Since Time Immemorial — Aboriginal Peoples

First Arrivals

The first people came to the Ottawa region after the last ice age, some 6,500 years ago. They used the Ottawa River as a transportation corridor between the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, a pattern that has continued until recent times. Traces of early Aboriginal habitation have been found in the region at Leamy Lake and other sites along the Ottawa River.

Algonkian Homeland

By the time the Europeans arrived, the primary Aboriginal occupants of the Ottawa River valley were the Algonkian Indians. During the winter, they lived in small groups of two or three families, hunting and trapping. In the summer, they gathered into larger bands to hunt, fish and gather berries and roots and to carry out slash-and-burn agriculture. They used birch-bark canoes and snowshoes, which they taught the French newcomers to use.

The Name “Ottawa”

The name “Ottawa” is Aboriginal in origin but there are varying explanations of exactly where it came from. It is generally thought to be the Anglicized form of the name of an Aboriginal people living west of Ottawa, variously referred to as Outauac, Outaouais, or Outaouit. The Ottawa people were great traders and the river may have gotten its name from the fact that it was the river used by the Ottawa people, or perhaps the river leading to the nation of the Ottawa.

Middlemen in the Fur Trade

After the arrival of Europeans in New France, the Algonkians became middlemen in the fur trade. They levied tolls on other traders, such as the Huron who lived near Georgian Bay and travelled down the Ottawa River to trade with the French. Anxious to preserve this valuable economic position, the Algonkians tried to discourage the French from exploring the Ottawa River and making direct contact with the Hurons.

Arrival of the French

Étienne Brulé was the first European to explore the Ottawa River. In 1610, he was soon followed by famed French explorer Samuel de Champlain. In 1613, Champlain arrived in what is now the Capital and produced the first detailed maps of the region.

Champlain named several features in the region, including the Chaudières Falls (“chaudière” means “cauldron” or “kettle”) and the Rideau Falls (named because they looked like a curtain or “rideau”). Champlain also recorded that the Algonkians considered the Chaudières Falls, which they called Asticou, a sacred place and made offerings of tobacco to the spirits there.

In 1615, Champlain made another voyage as far as Georgian Bay and formed an alliance with the Hurons directly. This reduced the power of the Algonkians as middlemen.

Aboriginal Conflict — Dispersal of the Algonkians

During much of the 1600s, the Ottawa River was the scene of a struggle for control of the lucrative fur trade between the Hurons and the Iroquois (who were allies of the English). The Algonkians were caught in the middle of this war and suffered greatly. At the same time, their population was reduced by smallpox carried by the French. During the mid-1600s, the Algonkians moved away from the Ottawa River, eventually relocating to nearby locations such as Barrière Lake, River Desert (Maniwaki) and Golden Lake.