Aboriginal peoples have lived in the Great Lakes region for at least 12,000 years. The Ojibwa, one of the largest nations, lived across a huge area of land in this region. Along the southern shores of Lake Ontario was the territory of the Iroquois. There were also other nations such as the Ottawa, the Huron, the Fox and the Mississauga in southern Ontario.
Their survival depended on hunting animals, gathering plants, and fishing in the lakes, rivers and streams.
Aboriginal peoples helped the early settlers in many ways. They taught the pioneers about herbs for medicine and new sources of food such as maple sugar and corn. They also showed them how to use animal hide for clothing, and how to travel on snowshoes or in birch bark canoes.
*web image courtesy of
The Ojibwa of Southern Ontario /Peter S. Schmalz/University of Toronto Press
