1823-1893. US historian and traveller, whose
work chronicles the European exploration and
conquest of North America, in such books as
The California and Oregon Trail 1849 and La
Salle and the Discovery of the Great West
1879. Parkman viewed the defeat by England of
the French at Quebec 1759 (described in his
Montcalm and Wolfe 1884) as the turning point
of North American history, insofar as it
swung the balance of power in North America
towards the British colonies, which would
form the United States of America.