Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix
Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix (born October 29, 1682 in Saint-Quentin , † February 1, 1761 in La Flèche ) was a French Jesuit , traveler and historian .
Life
At the age of 16, Charlevoix joined the Jesuit order . After studying philosophy at the Collège Louis-le-Grand from 1701 to 1704 , he was sent to New France in 1705 , where he taught grammar and rhetoric in Québec for four years. He then returned to France and studied theology there. Later he taught classical philology and philosophy.
In 1720 Charlevoix traveled again to New France on behalf of the regent Philip of Orléans . His job was to conduct research into controversial issues relating to the demarcation of the border in relation to the Peace of Utrecht and to explore a route to the Pacific . On his journey to the Pacific, he reached across the Saint Lawrence River , the Great Lakes . From Lake Ontario he drove over the Erie and Huron Lakes to Lake Michigan , where he spent the winter of 1721/22 in northern Michigan and made contact with the Indian peoples. Today the city of Charlevoix , Charlevoix County and Lake Charlevoix are named after him. After traveling further south and waiting in vain for assistance from Paris for another three months, he changed his itinerary and followed the Mississippi River downriver to the Gulf of Mexico . There he undertook further research. On his return to Québec via Saint-Domingue , Charlevoix was shipwrecked and returned to France in December 1722.
In addition to a trip to Italy in 1723 and his activity in the Jesuit order, Charlevoix worked from 1733 to 1755 as editor of the Journal de Trévoux . From 1742 to 1749 he was also the procurator responsible for the economic affairs of the Jesuit mission in New France. He also dealt with the history and geography of the non-European world and published several works on this.
Honor
- "Charlevoix" metro station in Montréal
Works
- Histoire de l'établissement, du progrès et de la décadence du Christianisme dans l'empire des Japons , Paris 1715
- Vie de la Mère Marie de l'Incarnation, institutrice et première supérieure des Ursulines de la Nouvelle-France , 1724
- Histoire de l'Isle Espagnole ou de Saint-Domingue , 1730
- Histoire et description générale du Japon , 1736
- Histoire et description générale de la Nouvelle France , Paris 1744 (text on the BnF page)
- Histoire de Paraguay , 1756; German 1831 ( digitized version )
See also
literature
- Gerhard Holzer: Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 27, Bautz, Nordhausen 2007, ISBN 978-3-88309-393-2 , Sp. 251-253.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Charlevoix, Pierre François Xavier de |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French Jesuit, traveler and historian |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 29, 1682 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Saint-Quentin |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 1, 1761 |
| Place of death | La Flèche |