"“Huronia” or Wendake is no longer the homeland of the Wendat. No longer able to resist the attacks of the Iroquois besieging them, the last refugees in the area left their haven on Christian Island for Quebec City in 1650."

This article is meant to provide a written and visual account of the native history of a very specific geographic area and to put it into context with the ebb and flow of the history of Ontario and North America in general. For researchers, we hope that the following will provide a valuable starting point.

There are many good sources of information on the Wendat. Please see the selected bibliography for some of the more accessible sources. The local Ojibwa and their allies, however, are very sparsely covered. We have attempted to pull together data from various sources and the information in this section more closely approaches the definition of original research. As for the section on the Wendat, we have stood on the shoulders of the giants who have published on the topic. We do hope our presentation provides a valuable synthesis of available sources.

It should be noted that, although Simcoe County is the focus of this study, it has been necessary to step outside these Euro-Canadian boundaries on a number of occasions. The Anishnabe people of Muskoka, for example, were connected politically to the larger group around Lake Simcoe. For this reason, they have been included in our presentation. The use of Simcoe County in the title is not entirely accurate or useful at times but it does provide a geographic centre stage for our story.

Introduction

Modern day Simcoe County is commonly referred to as "Huronia". This name honors the original inhabitants of the area. The Huron’s, however, referred to themselves as "Wendat" and the territory occupied by their Confederacy was called Wendake. Wendake has been translated as "the land surrounded by water". Situated in the extreme north of the County, Wendake was enveloped by Georgian Bay to the north and west and Lake Simcoe to the east. Many rivers and lesser lakes dotted the Wendat homeland. The inhabitants shared the belief of many of their neighbors that their world was created on the back of a turtle.

“Huronia” or Wendake is no longer the homeland of the Wendat. No longer able to resist the attacks of the Iroquois besieging them, the last refugees in the area left their haven on Christian Island for Quebec City in 1650.

Today, the aboriginal population of Simcoe County is made up of Algonkian-speaking Ojibwas, Potawatomis and Odawa. These people are culturally and politically linked through a shared history. The story of how these people came to this area and how the Wendat were forced to leave their homeland in the 17th century are just some of the topics in this discussion of the Native Peoples of Simcoe County.