Biography of Robert Cavelier de la Salle, Explorer

Biography of Robert Cavelier de la Salle, Explorer Robert Cavelier de la Salle (November 22, 1643–March 19, 1687) was a French explorer credited with claiming Louisiana and the Mississippi River Basin for France. In addition, he explored much of the Midwest region of what would become the United States as well as portions of Eastern Canada and the Great Lakes. On his last voyage, his attempt to set up a French colony at the mouth of the Mississippi River met with disaster. Fast Facts: Robert Cavelier de la Salle Known For: Claiming the Louisiana Territory for FranceAlso Known As: Renà ©-Robert Cavelier, sieur de La SalleBorn: Nov. 22, 1643  in Rouen, FranceParents: Jean Cavelier, Catherine GeesetDied: March 19, 1687 near  the Brazos River  in what is now Texas Early Life Robert Cavelier de la Salle was on November 22, 1643, in Rouen, Normandy, France, into a wealthy merchant family. His father was Jean Cavelier, and his mother was Catherine Geeset. He attended Jesuit schools as a child and adolescent and decided to give up his inheritance and take the vows of the Jesuit Order in 1660 to start the process of becoming a Roman Catholic priest. By age 22, however, La Salle found himself attracted to adventure. He followed his brother Jean, a Jesuit priest, to Montreal, Canada (then called New France), and resigned from the Jesuit order in 1967. Upon his arrival as a colonist, La Salle was granted 400 acres of land on the Island of Montreal. He named his land Lachine, reportedly because it means China in French; La Salle spent much of his life trying to find a route through the New World to China. Exploration Begins La Salle issued land grants of Lachine, set up a village, and set out to learn the languages of the native people living in the area. He quickly acquired the language of the Iroquois, who told him of the Ohio River, which they said flowed into the Mississippi. La Salle believed that the Mississippi flowed into the Gulf of California and from there, he thought, he would be able to find a western route to China. After receiving permission from the governor of New France, La Salle sold his interests in Lachine and began planning an expedition. La Salles first expedition began in 1669. During this venture, he met Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette, two white explorers, in Hamilton, Ontario. La Salles expedition continued from there and eventually reached the Ohio River, which he followed as far as Louisville, Kentucky before he had to return to Montreal after several of his men deserted. Two years later, Joliet and Marquette succeeded where La Salle had failed when they navigated the upper Mississippi River. Upon his return to Canada, La Salle oversaw the building of Fort Frontenac,  on the eastern coast of Lake Ontario in present-day Kingston, Ontario, which was intended as a station for the areas growing fur trade. The fort, completed in 1673, was named after Louis de Baude Frontenac, the governor-general of New France. In 1674, La Salle returned to France to gain royal support for his land claims at Fort Frontenac. He was granted support and a fur trade allowance, permission to establish additional forts in the frontier, and a title of nobility. With his newfound success, La Salle returned to Canada and rebuilt Fort Frontenac in stone. Second Expedition On Aug. 7, 1679, La Salle and Italian explorer Henri de Tonti set sail on Le Griffon, a ship he had built that became the first full-size sailing ship to travel the Great Lakes. The expedition was to begin at Fort Conti at the mouth of the Niagara River and Lake Ontario. Before the voyage, La Salles crew brought in supplies from Fort Frontenac, avoiding Niagara Falls by using a portage around the falls established by Native Americans and carrying their supplies into Fort Conti. La Salle and Tonti then sailed Le Griffon up Lake Erie and into Lake Huron to Michilimackinac, near the present-day Straits of Mackinac in Michigan, before reaching the site of todays Green Bay, Wisconsin. La Salle then continued down the shore of Lake Michigan. In January 1680, he built Fort Miami at the mouth of the Miami River, now the St. Joseph River, in todays St. Joseph, Michigan. La Salle and his crew spent much of 1680 at Fort Miami. In December, they followed the river to South Bend, Indiana, where it joins the Kankakee River, then along this river to the Illinois River, establishing Fort Crevecoeur near what is today Peoria, Illinois. La Salle left Tonti in charge of the fort and returned to Fort Frontenac for supplies. While he was gone, Fort Crevecoeur was destroyed by mutinying soldiers. Louisiana Expedition After assembling a new crew including 18 Native Americans and reuniting with Tonti, La Salle began the expedition he is most known for. In 1682, he and his crew sailed down the Mississippi River. He named the Mississippi Basin La Louisiane in honor of King Louis XIV. On April 9, 1682, La Salle placed an engraved plate and a cross at the mouth of the Mississippi River, officially claiming the Louisiana Territory for France. In 1683 La Salle established Fort St. Louis at Starved Rock in Illinois and left Tonti in charge while he returned to France to resupply. In 1684, La Salle set sail from Europe to establish a French colony on the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Disaster The expedition started with four ships and 300 colonists, but in an extraordinary run of bad luck during the journey, three of the ships were lost to pirates and shipwreck. The remaining colonists and crew landed in Matagorda Bay, in present-day Texas. Due to navigational errors, La Salle had overshot his planned landing spot, Apalachee Bay near the northwestern bend of Florida, by hundreds of miles. Death They established a settlement near what became Victoria, Texas, and La Salle began searching overland for the Mississippi River. In the meantime, the last remaining ship, La Belle, ran aground and sank in the bay. On his fourth attempt to locate the Mississippi, 36 of his crew mutinied and on March 19, 1687, he was killed. After his death, the settlement lasted only until 1688, when local Native Americans killed the remaining adults and took the children captive. Legacy In 1995, La Salles last ship, La Belle, was found at the bottom of Matagorda Bay on the Texas coast. Archaeologists began a decades-long process of excavating, recovering, and conserving the ships hull and more than 1.6 million well-preserved artifacts, including crates and barrels of  items intended to support a new colony and supply a military expedition into Mexico: tools, cooking pots, trade goods, and weapons. They provide remarkable insights into the strategies and supplies that were used to establish colonies in 17th century North America.   The preserved hull of La Belle and many recovered artifacts are displayed in the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin. Among La Salles other important contributions was his exploration of the Great Lakes region and the Mississippi Basin. His claiming of Louisiana for France contributed to distinctive physical layouts of cities in the far-ranging territory and to the culture of its residents. Sources Renà ©-Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle: French Explorer. Encyclopaedia Britannica.Rene-Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle. 64parishes.org.Renà ©-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle  Biography.  Biography.com.La Belle: The Ship That Changed History. ThehistoryofTexas.com.

Enrique Pena Nieto, Former President of Mexico

Enrique Pena Nieto, Former President of Mexico Enrique Peà ±a Nieto (born July 20, 1966) is a Mexican lawyer and politician. A member of the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party), he was elected president of Mexico in 2012 for a six-year term. Mexican presidents are only allowed to serve a single term. Fast Facts: Enrique Peà ±a Nieto Known For: President of Mexico, 2012–2018Born: July 20, 1966  in Atlacomulco,  State of Mexico,  MexicoParents: Gilberto Enrique Peà ±a del Mazo, Marà ­a del Perpetuo Socorro Ofelia Nieto SnchezEducation: Panamerican UniversityAwards and Honors:  Collar of the  Order of the Aztec Eagle, National Order of Juan Mora Fernndez, Grand Cross with Gold Plaque, Order of Prince Henry, Grand Collar,  Order of Isabella the Catholic, Grand CrossSpouse(s): Mà ³nica Pretelini, Angà ©lica RiveraChildren: Paulina, Alejandro, Nicole (with Pretelini), one additional child outside marriage with Maritza Dà ­az HernndezNotable Quote: I hope for my children, and for all Mexicans, that they can be proud to be Mexican, proud of their heritage, and proud that they have a peaceful, inclusive, vibrant country that is playing a role in the world. Early Life Enrique Peà ±a Nieto was born on July 20, 1966 in Atlacomulco, a town about 50 miles northwest of Mexico City. His father Severiano Peà ±a was an electrical engineer and the mayor of the town of Acambay, located in the State of Mexico. Two uncles served as governors of the same state. During his junior year in high school, he went to Denis Hall School in Alfred, Maine to learn English. In 1984 he enrolled at the Panamerican University in Mexico City, where he earned a degree in legal studies. Marriage and Children Enrique Peà ±a Nieto married Mà ³nica Pretelini in 1993: she died suddenly in 2007, leaving him three children. He remarried in 2010 in a fairytale wedding to Mexican telenovelas star Angelica Rivera. He had a child out of wedlock in 2005. His attention to this child (or lack thereof) has been a persistent scandal. Political Career Enrique Peà ±a Nieto got an early start on his political career. He was a community organizer while still in his early 20s and has maintained a presence in politics ever since. In 1999, he worked on the campaign team of Arturo Montiel Rojas, who was elected governor of Mexico State. Montiel rewarded him with the position of administrative secretary. Peà ±a Nieto was elected to replace Montiel in 2005 as governor, serving from 2005–2011. In 2011, he won the PRI Presidential nomination and immediately became the front-runner for the 2012 elections. 2012 Presidential Election Peà ±a had been a well-liked governor: he had delivered popular public works for the State of Mexico during his administration. His popularity, combined with his movie-star good looks, made him the early favorite in the election. His main opponents were leftist Andres Manuel Là ³pez Obrador of the Party of the Democratic Revolution and Josefina Vzquez Mota of the conservative National Action Party. Peà ±a ran on a platform of security and economic growth and overcame his partys past reputation for corruption in winning the election. A record turnout of 63 percent of eligible voters chose Peà ±a (38% of the vote) over Là ³pez Obrador (32%) and Vzquez (25%). Opposing parties claimed several campaign violations by the PRI, including vote-buying and receiving extra media exposure, but the results stood. Peà ±a took office on Dec. 1, 2012, replacing outgoing President Felipe Calderà ³n. Public Perception Although he was elected easily and most polls suggested a decent approval rating, some disliked Peà ±a Nietos public persona. One of his worst public gaffes came at a book fair, where he claimed to be a big fan of the popular novel The Eagles Throne. When pressed, he could not name the author. This was a serious blunder because the book was written by the prestigious Carlos Fuentes, one of Mexicos most celebrated novelists. Others found Peà ±a Nieto to be robotic and far too slick. He has often been compared, in a negative manner, to American politician John Edwards. The notion (correct or not) that he was a stuffed shirt also raised concerns due to the PRI partys notoriously corrupt past. By August 2016, Peà ±a Nieto had the lowest approval rating of any Mexican president since polling began in 1995. The number dipped even further to a mere 12% when gas prices rose in January 2017.​ Challenges for Peà ±a Nietos Administration President Peà ±a took control of Mexico during a troubled time. One big challenge was fighting the drug lords that control much of Mexico. Powerful cartels with private armies of professional soldiers make billions of dollars trafficking drugs every year. They are ruthless and do not hesitate to murder policemen, judges, journalists, politicians, or anyone else who challenges them. Felipe Calderà ³n, Peà ±a Nieto’s predecessor as president, declared an all-out war on the cartels, kicking over a hornet’s nest of death and mayhem. Mexico’s economy, an important factor for Mexican voters, took a huge hit during the international crisis of 2009. Peà ±a Nieto was friendly with the United States and stated that he wanted to maintain and strengthen economic ties with his neighbor to the north. Peà ±a Nieto has had a mixed record. During his tenure, police captured the nations most notorious drug lord, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, but Guzman escaped from prison not long afterward. This was a huge embarrassment for the president. Even worse was the disappearance of 43 college students near the town of Iguala in September 2014: they are presumed dead at the hands of the cartels. Further challenges developed during the campaign and election of President Donald Trump in the United States. With proclaimed policies of a border wall paid for by Mexico, U.S.-Mexico relations took a turn for the worse. The End of Peà ±a Nietos Presidency Toward the end of 2018, additional scandals erupted for the Peà ±a Nieto presidency. Construction of a luxury home for the president and his wife by a company that was then awarded a large government contract led to accusations of conflict of interest. The president was never found guilty of wrongdoing, but he nevertheless found himself apologizing for the outcome. Peà ±a Nieto and his administration were also accused of spying on journalists and political activists. At the same time, an increase in drug trafficking and violence seemed to be linked to the outcome of the 2018 elections. Just before leaving the presidency, Peà ±a Nieto was involved with negotiations with the United States and Canada to restructure the NAFTA trade agreement. The new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement  (USMCA) was signed on Peà ±a Nietos last day in office at the G20 Summit in Argentina. Sources: Puente, Teresa. Mexicos Telenovela President: Enrique Peà ±a Nietos Saga of Scandal, Gaffes, and Connections. The Daily Beast.Univision Noticias. Biografà ­a de Enrique Peà ±a Nieto.Wilkinson, Tracy and Ken Ellingwood. Mexicos Enrique Peà ±a Nieto, man of mystery. Los Angeles Times.Seelke, Clare Ribando. Mexicos 2012 Elections. ​Congressional Research Service.