Mississaugas

The Mississaugas are a group of First Nations peoples located in southern Ontario, Canada. They are a sub-group of the Ojibwe Nation.[1][2]

For the city, see Mississauga.
Range of Anishinaabe-Anishinini around 1800, including the Mississauga in dark blue

Etymology

The name "Mississauga" comes from the Anishinaabe word Misi-zaagiing, meaning "[Those at the] Great River-mouth." It is closely related to the Ojibwe word Miswe-zaagiing, which means ‘a river with many outlets.’

History

According to the oral histories of the Anishinaabe, after departing the "Second Stopping Place" near Niagara Falls, the core Anishinaabe peoples migrated along the shores of Lake Erie to what is now southern Michigan. They became "lost" both physically and spiritually. The Mississauga migrated along a northern route by the Credit River, to Georgian Bay. These were considered their historic traditional lands on the shores of Lake Superior and northern Lake Huron around the Mississagi River. The Mississauga called for the core Anishinaabe to Midewiwin, meaning 'return to the path of the good life'. The core Anishinaabe peoples formed the Council of Three Fires and migrated from their "Third Stopping Place" near the present city of Detroit to their "Fourth Stopping Place" on Manitoulin Island, along the eastern shores of Georgian Bay.

The homelands of the Mississaugas were originally claimed by the Huron/Wyandot, who were driven off by the Haudenosaunee in the Beaver Wars in 1649/50.[3] The Ojibwe Anishinaabe then moved into the area around 1700, pushing out the Haudenosaunee.[3] The French had previously called an Anishinaabe band near the Mississagi River Oumisagai or Mississauga and for unknown reasons began to apply that name to the Ojibwe who took over the lands immediately north of Lake Ontario.[3] On the 1675 Carte du Mississippi et des lacs Supérieur, Michigan et Huron, the Mississauga were recorded as "Missisakingdachirinouek"[4] (Misi-zaaging dash ininweg: "Regular-speakers of the Great River-mouth"). This was not how the Mississaugas originally knew themselves,[3] but they eventually adopted the name and use it today.

When Conrad Weiser conducted a census in Logstown in 1748, he identified the people as Tisagechroamis, his attempt at conveying the sound of their exonym name in Wendat. Other variants of this spelling were Tisagechroamis, Tisaghechroamis, Tisagechroan, Tisagechroanu, and Zisaugeghroanu. "The Tisagechroanu were the Mississagas from Lake Huron, a large tribe of French Indians, or under French influences. The name Tisagechroanue here is probably a misprint, for it is most often found Zisaugeghroanu."[2]

Map shows the subdivisions and purchase of the Indian Reserve on the Credit River, and 12 Mile and 16 Mile creeks. The purchase took place in 1806, but this map was published in 1820 by the Department of Indian Affairs.

In the waning years of the American Revolution, starting in 1781, the British Crown purchased land from the Mississauga in a series of transactions that encompassed much of present-day southern Ontario. They purchased the land to fulfill promises made in the 'Haldimand Deed', land promised to the Haudenosaunne of the Six Nations' Iroquois Confederacy for their allied support in the war, and to compensate them for losses of former territory to American colonists. But Britain, and subsequently Canada, reneged on many of their promises, as Lieutenant Governor Simcoe sought instead to make land grants to United Empire Loyalists and other white settlers seeking farmland.

In 1848, the Haudenosaunee granted land to the Mississauga within the former's Six Nations Reserve on Grand River. The Mississauga became established on the New Credit.[1] Beginning in the 19th century, the Mississauga sought to gain compensation for the land granted to them but given to other settlers. In the 21st century, the Canadian government awarded the Mississauga of the New Credit First Nation nearly $145 million in settlement of this land claim.

Legacy

Today

All the Mississaugas are a subset of the Ojibwe nation of 200,000 people.

Historically, there were five First Nations that made up the Mississauga Nations. Today, there are six, listed here along with their historical counterparts, where applicable:

Notable people

See also

References
  1. "The History of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation" (PDF). mncfn.ca. Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  2. George Thornton Fleming, Vol. 1, History of Pittsburgh and environs, from prehistoric days to the beginning of the American revolution, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Digital Research Library, 1999
  3. Smith, Donald B. (2013). Sacred Feathers: The Reverend Peter Jones (Kahkewaquonaby) and the Mississauga Indians. University of Toronto Press. pp. 19 & 20. ISBN 978-1-4426-1563-2.
  4. Anonymous [Bernou, Claude?] (1675): [Carte du Mississippi et des lacs Supérieur, Michigan et Huron.]
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