The Ohio River, whose name comes from the Iroquois word oyo, was known to the French as La Belle Riviere, the Beautiful River, when it belonged to France. Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence River in 1535 and discovered Canada, and his esprit aventurier made New France possible. Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de Lasalle, was probably the first European to see the Ohio River in 1669, and by 1682 he had also explored the Mississippi and claimed the territory drained by both rivers for his Bourbon king. Francois Rene Chateaubriand floated past these unpeopled riverbanks in 1791, found himself inspired there, and rose from obscurity to become L'enchanteur Enchante, the world famous romantic author.