Jean Nicolet
Jean Nicolet (1598–1642) was a French explorer and fur trader who helped open the Upper Midwest to Europeans. He was born in Cherbourg, France, the son of Thomas Nicollet and Marguerite de Lamer. He moved to Canada to work with Samuel de Champlain and Étienne Brûlé, learning Native languages by living with Indigenous peoples. He spent years with the Algonquin and Odawa around Lake Nipissing and ran a trading post there. He had a daughter, Euphrosine-Madeleine Nicolet, with a Nipissing woman.
In 1629, after Quebec fell to English forces, he fled to Huron country and later married Marguerite Couillard when French power returned. Nicolet is best known for his 1634 expedition to the shores of Lake Michigan and the land that is now Wisconsin. He landed at Red Banks near present-day Green Bay with Ho-Chunk guides, hoping to find a sea route to Asia. He traveled up the Fox River and down the Wisconsin River, believing the area led to the ocean. He did not realize he had reached the upper Mississippi area and returned to report his discovery.
Nicolet died in a drowning accident on October 29, 1642, when his boat capsized near Quebec City in the Saint Lawrence River. He was 43 or 44, and his body was never found.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 05:20 (CET).