Louis-Armand de Lom d'Arce de Lahontan, Baron de Lahontan

Louis Armand, Baron de Lahontan (9 June 1666 – before 1716) was a French aristocrat, writer, and explorer who served in the French military in Canada, where he traveled extensively in the Wisconsin and Minnesota region and the upper Mississippi Valley. Upon his return to Europe he wrote an enormously popular travelogue. In it he recounted his voyage up the "Long River," now thought to be the Missouri. He wrote at length and in very positive terms about Native American culture, portraying Indian people as free, rational, and generally admirable.

Early life Louis Armand was born into the aristocracy and inherited the title Baron Lahontan upon his father's death in 1674. De Lahontan joined the troupes de la marine and was sent to New France in 1683 at age 17 along with two other officers and three companies of troops. After arriving at Quebec in November and settling in Beaupré, he would lead his company in 1684 on an unsuccessful offensive against the Iroquois from Fort Frontenac. He was a restless commander and spent much of his time exploring the region. In 1688, following news of the abandonment of the post at Niagara and renewed attacks of the Iroquois, he burned his fort and led his men to Michillimackinac in search of supplies and possibly entertainment for his men.

King William's War During King William's War, De Lahontan submitted several proposals for military fortification and equipment in New France, such as a Great Lakes flotilla for defense against the Iroquois and a line of forts meant for defense along the western frontier, On 13 December 1692, following a conflict with the governor of Placentia, Jacques-François de Monbeton de Brouillan, de Lahontan decided to abandon his office and New France altogether.

He deserted and took ship for Viana, Portugal. Deprived of his inheritance and unable to return to France, he eventually arrived in Amsterdam on 14 April. During an unknown period of time in Zaragoza, Spain, until at least 1696, de Lahontan recorded his memoirs for the English government explaining how and why they should take French-controlled Canada.