People of Detroit:
Jacques Cartier
Jacques Cartier discovered the St. Lawrence River and traveled up it to the area now known as Montreal. There he claimed the territory for France in 1535.
Links to more Jacques Cartier Sites
Glossary:
Algonquin
General term used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes (and others): Delaware, Fox, Huron, Miami, Ojibwa (Chippewa), Ottawa, Potawatomi, Sac, Shawnee and Winnebago.
Glossary:
arquebus
A 39 pound (approximate) musket that two men would prop on a tri-pod and fire with a small torch. The arquebus was used by Champlain's men against the Iroquois to defend the Hurons. This may be the cause of decades of Iroquois abuse of the Hurons.
Glossary:
clay and wattle
Building technique used in the construction of chimneys in the early days of Fort Ponchartrain. The technique involved piling sticks and packing them - inside and out - with clay and mud.
Glossary:
Colbertism
Name for early French mercantilism in America, which Jean-Baptiste Colbert was influential in developing.
Glossary:
conges
Trade permits issued by the Canadian government/court of France in the late 1600s to early 1700s.
Glossary:
coureurs de bois
Very early French inhabitants of the current US and Canada who gave up their farmsteads for lives in the fur trade. They often lived with Native Americans.
Glossary:
District of Hesse
Land district provisioned by the Canadian Council on July 24, 1788. The area was on the east side of the Detroit River.
Glossary:
Fox
"Properly ""Mesh-kwa-ki-hug"". Native American tribe living in the area between Saginaw Bay and Thunder Bay at the time Detroit was founded. The French called the tribe Renyard. An allied tribe of the Sacs and Mascoutin."
Glossary:
Huron
A Native American tribe that built a village near Fort Ponchartrain.
Glossary:
Iroquoian
General term sometimes used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes: Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca.
Glossary:
Iroquois
"A Native American tribe known for antagonizing and brutalizing the Hurons (see also arquebus)"
Glossary:
Mascouten
Native American tribe living in the Grand Traverse Bay area at the time Detroit was founded. An allied tribe of the Foxes and Sacs. Also spelled Mascoutin.
Glossary:
Miami
A Native American tribe that built a village near Fort Ponchartrain.
Glossary:
Muskhogean
General term used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes: Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Creek.
Glossary:
New York Currency
First standard currency used in Detroit (first used in 1765).
Glossary:
Ottawa
A Native American tribe that built a village near Fort Ponchartrain.
Glossary:
Outagamies
Native American tribe living in the Grand Traverse Bay area at the time Detroit was founded. An allied tribe of the Foxes (and Sacs?).
Glossary:
Plains Indians
General term used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes: Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, and Pawnee (Pani).
Glossary:
Potawatomi
A Native American tribe that built a village near Fort Ponchartrain.
Glossary:
Quebec Act
Act of June 22, 1774, in which British Parliament decides to exercise English law in criminal cases and old French provincial law in civil cases in western settlements. The idea was to discourage people from settling in the west.
Glossary:
Renyard
See Fox
Glossary:
ribbon farms
Original land grants given by Cadillac. The lots were typically around 200 feet wide at the river front, with lengths up to 3 miles.
Glossary:
Sac
See Sauk
Glossary:
Sakis
See Sauk
Glossary:
Sauk
Native American tribe living in the area between Saginaw Bay and Thunder Bay at the time Detroit was founded. The French called the tribe Sakis; English and Americans generally call them Sacs. An allied tribe of the Foxes/Renyards and Mascouten.
Glossary:
Shoshonean
General term used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes: Bannock and Shoshone.
Glossary:
Treaty of Montreal
Treaty ending the war between the Iroquois and France and England. Negotiations began in July of 1698 and the treaty was signed in August of 1701.
Glossary:
Treaty of Ryswick
September 20, 1697 treaty ending war between France and England.
Glossary:
voyageurs
Early French explorers who traveled mainly by water.