CHARLEVOIX, PIERRE FRANcOIS XAVIER DE (1682-1761), French Jesuit traveller and historian, was born at St. Quentin on Oct. 29, 1682. At 16 he entered the Society of Jesus; and at 23 was sent to Canada, where he remained for four years as professor at Quebec. In 1720-22, under orders from the regent, he visited America for the second time, and went along the Great Lakes and down the Mississippi. He died at La Fleche on Feb. 1, 1761.
Among his works are: Histoire de lisle Espagnole on de Saint Domingue (173o) , based on manuscript memoirs of P. Jean-Baptiste le Pers and original sources; Histoire de Paraguay (1756) ; Vie de la Mere Marie de l'Incarnation, institutrice et premiere superieure des Urselines de la Nouvelle France (1724 ) ; Histoire et description generale de la Nouvelle France ; in English 1769 ; tr. J. G. Shea, 1866-72) , a work of capital importance for Canadian history.