Which explorer named Point du Mardi Gras in 1699?

Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville named Point du Mardi Gras in 1699. On March 3, 1699—Mardi Gras day—his expedition camped beside a small tributary of the Mississippi River and gave the place this name in honor of the Catholic feast.

D’Iberville led the French expedition sent by King Louis XIV to defend France’s claim to Louisiana. His younger brother, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, accompanied him, which often causes quiz-takers to confuse the two men. Bienville later founded Mobile and became an important colonial administrator, but d’Iberville was the expedition’s leader and the person credited with naming the site.

The party had entered the Mississippi’s mouth the previous evening, on Lundi Gras, without realizing that René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle had explored and claimed the river for France in 1683. The nearby stream was also called Bayou Mardi Gras. The expedition helped establish the French colonial presence that later shaped Mobile, Biloxi, and New Orleans carnival traditions.