Bourrie - BUSH RUNNER: the life and times of pierre-esprit radisson

1636: Likely year Radisson was born.

1650: The balance of power among First Nations of the Great Lakes region collapses with the conquest of the Huron (Wendat) Confederacy by Five Nations of the Iroquois. Most of whats now eastern Canada and the US Midwest is now a dangerous place of raids and counter-raids. At this point, Europeans are not important, direct military actors but are supplying weapons to Indigenous people.

1651: On May 24, Radisson, now an adolescent, arrives in Trois-Rivires, a tiny trading post between Montreal and Quebec City. It is under siege by the Iroquois. Radisson lives with his half-sisters.

1652: Less than a year after coming to Trois-Rivires, Radisson is captured by Mohawk (Iroquois) warriors, taken to their town in whats now northeastern New York State, and adopted by a wealthy and powerful family. In the fall, he escapes, is recaptured, and barely escapes being killed.

1653: Radisson is a member of a Mohawk party raiding into whats now Ohio, Indiana, and possibly as far west as Illinois. After the raid, he returns to the Iroquois country through the Ohio Valley. On October 19, he defects to the Dutch, who have a post at Fort Orange (Albany). Radisson is sent to Manhattan, then crosses the ocean to Holland.

1654: Radisson returns to Trois-Rivires, probably arriving in late spring. His half-sister, Margurite, widowed in a Mohawk raid, has married Mdard Chouart des Groseilliers, a fur trader about to leave on a trading trip to Lake Superior and Lake Michigan.

16541657: Radisson assists Jesuits priests with their missionary work in what is now southern Ontario. On one of these trips, he might have reached the northern end of Lake Michigan. Most, however, end badly until the Onondaga, members of the Iroquois Confederacy, allow the construction of a mission in their country (near whats now Syracuse).

1657: At the height of summer, Radisson travels with an Iroquois canoe flotilla up the St. Lawrence River and along the south shore of Lake Ontario to the Onondaga country.

1658: In early spring, Radisson and the French become anxious about their safety in the Onondaga country and abruptly flee.

1658 660: Radisson and Groseilliers travel up the Ottawa River, along the north shore of Lake Huron and the south shore of Lake Superior, into present-day Wisconsin and central Minnesota. Its unclear if either saw the Mississippi, but they at least heard about it. Radisson may also have visited the area west of Chicago. Mostly, the two traders spend time in whats now the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and in the Duluth-Superior region.

1660: In May, a French-Huron force under Adam Dollard des Ormeaux attacks a large Iroquois war party on the Ottawa River northwest of Montreal. All the French and several Huron are killed.

1660: In the summer, Radisson and Groseilliers arrive in Montreal with a party of Indigenous traders with enough furs to ensure the temporary financial viability of the French colony on the St. Lawrence. They are heavily taxed and fined for illegal fur trading. Groseilliers goes to France and successfully appeals most of the fines.

1661: Groseilliers is back in New France, but the Ottawa River is controlled by the Iroquois and is far too unsafe for another trip west. Radisson and Groseilliers try to trade in Acadia, but are run off by other French traders and local farmers. They defect to the British, ending up in Boston.

1663: Radisson and Groseilliers help organize a New England fur-trading expedition to Hudson Bay. Storms off the coast of Labrador cause the ship to turn back.

1664: Radisson and Groseilliers befriend members of a delegation from England that arrive in Boston to negotiate the transfer of Dutch colonies in present-day New York and New Jersey to English control. Radisson and Groseilliers leave with one of the diplomats who has friends at the court of King Charles I. They are captured by Dutch pirates, who dump them on the coast of Spain.

1665: Radisson and Groseilliers arrive in England just after the Great Plague peaks in London. They live at the fringe of the Kings court, first in Oxford, then Windsor. They befriend several powerful nobles and Radisson begins writing accounts of his adventures for Charles I.

1666: Radisson and Groseilliers have convinced the English to back their plan for a Hudson Bay fur trade. They are stuck in London because the Dutch have blockaded the English coast. London burns down.

1667: Another plan to sail to Hudson Bay is thwarted by Dutch naval successes in the English Channel. Radisson and Groseilliers are stalked and tempted by French and Dutch spies, one of whom steals Radissons life story and convinces the French government to launch its own ill-fated Hudson Bay expeditions. Radisson probably finished the manuscripts of his Great Lakes adventures, which are given to the King and are not published for more than 200 years.

1668: Two fur-trading ships leave England for Hudson Bay. Groseilliers ship arrives safely, but Radissons turns back after hitting a storm south of Iceland.

1669: Groseilliers arrives in London in the fall with a shipload of furs, proving the Hudson Bay projects viability.

1670: Both the French traders make it to Hudson Bay. The Hudsons Bay Company is granted a royal charter, but Radisson and Groseilliers get no stock or options. They go back to Hudson Bay, spending the winter at Port Nelson.

1671: Radisson returns to England and spends several months buying trade goods for another expedition.

16721673: Radisson and Groseilliers spend another winter on Hudson Bay. Both men start to feel sidelined as British traders gain experience trading with the Cree.

1674: Radisson, back in London, marries Mary Kirke. Soon after, she has a child.

1675: Radisson defects to the French. He is sent to Quebec, where he fails to convince local merchants to finance a Hudson Bay trade.

1676: Radisson returns to France, then goes to England to try to reconnect with his wife. Her father refuses to let her and their child leave England. The Hudsons Bay Company refuses to give Radisson work. Discouraged and almost broke, Radisson joins a French military expedition to the Caribbean.

1677: Radisson is on the scene for French military successes in the Azores and Tobago.

1678: On May 11, Radisson is on one of the French ships that is destroyed when the fleet runs aground on Las Aves, off the coast of South America. Radisson survives but loses all his money.

16801681: Radisson goes back to Quebec, succeeds in convincing local merchants to open up a Hudson Bay trade, and leads an expedition to Fort Nelson.

Late 1670s1680s: With the wars against the Dutch over, English xenophobia turns on the French. Foreign and English Catholics are also victims of mob violence and trumped-up plots.

16821683: Radisson returns to Quebec to find he has angered the French government by seizing English ships and men. He is sent back to France to explain himself. In Paris, he defects to the English lawyer sent to sue him.

1684: Radisson returns to Hudson Bay. He kidnaps and robs the French traders he left behind the previous spring.

1685: Mary Kirke dies.

1686: Radisson makes his last trip to Hudson Bay. On his return, he writes the stories of the Hudson Bay voyages for James, Duke of York, who, soon afterwards, ascends the throne as James II. Radisson marries Charlotte Godet.