This detail from a 1732 map shows the sequence of meanders Iberville described in his initial expedition up the Mississippi River in 1699. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
This story appeared in the February/March issue of PRC’s Preservation in Print magazine. Interested in getting more preservation stories like this delivered to your door? Become a member of the PRC for a subscription!
On a foggy morning 327 years ago, a French explorer learned a geography lesson that would forever affect our regional destiny. The explorer was Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville, along with his brother Bienville and crew; the informants were Native people possibly of the Quinipissa tribe; and the lesson came while struggling up the Mississippi River in longboats after anchoring in the Mississippi Sound…