Étienne Brűlé (1592 - 1632) was a French explorer in Canada in the 17th century. A rugged outdoorsman, he took to the lifestyle of the First Nations peoples with a passion, leading to some disdain by other Europeans.
Champlain and the Jesuits often spoke out against Brűlé's adoption of Huron customs, as well as his association with the fur traders, who were beyond the control of the colonial government. Brűlé left Quebec to live with the natives in the 1620s. As he had no longer any particular loyalty to Champlain or the French, Brűlé helped the English capture Champlain and Quebec City in 1629 (though the colony was returned to France in 1632).
He was captured by the Iroquois during a battle and left for dead by his Huron group. He miraculously managed to escape his death by torture but when he returned home the Hurons did not believe his story, suspected him of trading with the Iroquois and treated him as an enemy. He was consequently tortured to death by his allies.
Brule, an interpreter for Champlain, journeyed into the far West with Huron guides in 1622 or 1623.
The first is a handful of scattered references in a book written by Sagard a few years after Brule's death, given here in their entirety in French and English.
Unfortunately Sagard's mentions of what Brule saw are tantalizingly few and very vague, and the distances he stated are wildly impossible, so scholars have been reluctant to say Brule reached Wisconsin before Nicolet.
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