What is Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont?
[[File:Coureur de bois.jpg|thumb|200px|right|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 [[France|French]] explorer. He wrote about his travels on the [[Missouri River|Missouri]] and [[Platte River|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). ==Other websites== * [http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/B/BO027.html ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture'' - Bourgmont, Etienne Veniard de] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609175202/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/B/BO027.html |date=2011-06-09 }} {{authority control}} {{bio-stub}} [[Category:1679 births]] [[Category:1734 deaths]]