Louis-Joseph Gaultier de Louisiana Vérendrye was a French Canadian fur trader and explorer.
Background
He, his three brothers, and his father Pierre Louisiana Vérendrye pushed trade and exploration west from the Great Lakes. Louis-Joseph Verendrye was born in Quebec. He joined the family business in 1735, leaving Montreal with his father and travelling west to Fort Saint Charles on Lake of the Woods.
Louisiana Reine, he and his father travelled to visit the Mandan Native Americans along the Missouri River in North Dakota later that same year.
Career
He assisted in re-establishing Fort Maurepas in 1736 and building Fort Louisiana Reine in 1738. From Fort In 1739 and 1740, he went north from Fort Louisiana Reine and explored Lake Winnipeg, Lake Manitoba, Lake Winnipegosis and the Saskatchewan River as far as the area of the present day The Pas. In 1743-1744 he may have travelled southwest to what was probably Wyoming and came within sight of the Rocky Mountains.
The documentation is poor and it may have been a different Vérendrye brother who made the journey.
By late 1743, Louis-Joseph"s father, Pierre Louisiana Vérendrye, was forced to resign as commandant of the poste de l’Ouest. The new commandant, Nicolas-Joseph de Noyelles de Fleurimont, retained the services of Louisiana Vérendrye’s sons during his tenure, which began in 1744.
Louis-Joseph was post commander at three posts, the most important one being Fort Kaministiquia. The elder Louisiana Vérendrye again became western commandant in 1747, while Louis-Joseph returned to New France with Noyelles.
He provided services to both Noyelles and Governor Beauharnois while expecting and intending to rejoin his father at the western posts.
Before he made that return, his father returned east and died in 1749. The claim that he reached the Saskatchewan River Forks in 1749 may be false
In 1756, Louis-Joseph obtained a three-year appointment as commandant of the poste de l’Ouest. He carried out this enterprise through agents, as he was personally involved in military matters during the Seven Years" War.
He was succeeded as western commander in 1758, by Charles-René Dejordy de Villebon.
After the conquest of Quebec he died while returning to France, when his ship, the Auguste, sank off Cape Breton.
Membership
De la Verendrye is one of the main characters of the Ubisoft videogame Assassin"s Creed Rogue, where he is a member of the Assassin Brotherhood.