Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut ( 1639 – 25 February 1710) was a French soldier and explorer who is the first European known to have visited the area where the city of Duluth, Minnesota, United States, is now located and the head of Lake Superior in Minnesota. His name is sometimes anglicized as "DuLuth", and he is the namesake of Duluth, Minnesota, as well as Duluth, Georgia. Daniel Greysolon signed himself "Dulhut" on surviving manuscripts.
Early life
He was born about 1639 in Saint-Germain-Laval, near Saint-Étienne (then in Forez), France, and first visited New France in 1674.
Exploration
In September 1678, Dulhut left Montreal for Lake Superior, spending the winter near Sault Sainte Marie and reaching the western end of the lake in the fall of the following year, where he concluded peace talks between the Anishinaabe (Saulteur) and Dakota (Sioux) peoples. On 2 July 1679, DuLhut planted the flag of France "in the great village of the Nadouecioux, called Izatys", a Dakota Mdewakanton town on what is now called Mille Lacs Lake. In June 1680, Duluth heard of the capture of a Catholic priest by the name of "Louis Henpin" (Louis Hennepin) who had been captured by other "Nadouecioux" (Sioux), among whom Duluth was living.