Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont

Bourgmont, a fugitive from justice, became a coureur des bois for several years during his early career.

Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont (April 1679 – 1734) was a French explorer. He wrote about his travels on the Missouri and Platte rivers in North America. He made the first European maps of these areas in the early 18th century. He wrote two accounts of his travels, which included descriptions of the Native American tribes he encountered. In 1723, he built Fort Orleans, the first European fort on the Missouri River, near the mouth of the Grand River and present-day Brunswick, Missouri. In 1724, he led an expedition to the Great Plains of Kansas to create trading relations with the Padouca (Apache Indians).

Étienne De Veniard, Sieur De Bourgmont Media

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  The abbey at Cerisy, where Bourgmont was convicted of poaching and fined 100 livres. He fled to North America rather than pay the fine.

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  A map of the European occupied areas when Bourgmont arrived in North America, ca. 1699.

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  Bourgmont's Missouria wife is pictured here on her return from France in 1725.

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  Missouria, Otoe, and Ponca Indians.

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  King Louis XV entertained Bourgmont and the Indian chiefs at Fontainebleau in 1725.

Other websites

• Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Bourgmont, Etienne Veniard de Archived 2011-06-09 at the Wayback Machine