engleski

Geographical Knowledge as Power: The Role of the Society of Jesus and the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris

Though French claim to Louisiana was set already in 1682, only conclusion of the War of the League of Augsburg in 1697, enabled Louis XIV of France to make an action in populating Louisiana in order to prevent the English from isolating French settlements in New France (Canada). The real control over the region will be enabled only after French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville had developed a "Project sur la Caroline French" which included further exploration of the mouth of the Mississippi and establishment of the first permanent French settlements in Fort Maurepas (1699) and Fort Louis de la Mobile (1702). The Society of Jesus as well as members of other missionary orders had a prominent role in early exploration of French Louisiana. From Jesuit Father Paul Du Ru (1666-1741) who joined the second d'Iberville's expedition in 1700, becoming the first Jesuit to explore Mississippi from its mouth northward complementing Marquette's exploration of the upper river, through François Lemaire (ca1675- 1748), a member of Society of Foreign Missions of Paris who conducted extensive filed observations in a number of places in the Mississippi valley and produced several maps to Jesuit Father François- Xavier Charlevoix (1682-1761) who was one of the first to describe New Orleans in 1721 when it was only three years old, missionaries have a strong connection to the history of New Orleans and Mississippi River. Their travel narratives and maps offer an early testimony to Louisiana reach history, witnessing to a cultural encounter between European settlers and native nations. The paper is based on original research.

Mississippi, Society of Jesus, missionary cartography

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