Explorer; born in
Gaeta, Italy, about 1650; son of
Lorenzo Tonti; inventor of the Tontine system of association; entered the
French army in his youth, and in the
French naval service he lost a hand.
In 1678 he accompanied
La Salle to
Canada, and assisted him in his Western explorations, building a fort on the site of
Peoria, Ill., in 1680.
He descended the
Mississippi to its mouth with
La Salle in 1682.
In 1684 he went to the mouth of the
Mississippi to meet
La Salle, and attempted a settlement of Europeans in
Arkansas.
In 1685 he incited a force of Western Indians to attack the Senecas.
Again he went down to the
Gulf to meet
La Salle, and was again disappointed; and in 1699 he went down to meet
Iberville, and remained in the
Gulf region, dying in
Fort St. Louis,
Mobile, in September, 1704.