René-Robert Cavelier

Early in his celebrated career, the explorer La Salle played a principal role in expanding the French fur trade into the Lake Ontario region. In 1673 he arranged a meeting at Cataracoui, the site of present-day Kingston, between Governor-General Frontenac, who wanted to shift the centre of the fur trade away from Montreal, and representatives of the Iroquois. Placed in command of Fort Frontenac, which the governor ordered built there, La Salle soon gained control over trade in the area by acquiring ownership of the establishment as a seigneurial grant. Using the fort as a base, he then undertook expeditions to the west and southwest in an attempt to expand his Cataracoui operation into a vast fur-trading empire.

Ontario · Canada