thumb|400px|right|1910 painting of jean nicolet's 1634 arrival in wisconsin jean nicolet (nicollet) de belleborne (ca. 15981 november 1642) was a french coureur des bois noted for exploring green bay of lake michigan, in what is now the u.s. state of wisconsin. ==early life== nicolet (nicollet) was born in cherbourg-octeville, france, in the late 1590s, the son of thomas nicollet, who was "messenger ordinary of the king between paris and cherbourg", and marguerite de la mer. they were members of the roman catholic church. he was a known friend of samuel de champlain and etienne brule. he was attracted to canada to participate in samuel champlain's plan to train young french men as explorers and traders by having them live among native americans. the french were setting up fur trading under the compagnie des marchands.andreas, alfred theodore (1884; 1975 rprt). history of chicago, vol. i, p. 39. arno press, inc. ==arrival at quebec== in 1618, nicolet immigrated to quebec as a clerk to train as an interpreter for the compagnie des marchands, a trading monopoly owned by members of the french aristocracy. as an employee, jean nicolet was a faithful supporter of the ancien rÃ©gime. to learn the language of the first nations, nicolet was sent to live with the algonquins on allumette island, a friendly settlement located along the important ottawa river fur trade route. upon his return to quebec in 1620, he was assigned to live among the odawa and algonquin people in the lake nipissing region. during his nine-year stay, he ran a store and traded with the native peoples in the area. he had a relationship with jeanne nipissing, a nipissing native, and they had a daughter, whom he named madeleine euphrosine nicolet. when nicolet returned to quebec, he brought his daughter madeleine with him to educate her among the french. on july 19, 1629, when quebec fell to the kirke brothers who took control for england, jean nicolet fled with his daughter to the safety of the huron country. he worked from there against english interests until the french were restored to power. ==exploration of wisconsin== nicolet is noted for being the first european to cross lake michigan. in 1634 he became the first european to explore what would become wisconsin. he landed at red banks, near modern-day green bay, wisconsin, in search of a passage to the orient.uw - green bay - wisconsin's french connections jean nicolet statue he and other french explorers had learned from their native contacts that the people who lived along these shores were calle
1598_births 1642_deaths 17th-century_explorers Explorers_of_Canada Explorers_of_North_America Explorers_of_the_United_States French_explorers People_of_New_France People_of_pre-statehood_Michigan People_of_pre-statehood_Wisconsin