Robert La Salle: Great Lakes and Mississippi River Journey

Use the map and its descriptions to answer the questions. Then click Submit to check your work.

1. What was La Salle’s main goal on his Great Lakes and Mississippi journey?

To find gold in the Rocky Mountains
To build a trade route from the Great Lakes down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico
To conquer New England for France

2. Fort Frontenac (near today’s Kingston, Ontario) was important because it…

Guarded the entrance from the St. Lawrence River into the Great Lakes and served as a French trading post
Was La Salle’s first fort in Texas
Was built by the Spanish

3. Why was the Niagara portage area important for La Salle?

It was where La Salle built and launched a ship to reach the upper Great Lakes
It was the final mouth of the Mississippi River
It was his main winter camp on the Gulf Coast

4. What did launching a large ship like the Griffon on the upper Great Lakes allow La Salle to do?

Cross the Atlantic Ocean to Africa
Carry furs and supplies more quickly across the Great Lakes and deepen French control of the region
Build a navy to attack England directly

5. Why was the Chicago Portage area a key location on La Salle’s route?

It was the only place with mountains in Illinois
It provided a short land path between Lake Michigan and the rivers that led toward the Mississippi
It was the capital of New France

6. After leaving the Chicago Portage, which river did La Salle follow to move toward the Mississippi?

Ohio River
Colorado River
Illinois River

7. Near Kaskaskia, La Salle’s expedition learned more about…

The Illiniwek (Illinois) people and how the river valleys could be used for farming and trade
Whale hunting in the Arctic
Gold mines in the Rocky Mountains

8. What did La Salle discover at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers near today’s Cairo, Illinois?

The Mississippi flowed north into Canada
The Mississippi flowed south toward the Gulf of Mexico, not west to the Pacific
A direct sea route to Asia

9. Why did the lower Mississippi Valley near the Arkansas River interest La Salle?

It had rich soil, forests, and wildlife that could support settlements and trade networks
It was covered in year-round ice
It was already heavily settled by the English

10. What major action did La Salle take when he reached the mouth of the Mississippi River at the Gulf of Mexico?

He claimed the entire Mississippi Valley for France and named it Louisiana
He turned around and gave up the expedition
He joined a Spanish colony there

Robert La Salle: Journey through the Great Lakes and Mississippi River

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Scavenger Hunt: La Salle’s Great Lakes and Mississippi Expedition