Étienne Brûlé

Étienne Brûlé arrived in New France with Samuel de Champlain in 1608 at age sixteen. Sent by Champlain in 1610 to live among the Wendat (Huron) to learn their tongue, Brûlé became the first true coureur des bois (runner of the woods), discarding European clothes and completely adopting Huron hunting, language, and cultural traditions.

Brûlé was an intrepid explorer who became the first European to navigate Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, Lake Ontario, Lake Superior, and the Susquehanna River down to Chesapeake Bay. His independence from Jesuit church moral authority eventually strained relations with French officials, and in 1633 he was killed during an internal tribal dispute in Huronia.