Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye (born November 17, 1685 - died December 5, 1749) was a French-Canadian military officer, fur trader and explorer.

Born in Trois-Rivières, Quebec he was part of the Ancien Régime whose family of aristocrats came from the Anjou area of France. In 1728 he was appointed commandant of the French posts on the north shore of Lake Superior. Between 1731 and 1737 he built several trading posts between Lake Superior and Lake Winnipeg; in 1738 he travelled southwest to the area of the Missouri River in what is now North Dakota. He was responsible for opening a large area of the west to French traders.

He died in Montreal, Quebec in 1749.

Verendrye Electric Cooperative, a public utility in North Dakota, is named after him.

See also

• French colonization of the Americas
• History of North Dakota

External links

• Biography at the Canadian Dictionary of Biography Online