voyages to North-America (1703) influenced the works of Voltaire , and {{link=Swift, Jonathan">Jonathan Swift .