Menominee - First European Encounter

First European Encounter

Hundreds of years later in 1634, the Menominee and Winnebago (along with a band of Potawatomi who had recently moved into Wisconsin) witnessed the French explorer Jean Nicolet's approach and landing at what is now Red Banks, near the present-day city of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Nicolet, looking for a Northwest Passage to China, hoped to find and impress the Chinese. As the canoe approached the shore, Nicolet put on a silk Chinese ceremonial robe, stood up in the middle of the canoe and shot off two pistols.

For at least forty years in the twentieth century, this event was presented to elementary students studying Wisconsin history as the native people fearing the light-skinned man who could make thunder, a traditional view of European Americans. More likely the native people feared for the light-skinned man, as he had demonstrated questionable mental faculties. Anyone with local knowledge would know better than to stand up in a canoe on the choppy waters of the bay of Green Bay!