Henri de Tonti

<p>Henri de Tonti (born Enrico Tonti; c. 1649 – September 1704) was an Italian-born French military officer and explorer who assisted <a href="/facts/Ren%25C3%25A9-Robert_Cavelier%2c_Sieur_de_La_Salle/kmhBspI7">René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle</a> during the <a href="/facts/French_colonization_of_the_Americas/3HPcbRVb">French colonization of the Americas</a> from 1678 to 1686. de Tonti was one of the first explorers to navigate and sail the upper <a href="/facts/Great_Lakes/Fd7pDkPX">Great Lakes</a>. He also sailed the <a href="/facts/Illinois_River/tDN7q9sx">Illinois</a> and the <a href="/facts/Mississippi_River/RduarPzj">Mississippi</a>, to its mouth and thereupon claimed the length of the Mississippi for <a href="/facts/Louis_XIV/2LseeIlj">Louis XIV of France</a>. He is credited with founding the settlement that would become <a href="/facts/Peoria%2c_Illinois/S4HQaf53">Peoria, Illinois</a>. De Tonti established the first permanent European settlement in the lower Mississippi valley, known as <i><a href="/facts/Arkansas_Post/fsIyfGnL">Poste de Arkansea</a></i>, making him "The Father of Arkansas".
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Henri de Tonti open-in-new

Henri de Tonti