The Beaver Wars ( Mohawk : Tsianì kayonkwere ), also known as the Iroquois Wars or the French and Iroquois Wars ( French : Guerres franco-iroquoises ), were a series of conflicts fought intermittently during the 17th century in North America throughout the Saint Lawrence River valley in Canada and the Great Lakes region which pitted the Iroquois against the Hurons , northern Algonquians and their French allies. As a result of this conflict, the Iroquois destroyed several confederacies and tribes through warfare: the Hurons or Wendat, Erie , Neutral , Wenro , Petun , Susquehannock , Mohican and northern Algonquins whom they defeated and dispersed, some fleeing to neighbouring peoples and others assimilated, routed, or killed.
110-512: The Milwaukee County War Memorial is a memorial building located on Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, WI . It was designed by architect Eero Saarinen . Construction began in 1955 and the building was dedicated on Veterans Day in 1957. The mosaic mural by Edmund D. Lewandowski was installed in 1959. The mosaic uses more than one million pieces of glass and marble. The slightly abstracted Roman numerals, in shades of purple, blue, and rich black, are
220-659: A French alliance and migrated north towards Montreal to trade with the French. The Iroquois accidentally aided the French through their destruction and captivity of the Huron. The Iroquois attacked the Neutrals in 1650, and they completely drove the tribe from traditional territory by the end of 1651, killing or assimilating thousands. The Neutrals had inhabited a territory ranging from the Niagara Peninsula westward to
330-599: A designated scenic road system, connects all of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. The lake is a great place to view ice volcanoes, which typically occur at the start of the winter season. Beaver Wars The Iroquois sought to expand their territory to monopolize the fur trade with European markets. They originally were a confederacy of the Mohawk , Oneida , Onondaga , Cayuga , and Seneca tribes inhabiting
440-761: A fleet of 80 canoes traveled through Iroquois territory carrying a large harvest of furs to be sold in New France. When they arrived, however, the French refused to purchase the furs and told the Iroquois to sell them to the Hurons, who would act as a middleman. The Iroquois were outraged and resumed the war. The French decided to become directly involved in the conflict. The Huron and the Iroquois had an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 members each. The Hurons and Susquehannocks formed an alliance to counter Iroquois aggression in 1647, and their warriors greatly outnumbered those of
550-678: A line of waterways leading from the Saint Lawrence River to the Mississippi River and thence to the Gulf of Mexico . French coureurs des bois and voyageurs established small ports and trading communities, such as Green Bay, on the lake during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. In the 19th century, Lake Michigan was integral to the development of Chicago and the Midwestern United States west of
660-479: A parley. The survivors of the siege were eventually absorbed by the Iroquois. English settlers began to move into the former Dutch territory of upper New York State, and the colonists began to form close ties with the Iroquois as an alliance in the face of French colonial expansion. They began to supply the Iroquois with firearms as the Dutch had. At the same time, New France's governor Louis de Buade tried to revive
770-466: A point between Milwaukee and Racine to a point between Grand Haven and Muskegon, divides the lake into northern and southern basins. Each basin has a clockwise flow of water, deriving from rivers and winds. Prevailing westerly winds tend to move the surface water toward the east, producing a moderating effect on the climate of western Michigan. There is a mean difference in summer water temperatures of 5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit (2 to 5 degrees Celsius) between
880-763: A powerful tribe and brought together a confederacy of their neighboring allies, including the Pottawatomie and the Illini confederation who inhabited Michigan and Illinois . The majority of the fighting was between the Anishinaabeg Confederacy and the Iroquois Confederacy. The Iroquois improved on their warfare as they continued to attack even farther from their home. War parties often traveled by canoes at night, and they would sink their canoes and fill them with rocks to hold them on
990-498: A result of improvements to the Welland Canal in 1918, an invasion of sea lampreys and overharvesting , there has been a decline in native lake trout populations, ultimately causing an increase in the population of another invasive species, the alewife . As a result, salmonids, including various strains of brown trout , steelhead ( rainbow trout ), coho and chinook salmon , were introduced as predators in order to decrease
1100-694: A result. Indian raids were not constant, but they terrified the inhabitants of New France, and some of the heroes of French-Canadian folklore are individuals who stood up to such attacks. Dollard des Ormeaux , for example, died in May 1660 while resisting an Iroquois raiding force at the Battle of Long Sault , the confluence of the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa Rivers , but saved Montreal by his actions. In 1692, 14-year-old Marie-Madeleine Jarret successfully frustrated an Iroquois attack on Fort Verchères. In 1648,
1210-530: A row in 2020. Lake levels tend to be the lowest in winter. The normal low-water mark is 1.00 foot (30 cm) below datum ( 577.5 ft or 176.0 m ). In the winter of 1964, Lakes Michigan and Huron reached their lowest level at 1.38 feet (42 cm) below datum. As with the high-water records, monthly low-water records were set each month from February 1964 through January 1965. During this twelve-month period, water levels ranged from 1.38 to 0.71 feet (42–22 cm) below Chart Datum. The all-time low-water mark
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#17327728837561320-608: A smallpox epidemic in 1661, the Susquehannock easily withstood a siege by 800 Seneca, Cayuga and Onondaga in May 1663, and destroyed an Onondaga war party in 1666. War between the Iroquois and Susquehannock continued intermittently until 1674 when the Maryland colonists changed their Indian policy, negotiated peace with the Iroquois, and terminated their alliance with the Susquehannocks. Most historians believe that
1430-430: Is 46 fathoms 3 feet (279 ft; 85 m), while its greatest depth is 153 fathoms 5 feet (923 ft; 281 m). It contains a volume of 1,183 cubic miles (4,932 km ) of water. Green Bay in the northwest is its largest bay. Grand Traverse Bay in its northeast is another large bay. Lake Michigan's deepest region, which lies in its northern half, is called Chippewa Basin (named after prehistoric Lake Chippewa ) and
1540-805: Is controlled by the locks operated by the bi-national Lake Superior Board of Control . Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake that is wholly within the borders of the United States; the others are shared with Canada. Lake Michigan has a surface area of 22,404 sq mi (58,030 km ); (13,237 square miles (34,280 km ) lying in Michigan, 7,358 square miles (19,060 km ) in Wisconsin, 234 square miles (610 km ) in Indiana, & 1,576 square miles (4,080 km ) in Illinois) making it
1650-447: Is one of the five Great Lakes of North America . It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume (1,180 cu mi (4,900 km )) and depth (923 ft (281 m)) after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (22,405 sq mi (58,030 km )), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron . To the east, its basin is conjoined with that of Lake Huron through the wide and deep Straits of Mackinac , giving it
1760-564: Is separated from South Chippewa Basin by a relatively shallower area called the Mid Lake Plateau. In the mid 20th century, construction of the Saint Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway opened the Great Lakes to ocean-going vessels. But the wider ocean-going container ships that were developed later do not fit through the locks on these routes, which limits shipping on the lakes. Lake freighters are used on
1870-485: Is supported by tourism , with large seasonal populations attracted by Lake Michigan. Many seasonal residents have summer homes along the waterfront and return to other homes for the winter. The southern tip of the lake near Gary, Indiana, is heavily industrialized. Cities on the shores of Lake Michigan include: Illinois Indiana Michigan Wisconsin The National Park Service maintains
1980-479: The Abenakis who were allied with the French. The French Crown ordered a change to the governing of Canada. They put together a small military force made up of Frenchmen, Hurons, and Algonquins to counter the Iroquois raids, but the Iroquois attacked them when they ventured into the countryside. Only 29 of the French survived and escaped; five were captured and tortured to death by the Iroquois. Despite their victory,
2090-528: The Algonquins , Mahicans, Montagnais , and Hurons , and the alliance of these tribes with the French quickly brought the Iroquois into conflict directly with them. The expansion of the fur trade with Europe brought a decline in the beaver population in the region, and the animal had largely disappeared from the Hudson Valley by 1640. American Heritage Magazine notes that the growing scarcity of
2200-599: The Chicago Lakefront Trail . Where there are no beaches or marinas, stone or concrete revetments protect the shoreline from erosion. The Chicago lakefront is accessible for about 24 miles (39 km) between the city's southern and northern limits along the lake. Twelve million people live along Lake Michigan's shores, mainly in the Chicago and Milwaukee metropolitan areas. The economy of many communities in northern Michigan and Door County, Wisconsin ,
2310-595: The Conference of Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers , intergovernmental organization led by the governing chief executives of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Québec , and by the governors of the U.S. states of Illinois , Indiana , Michigan , Minnesota , New York , Ohio , Pennsylvania , and Wisconsin . The Conference came into force, in December 2008, with the enactment of laws in all of
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#17327728837562420-546: The Fox River , nearly to its headwaters , in their search for the Mississippi River . By the late 18th century, the eastern portions of the straits were controlled by Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island , a British colonial and early American military base and fur trade center, founded in 1781. With the advent of European exploration into the area in the late 17th century, Lake Michigan became used as part of
2530-813: The French and Indian War of 1754, which saw the French being largely expelled from North America. The wars and subsequent commercial trapping of beavers was devastating to the local beaver population. Trapping continued to spread across North America, extirpating or severely reducing populations across the continent. The natural ecosystems that came to rely on the beavers for dams , water and other vital needs were also devastated leading to ecological destruction , environmental change, and drought in certain areas. Beaver populations in North America would take centuries to recover in some areas, while others would never recover. French explorer Jacques Cartier in
2640-624: The Grand River valley. In 1654, the Iroquois attacked the Erie tribe, but with less success. The war lasted for two years, and the Iroquois destroyed the Erie confederacy by 1656, whose members refused to flee to the west. The Erie territory was located on the southeastern shore of Lake Erie and was estimated to have 12,000 members in 1650. The Iroquois were greatly outnumbered by the tribes that they subdued, but they achieved their victories through
2750-704: The Illinois Confederation of tribes), in addition to that of "Michigan". During the 1640s and 1650s, the Beaver Wars (over the fur trade with the European colonies), initiated by the Iroquois , forced a massive demographic-shift, as their western neighbors fled the violence. The Iroquois sought refuge to the west and north of Lake Michigan. The Straits of Mackinac were an important Native American travel corridor and fur-trade route. Located on
2860-725: The Ojibwe ᒥᓯᑲᒥ ( michi-gami or mishigami ), meaning "great water". Some of the most well-studied early human inhabitants of the Lake Michigan region were the Hopewell Native Americans . Their culture declined after 800 AD, when, for the following few hundred years, the region was the home of peoples known as the Late Woodland Native Americans . In the early 17th century, when Western European explorers made their first forays into
2970-947: The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and Indiana Dunes National Park . Parts of the shoreline are within the Hiawatha National Forest and the Manistee National Forest . The Manistee National Forest section of the shoreline includes the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness . The Lake Michigan division of the Michigan Islands National Wildlife Refuge is also within the lake, as are the Green Bay National Wildlife Refuge and
3080-507: The Wenro in 1638 and took all of their territory, and survivors fled to the Hurons for refuge. The Wenro had served as a buffer between the Iroquois and the Neutral tribe and their Erie allies. The Neutral and Erie tribes were considerably larger and more powerful than the Iroquois, so the Iroquois turned their attention to the north and the Dutch encouraged them in this strategy. At that time,
3190-535: The Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary . There are numerous state and local parks located on the shores of the lake or on islands within the lake: Lake Michigan is home to a small variety of fish species and other organisms. It was originally home to lake whitefish , lake trout , yellow perch , panfish , largemouth bass , smallmouth bass and bowfin , as well as some species of catfish . As
3300-712: The Wyandot . The Ottawa tribe temporarily halted Iroquois expansion further northwest, but the Iroquois controlled a fur-rich region and had no more tribes blocking them from the French settlements in Canada. Diseases had taken their toll on the Iroquois and neighbors in the years preceding the war, however, and their populations had drastically declined. To replace lost warriors, they worked to integrate many of their captured enemies by adoption into their own tribes. They invited Jesuits into their territory to teach those who had converted to Christianity. The Jesuits also reached out to
3410-464: The colony of New Netherland after the English took it over in 1664, along with Fort Amsterdam and the town of New Amsterdam on the island of Manhattan . The French then attempted to gain the Iroquois as an ally against the English, but the Iroquois refused to break their alliance, and frequently fought against the French in the 18th century. The Anglo-Iroquois alliance would reach its zenith during
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3520-749: The 1540s made the first written records of the Indians in America, although French explorers and fishermen had traded in the region near the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River estuary a decade before then for valuable furs. Cartier wrote of encounters with the St. Lawrence Iroquoians , also known as the Stadaconan or Laurentian people who occupied several fortified villages, including Stadacona and Hochelaga . He recorded an on-going war between
3630-623: The 1670s, the French began to explore and settle the Ohio and Illinois Country from the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, and they established the post of Tassinong to trade with the western tribes. The Iroquois destroyed it to retain control of the fur trade with the Europeans. The Iroquois also drove the Mannahoac tribe out of the northern Virginia Piedmont region in 1670, and they claimed
3740-509: The 50 sachems of the Iroquois Confederacy from their Onondaga council. These 50 chiefs constituted the top leaders of the Iroquois, and Denonville captured them and shipped them to Marseilles , France to be galley slaves. He then travelled down the shore of Lake Ontario and built Fort Denonville at the site where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario. This site was previously used by La Salle for Fort Conti from 1678 to 1679, and
3850-561: The Algonquians and Hurons were backed by the French, their chief trading partner. The Iroquois effectively destroyed several large tribal confederacies, including the Mohicans, Huron ( Wyandot ), Neutral, Erie, Susquehannock (Conestoga), and northern Algonquins, with the extreme brutality and exterminatory nature of the mode of warfare practised by the Iroquois causing some historians to label these wars as acts of genocide committed by
3960-632: The Americans emerged triumphant, the British parliament agreed to cede control over much of its territory in North America to the newly formed United States and worked to resettle American loyalists in Canada and provide some compensation for lands the Loyalists and Native Americans had lost to the United States. Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant led a large group of Iroquois out of New York to what became
4070-524: The Dutch allies of the Iroquois lost control of their colony of New Netherland to the English. In the immediate years after the Dutch defeat, European support waned for the Iroquois. The Onondaga, Seneca and Cayuga reached a peace settlement with the French, however, the Mohawk and Oneida remained unwilling. In January 1666, Governor Daniel de Rémy de Courcelle attempted to invade the Mohawk homeland. The invasion force of 400 to 500 men briefly skirmished with
4180-484: The Dutch authorized selling guns directly to the Mohawks rather than through traders, and promptly sold 400 to the Iroquois. The Confederacy sent 1,000 newly armed warriors through the woods to Huron territory with the onset of winter, and they launched a devastating attack into the heart of Huron territory, destroying several key villages, killing many warriors, and taking thousands of people captive for later adoption into
4290-645: The Dutch were the Iroquois' primary European trading partners, with their goods passing through Dutch trading posts down the Hudson River . As the Iroquois' sources of furs declined, however, so did the income of the trading posts. In 1641, the Mohawks traveled to Trois-Rivières in New France to propose peace with the French and their allied tribes, and they asked the French to set up a trading post in Iroquoia. Governor Montmagny rejected this proposal because it would imply abandonment of their Huron allies. In
4400-572: The Dutch. The Iroquois relied on the trade for firearms and other highly valued European goods for their livelihood and survival. They used their growing expertise with the arquebus to good effect in their continuing wars with the Algonquins and Hurons, and other traditional enemies. The French, meanwhile, outlawed the trading of firearms to their Indian allies, though they occasionally gave arquebuses as gifts to individuals who converted to Christianity. The Iroquois attacked their traditional enemies
4510-820: The French formed raiding parties with Indian allies to attack English settlements, (as the English had allied themselves with the Iroquois against the French) perpetrating the Schenectady massacre in the colony of New York , the Raid on Salmon Falls in New Hampshire , and the Battle of Fort Loyal in Portland, Maine . The French and their allies killed settlers in the raids and kidnapped some and took them back to Canada. Settlers in New England raised money to redeem
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4620-420: The French with valuable furs, and the Iroquois interfered with that trade. The first battle with the Iroquois in 1609 was fought at Champlain's initiative. Champlain wrote, "I had come with no other intention than to make war". He and his Huron and Algonkin allies fought a pitched battle against the Mohawks on the shores of Lake Champlain . Champlain single-handedly killed two chiefs with his arquebus despite
4730-429: The French, but these were largely ineffective. The most successful incursion resulted in the 1691 Battle of La Prairie . The French offensive was not halted by the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick that brought peace between France and England, ending English participation in that conflict. The Iroquois eventually began to see the emerging Thirteen Colonies as a greater threat than the French in 1698. The colony of Pennsylvania
4840-739: The Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, which harvest 50 percent of the Great Lakes commercial catch in Michigan waters, and 45 state-licensed commercial fishing enterprises. The prime commercial species is the lake whitefish. The annual harvest declined from an average of 11 million pounds (5,000,000 kg) from 1981 through to 1999 to more recent annual harvests of 8 to 9.5 million pounds (3,600,000 to 4,300,000 kg). The price for lake whitefish dropped from $ 1.04/lb. to as low as $ 0.40/lb during periods of high production. Sports fishing includes salmon, whitefish, smelt , lake trout and walleye as major catches. In
4950-736: The Great Lakes by way of the Erie Canal and Hudson River in New York. The Erie Canal connects to the Great Lakes at the east end of Lake Erie (at Buffalo, New York ) and at the south side of Lake Ontario (at Oswego, New York ). The lake fluctuates from month to month with the highest lake levels typically occurring in summer. The normal high-water mark is 2.00 feet (0.61 m) above datum ( 577.5 ft (176.0 m) ). In October 1986, Lakes Michigan and Huron reached their highest level at 5.92 feet (1.80 m) above datum. The monthly average high-water records were broken for several months in
5060-399: The Haudenosaunee inflicted a major defeat on the Susquehannock c. 1674 since the Jesuit Relations for 1675 reports that the Seneca "utterly defeated ... their ancient and redoubtable foes." In 1675, the Susquehannock moved south into Maryland. Later that year the militias of Virginia and Maryland besieged the Susquehannock fort, and assassinated the Susquehannock chiefs during
5170-410: The Iroquois Confederacy. They became dominant in the region and enlarged their territory, realigning the American tribal geography. The Iroquois gained control of the New England frontier and Ohio River valley lands as hunting ground from about 1670 onward. Both Algonquian and Iroquoian societies were greatly disrupted by these wars. The conflict subsided when the Iroquois lost their Dutch allies in
5280-511: The Iroquois also suffered a significant number of casualties, and their leaders began to consider negotiating for peace with the French. The tide of war began to turn in the mid-1660s with the arrival of the Carignan-Salières Regiment , a unit of roughly 1000 regular troops from France and the first group of uniformed professional soldiers in Canada. A change in administration led the government of New France to authorize direct sale of arms and other military support to their Indian allies. In 1664,
5390-493: The Iroquois and other native tribes in the Great Lakes region greatly impacted the future of French colonies, as well as the native tribes in the region. New France was far less profitable and much more violent than Champlain and other French leaders had hoped. The French involvement in native trade caused the French to entangle with complex native alliances, which pitted tribes against the French, and each other. French involvement also introduced disease, weapons, and war, which led to
5500-427: The Iroquois and their enemies. With the renewal of hostilities, the militia of New France was strengthened after 1683 by a small force of regular French navy troops in the Compagnies Franches de la Marine , who constituted the longest serving unit of French regular troops in New France. In June 1687, Governor Denonville and Pierre de Troyes set out with a well organized force to Fort Frontenac , where they met with
5610-414: The Iroquois could receive in exchange for animal pelts. they began large-scale hunting for furs to satisfy demand among their peoples for new products. At this time, conflict began to grow between the Iroquois Confederacy and the tribes supported by the French. The Iroquois inhabited the region of New York south of Lake Ontario and west of the Hudson River . Their lands were surrounded on all sides but
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#17327728837565720-474: The Iroquois, many of whom converted to Roman Catholicism or intermingled its teachings with their own traditional beliefs. Despite these battles looking like massive successes for the Iroquois, such victories brought issues to the nation. The Iroquois had taken more captives than they could assimilate, which led to divisions and factions within the nation. Many captives held onto their prior beliefs instead of assimilating as well. Large divisions went on to embrace
5830-472: The Iroquois. In the early 1650s, the Iroquois began attacking the French themselves, although some of the Iroquois tribes had peaceful relations with them, notably the Oneida and Onondaga tribes. They were under control of the Mohawks, however, who were the strongest tribe in the Confederation and had animosity towards the French presence. After a failed peace treaty negotiated by Chief Canaqueese , Iroquois moved north into New France along Lake Champlain and
5940-468: The Iroquois. Several tribes ultimately moved west beyond the Mississippi River , leaving much of the Ohio Valley, southern Michigan, and southern Ontario depopulated. Several Anishinaabe forces numbering in the thousands remained to the north of Lakes Huron and Superior, and they were later decisive in rolling back the Iroquois advance. From west of the Mississippi, displaced groups continued to arm war parties and attempt to retake their land. Beginning in
6050-473: The Iroquois. The Hurons tried to break the Iroquois Confederacy by negotiating a separate peace with the Onondaga and Cayuga tribes, but the other tribes intercepted their messengers and ended the negotiations. During the summer of 1647, there were several small skirmishes between the tribes, but a more significant battle occurred in 1648 when the two Algonquin tribes passed a fur convoy through an Iroquois blockade. They succeeded and inflicted high casualties on
6160-419: The Iroquois. Using their new firearms, the Confederacy laid an ambush near South Bend, Indiana , and they attacked and destroyed most of the Iroquois party, and a large part of the region was left depopulated. The Iroquois were unable to establish a permanent presence, as their tribe was unable to colonize the large area, and the Iroquois' brief control over the region was lost. Many of the former inhabitants of
6270-505: The Michigan state stone, can be found. The beaches of the western coast and the northernmost part of the east coast are often rocky, with some sandy beaches. The southern and eastern beaches are typically sandy and dune-covered. This is partly because of the prevailing winds from the west (which also cause thick layers of ice to build on the eastern shore in winter). The Chicago city waterfront has been developed for parks, beaches , harbors and marinas, and residential developments connected by
6380-456: The Mississippi onto the Great Plains in the early 18th century, where they adopted the horse culture and nomadic lifestyle for which they later became known. Other refugees flooded the Great Lakes area, resulting in a conflict with existing tribes in the region. In the Ohio Country, the Shawnee and Miami tribes were dominant. The Iroquois quickly overran Shawnee holdings in central Ohio, forcing them to flee into Miami territory. The Miamis were
6490-430: The Mohawk but failed to reach their villages as the French soldiers were ill-equipped to operate in the cold and deep snow. The second invasion force was led by Alexandre de Prouville de Tracy whom Louis XIV had appointed as Lieutenant Général of the Americas. The invasion force of about 1,300 men set out September 1666 and reached the Mohawk villages in mid-October. The villages had been hastily abandoned. Tracy ordered
6600-441: The Mohawks defeated the Mohicans , pushing them east of the Hudson River and establishing a monopoly of trade with the Dutch at Fort Orange , New Netherland . The Susquehannocks were also well armed by Dutch traders, and they effectively reduced the strength of the Delawares and managed to win a protracted war with Maryland colonists . By the 1630s, the Iroquois had become fully armed with European weaponry through their trade with
6710-471: The Northwest. It maintained a claim to the region using the Iroquois right of conquest until the company was dissolved in 1798 by the United States Supreme Court . Many of the Iroquois people allied with the British during the American Revolutionary War , particularly warriors from the Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga and Seneca nations. These nations had longstanding trade relations with the British and hoped they might stop American encroachment on their lands. After
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#17327728837566820-406: The Ohio Country and the lower Allegheny River . The Miami tribe returned to take control of Indiana and northwest Ohio. The Pottawatomie went to Michigan , and the Illinois tribe to Illinois . The peace lasted into the 1720s. In 1768, several of the Thirteen Colonies purchased the "Iroquois claim" to the Ohio and Illinois Country and created the Indiana Land Company to hold the claim to all of
6930-418: The Port District, Calumet Harbor , is maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers . Two passenger and vehicle ferries operate ferry services across Lake Michigan, both connecting Wisconsin on the western shore with Michigan on the east. From May to October, the historic steamship, SS Badger , operates daily between Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and Ludington, Michigan, connecting U.S. Highway 10 between
7040-445: The Richelieu River, attacking and blockading Montreal. By 1650, they controlled the area from the Virginia Colony in the south up to the St. Lawrence. In the west, the Iroquois had driven the Algonquin-speaking Shawnee out of the Ohio Country and seized control of the Illinois Country as far west as the Mississippi River. In January 1666, the French invaded the Iroquois and took Chief Canaqueese prisoner. In September, they proceeded down
7150-449: The Richelieu but were unable to find an Iroquois army, so they burned their crops and homes. Many Iroquois died from starvation in the following winter. During the following years, the Iroquois strengthened their confederacy to work more closely and create an effective central leadership, and the five tribes ceased fighting among themselves by the 1660s. They also easily coordinated military and economic plans, and they increased their power as
7260-406: The Stadaconans and another tribe known as the Toudaman . Wars and politics in Europe distracted French efforts at colonization in the St. Lawrence Valley until the beginning of the 17th century, when they founded Quebec in 1608. When the French returned to the area, they found both sites abandoned by the Stadacona and Hochelaga and completely destroyed, and they found no inhabitants in this part of
7370-506: The Susquehannock negotiating Articles of Peace and Friendship with Maryland. An Oneida raid on the Piscataway in 1660 led Maryland to expand its treaty with the Susquehannock into an alliance. The Maryland assembly authorized armed assistance, and described the Susquehannock as "a Bullwarke and Security of the Northern Parts of this Province." 50 men were sent to help defend the Susquehannock village. Muskets, lead and powder were acquired from both Maryland and New Netherland. Despite suffering
7480-406: The U.S. states of Wisconsin , Illinois , Indiana , and Michigan . Ports along its shores include Chicago , Illinois, Gary , Indiana, Milwaukee and Green Bay , Wisconsin, and Muskegon , Michigan. To the north, the lake is flanked by long bays , including Green Bay in the northwest, and Grand Traverse and Little Traverse bays in the northeast. The word michigan is believed to come from
7590-414: The Wisconsin and Michigan shores. Hydrologically Michigan and Huron are the same body of water (sometimes called Lake Michigan-Huron ) but are normally considered distinct. Counted together, it is the largest body of fresh water in the world by surface area. The Mackinac Bridge is generally considered the dividing line between them. The main inflow to Lake Michigan from Lake Superior, through Lake Huron,
7700-399: The beaver in the lands controlled by the Iroquois in the middle 17th century accelerated the wars. The center of the fur trade shifted north to the colder regions of southern Ontario, an area controlled by the Neutral and Huron tribes who were close trading partners with the French. With the decline of the beaver population, the Iroquois began to conquer their smaller neighbors. They attacked
7810-452: The beginning and ending dates of the U.S. involvement in the Second World War and the Korean War . MCMXLI (1941) through MCMXLV (1945) refers to World War II, and MCML (1950) through MCMLIII (1953) refers to the Korean War. This article about a building or structure in Wisconsin is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Lake Michigan Lake Michigan ( / ˈ m ɪ ʃ ɪ ɡ ən / MISH -ig-ən )
7920-422: The bottom via submersible as part of a research expedition. The warming of Lake Michigan was the subject of a 2018 report by Purdue University . In each decade since 1980, steady increases in obscure surface temperature have occurred. This is likely to lead to decreasing native habitat and to adversely affect native species survival, including game fish. The Milwaukee Reef , running under Lake Michigan from
8030-399: The captives, but some were adopted into the tribes. The French government generally did not intervene when the Indians kept the captives. Throughout the 1690s, the French and their allies also continued to raid deep into Iroquois territory, destroying Mohawk villages in 1692 and raiding Seneca, Oneida, and Onondaga villages. The English and Iroquois banded together for operations aimed against
8140-477: The early 1640s, the war began in earnest with Iroquois attacks on frontier Huron villages along the St. Lawrence River in order to disrupt the trade with the French. In 1645, the French called the tribes together to negotiate a treaty to end the conflict, and Iroquois leaders Deganaweida and Koiseaton traveled to New France to take part in the negotiations. The French agreed to most of the Iroquois demands, granting them trading rights in New France. The next summer,
8250-516: The lake. For example, 90% of the grain shipped from Chicago traveled by ships east over Lake Michigan during the antebellum years. The volume rarely fell below 50% after the Civil War even with the major expansion of railroad shipping . The first person to reach the deep bottom of Lake Michigan was J. Val Klump , a scientist at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in 1985. Klump reached
8360-561: The lakes that are too large to pass the locks and enter the ocean. Despite their vast size, large sections of the Great Lakes freeze in winter, interrupting most shipping. Some icebreakers ply the lakes. Lake Michigan is connected by the Illinois Waterway to the Gulf of Mexico via the Illinois River and the Mississippi River. Commercial tug-and-barge traffic on these waterways is heavy. Pleasure boats can enter or exit
8470-487: The land by right of conquest as a hunting ground. The English acknowledged this claim in 1674 and again in 1684, but they acquired the land from the Iroquois by a 1722 treaty. During a raid into the Illinois Country in 1689, the Iroquois captured numerous prisoners and destroyed a sizable Miami settlement. The Miami asked for aid from others in the Anishinaabeg Confederacy, and a large force gathered to track down
8580-463: The lands in what is now Upstate New York along the shores of Lake Ontario east to Lake Champlain and Lake George on the Hudson River , and the lower-estuary of the Saint Lawrence River. The Iroquois Confederation led by the Mohawks mobilized against the largely Algonquian -speaking tribes and Iroquoian -speaking Huron and related tribes of the Great Lakes region. The Iroquois were supplied with arms by their Dutch and English trading partners;
8690-472: The largest lake entirely within one country by surface area ( Lake Baikal in Russia is larger by water volume) and the fifth-largest lake in the world. It is the larger half of Lake Michigan–Huron , which is the largest body of fresh water in the world by surface area. It is 307 miles (494 km) long by 118 miles (190 km) wide with a shoreline 1,640 miles (2,640 km) long. The lake's average depth
8800-457: The late 1960s, successful stocking programs for Pacific salmon led to the development of Lake Michigan's charter fishing industry. Like all of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan is today used as a major mode of transport for bulk goods. In 2002, 162 million net tons of dry bulk cargo were moved via the Lakes. This was, in order of volume: iron ore, grain and potash . The iron ore and much of
8910-512: The longhouses and fields of crops destroyed, and the expedition returned to New France. A peace settlement was reached with the Mohawk and Oneida in July 1667. Once peace was achieved with the French, the Iroquois returned to their westward conquest in their continued attempt to take control of all the land between the Algonquins and the French. Eastern tribes such as the Lakotas were pushed across
9020-560: The loss of Albany 's fur trade with the Iroquois and, without their protection, the northern flank of the Thirteen Colonies would be open to French attack. Nevertheless, the French and Indians signed the treaty. The French and 39 Indian chiefs signed the Great Peace of Montreal in 1701. The Iroquois agreed to stop marauding and to allow refugees from the Great Lakes to return east. The Shawnee eventually regained control of
9130-446: The lower water levels in 2013 were a combination of the "lack of a large snowpack" in the winter of 2011/2012 coupled with very hot and dry conditions in the summer of 2012. Since then water levels rebounded, rising more than 6 feet (1.8 meters) to historical record high levels. Lake Michigan, like the other Great Lakes, supplies drinking water to millions of people in bordering areas. The Great Lakes are collectively administered by
9240-575: The mid-19th century. Several ferries currently operate on the Great Lakes to carry passengers to various islands, including Beaver Island and Bois Blanc Island (Michigan) . Currently, two car ferry services traverse Lake Michigan from around April to November: the SS Badger, a steamer from Ludington, Michigan, to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and the Lake Express , a high speed catamaran from Milwaukee to Muskegon, Michigan. The Great Lakes Circle Tour ,
9350-408: The more southerly Susquehannock tribe. The Dutch founded Fort Nassau in 1614 and its 1624 replacement Fort Orange (both at Albany) which removed the Iroquois' need to rely on the French and their allied tribes or to travel through southern tribal territories to reach European traders. The Dutch supplied the Mohawks and other Iroquois with guns. In addition, the new post offered valuable tools that
9460-513: The region, they encountered descendants of the Late Woodland Native Americans, mainly the historic Chippewa , Menominee , Sauk , Fox , Winnebago , Miami , Ottawa and Potawatomi peoples. The French explorer Jean Nicolet is believed to have been the first European to reach Lake Michigan, possibly in 1634 or 1638. In the earliest European maps of the region, the name of Lake Illinois has been found (named for
9570-737: The reserve of the Six Nations of the Grand River in Ontario. The new lands granted to Six Nations reserves were all near Canadian military outposts and placed along the border to prevent any American incursions. The coalition of Native American tribes, known as the Western Confederacy , was forced to cede extensive territory, including much of present-day Ohio, in the Treaty of Greenville in 1795. New France's involvement with
9680-486: The river bottom. They would then move through the woods to a target and burst from the wood to cause the greatest panic. After the attack, they returned to their boats and left before any significant resistance could be put together. The lack of firearms caused the Algonquin tribes the greatest disadvantage. Despite their larger numbers, they were not centralized enough to mount a united defense and were unable to withstand
9790-406: The same surface elevation as its easterly counterpart; geologically, the two bodies are a single lake that is, by area, the largest freshwater lake in the world. Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake located fully in the United States; the other four are shared between the U.S. and Canada. It is the world's largest lake , by area, located fully in one country, and is shared, from west to east, by
9900-524: The shoreline, the dunes rise several hundred feet above the lake surface. Large dune formations can be seen in many state parks, national forests and national parks along the Indiana and Michigan shoreline. Some of the most expansive and unique dune formations can be found at Indiana Dunes National Park , Saugatuck Dunes State Park , Warren Dunes State Park , Hoffmaster State Park , Silver Lake State Park , Ludington State Park , and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore . Small dune formations can be found on
10010-610: The south by Algonquian-speaking tribes, all traditional enemies, including the Shawnee to the west in the Ohio Country , the Neutral Nation and Huron confederacies on the western shore of Lake Ontario and southern shore of Lake Huron to the west, and the Susquehannock to their south. These tribes were historically competitive with and sometimes enemies of the Iroquois, who had Five Nations in their confederacy. In 1628,
10120-407: The southern side of the straits sits the town of Mackinaw City, Michigan , the site of Fort Michilimackinac (a reconstructed French fort founded in 1715); on the northern side is St. Ignace, Michigan , site of a French Catholic mission to the Indians (founded in 1671). In 1673, Jacques Marquette , Louis Jolliet , and their crew of five Métis voyageurs followed Lake Michigan to Green Bay and up
10230-412: The states and the two provinces, and the enactment of a United States federal law. Environmental problems can still plague the lake. Steel mills and refineries operate near the Indiana shoreline. The Chicago Tribune reported that BP is a major polluter, dumping thousands of pounds of raw sludge into the lake every day from its Whiting, Indiana , oil refinery. In March 2014 BP's Whiting refinery
10340-620: The stone and coal are used in the steel industry. There is also some shipping of liquid and containerized cargo, but most container vessels cannot pass the locks on the Saint Lawrence Seaway because the ships are too wide. The total amount of shipping on the lakes has been on a downward trend for several years. The Port of Chicago , operated by the Illinois International Port District , has grain (14 million bushels) and bulk liquid (800,000 barrels) storage facilities along Lake Calumet . The central element of
10450-479: The territory began to return. With the tribes destroyed to the north and west, the Iroquois turned their attention southward to the Susquehannock . The Susquehannock attained the peak of their influence in the 1650s, and they were able to use that to their advantage in the following decades. In the winter of 1652, the Susquehannock were attacked by the Mohawk, and although the attack was repulsed, it led to
10560-606: The tribe. Among those killed were Jesuit missionaries Jean Brebeuf , Charles Garnier , and Gabriel Lallemant , each of whom is considered a martyr of the Roman Catholic Church. The surviving Hurons fled and were dispersed from their territory, some taking refuge with the Jesuits at Quebec , some assimilated and adopted by the Iroquois , others joined the Petun or Tobacco nation, another Iroquoian people to become
10670-502: The two cities. The Lake Express , established in 2004, carries passengers and vehicles across the lake between Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Muskegon, Michigan. Tourism and recreation are major industries on all of the Great Lakes. A few small cruise ships operate on Lake Michigan, including a couple of sailing ships. Many other water sports are practiced on the lakes, such as yachting, sea kayaking, diving, kitesurfing and lake surfing. Great Lakes passenger steamers have been operating since
10780-584: The upper river valley—although the Iroquois and the Huron used it as hunting ground. The causes remain unclear, although some anthropologists and historians have suggested that the Mohawk Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy destroyed or drove out the St. Lawrence Iroquoians. Before 1603, Champlain had formed an alliance against the Iroquois, as he decided that the French would not trade firearms to them. The northern Indigenous provided
10890-407: The use of firearms purchased from the Dutch. The Iroquois continued to control the countryside of New France, raiding to the edges of the walled settlements of Quebec and Montreal. In May 1660, an Iroquois force of 160 warriors attacked Montreal and captured 17 French colonists. The following year, 250 warriors attacked and took ten captives. In 1661 and 1662, the Iroquois made several raids against
11000-496: The vitality of native fish populations. Fisheries in inland waters of the United States are small compared to marine fisheries. The largest fisheries are the landings from the Great Lakes, worth about $ 14 million in 2001. Michigan's commercial fishery today consists mainly of 150 tribe-licensed commercial fishing operations through the Chippewa-Ottawa Resource Authority and tribes belonging to
11110-485: The war chiefs' "arrowproof body armor made of plaited sticks", after which the Mohawk withdrew in disarray. In 1610, Champlain and his French companions helped the Algonquins and the Hurons defeat a large Iroquois raiding party. In 1615, he joined a Huron raiding party and took part in a siege on an Iroquois town, probably among the Onondaga south of Lake Ontario in New York. The attack ultimately failed, and Champlain
11220-418: The water is usually clear and cool, between 55 and 80 °F (13 and 27 °C), even in the late summer months. However, because prevailing westerly winds tend to move the surface water toward the east, there is a flow of warmer water to the Michigan shore in the summer. The sand dunes located on the east shore of Lake Michigan are the largest freshwater dune system in the world. In multiple locations along
11330-464: The western fur trade. His efforts competed with those of the Iroquois to control the traffic and they started attacking the French again. The war lasted ten years. In 1681, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle , negotiated a treaty with the Miami and Illinois tribes. France lifted the ban on the sale of firearms to the Indians, and colonists quickly armed the Algonquin tribes, evening the odds between
11440-729: The western shore of Lake Michigan at Illinois Beach State Park , and moderate-sized dune formations can be found in Kohler-Andrae State Park and Point Beach State Forest in Wisconsin. A large dune formation can be found in Whitefish Dunes State Park in Wisconsin in the Door Peninsula . Lake Michigan beaches in Northern Michigan are the only place in the world, aside from a few inland lakes in that region, where Petoskey stones ,
11550-625: The wildlife population. This program was so successful that the introduced population of trout and salmon exploded, resulting in the creation of a large sport fishery for these introduced species. Lake Michigan is now stocked annually with steelhead, brown trout, and coho and chinook salmon, which have also begun natural reproduction in some Lake Michigan tributaries. However, several introduced invasive species, such as lampreys, round goby , zebra mussels and quagga mussels , continue to cause major changes in water clarity and fertility, resulting in knock-on changes to Lake Michigan's ecosystem, threatening
11660-605: Was eclipsed in January 2013. In January 2013, Lake Michigan's monthly mean water levels dipped to an all-time low of 576.2 ft (175.6 m), reaching their lowest ebb since record keeping began in 1918. The lakes were 29 in (0.74 m) below their long-term average and had declined 17 inches since January 2012. Keith Kompoltowicz, chief of watershed hydrology for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ' district office in Detroit , explained that biggest factors leading to
11770-456: Was founded in 1681, and the continued growth there began to encroach on the southern border of the Iroquois. The French policy began to change towards the Iroquois after nearly fifty years of warfare, and they decided that befriending them would be the easiest way to ensure their monopoly on the northern fur trade. The Thirteen Colonies heard of the treaty and immediately set about to prevent it from being agreed upon. These conflicts would result in
11880-544: Was injured. In 1610–1614, the Dutch established a series of seasonal trading posts on the Hudson and Delaware rivers, including one on Castle Island at the eastern edge of Mohawk territory near Albany. This gave the Iroquois direct access to European markets via the Mohawks. The Dutch trading efforts and eventual colonies in New Jersey and Delaware soon also established trade with the coastal Delaware tribe (Lenape) and
11990-533: Was later used for Fort Niagara which still exists. The Iroquois retaliated by destroying farmsteads and slaughtering entire families. They burned Lachine to the ground on August 4, 1689. Frontenac replaced Denonville as governor for the next nine years (1689–1698), and he recognized the danger created by the imprisonment of the sachems. He located the 13 surviving leaders and returned with them to New France in October 1698. During King William's War (1688–1697),
12100-633: Was responsible for spilling more than 1,600 US gallons (6,100 L) of oil into the lake. Lake Michigan has many beaches. The region is often referred to as the " Third Coast " of the United States, after those of the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean . The sand is often soft and off-white, known as " singing sands " because of the squeaking noise (caused by high quartz content) it emits when walked upon. Some beaches have sand dunes covered in green beach grass and sand cherries , and
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