Jean-Baptiste-Louis Franquelin

He documented a decade of Louis Jolliet and René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle's explorations in North America.

Born at Saint-Michel de Villebernin, he grew up in the village in the small commune of Palluau-sur-Indre in central France.

Having developed drawing and mapmaking skills, Franquelin migrated in 1671 from the Indre department to Nouvelle France (Quebec) to work as a trader.

Franquelin recorded the explorations of Louis Jolliet and René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle between 1674 and 1684.

He went to France in 1692 to complete a series of maps of the New England Atlantic coast, as the English and French were competing for control of territory in North America.