Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac (1658)
Originally of the minor Gascon nobility, Cadillac came to America in 1683 to seek his fortune. He became a favorite of the governor of New France, was placed in charge of a frontier post at Mackinac, and eventually proposed the creation of a new fort with a better strategic position against the English. With a band of colonists, he founded in 1701 what would become the city of Detroit. Ten years later, he was appointed governor of what vast French territory? More…
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