The
Mississaugas are a subtribe of the
Anishinaabe First Nations people located in southern
Ontario,
Canada, closely related to the
Ojibwa. The name "Mississauga" comes from the
Anishinaabe word
Misi-zaagiing, meaning "[Those at the] Great River-mouth."
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. But, the Mississaugas migrated along a northern route by the
Credit River, to
Georgian Bay, to what were later considered their traditional lands on the shores of
Lake Superior and northern
Lake Huron around the
Mississagi River. The Mississaugas then called for the core Anishinaabe to
Midewiwin (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.
By the time the
French explorers arrived in 1720, the Mississaugas were a distinct tribe of
Anishinaabe people. They had moved from the Mississagi River area southward into the
Kawartha lakes region. From this location, a smaller contingent moved southeast to an area along the
Credit River, just west of modern-day
Toronto. The
French identified the peoples as
Mississaugas.
Alternate forms of the name are Mississaga, Massassauga and Missisauga, plural forms of these three, and "Mississauga Indians". Before the Anishinaabe language replaced the
Wendat language in mid-17th century as the
lingua franca of the Great Lakes region, the Mississaugas were also known by their Wendat name.
When
Conrad Weiser conducted a census in
Logstown in 1748, he identified the people as
Tisagechroamis, his attempt at conveying their name in
Wendat.
exonym Other variants of the spelling were
Tisagechroamis,
Tisaghechroamis,
Tisagechroan,
Tisagechroanu and
Zisaugeghroanu. "The Tisagechroanu were the Mississagas from Lake Huron, a large tribe and French Indians, or under French influences. The name Tisagechroanue here is probably a misprint, for it is most often found Zisaugeghroanu."
In the waning years of the American Revolution, starting in 1781, the Mississaugas made a series of land cessions to the
British Crown that encompassed much of present-day southern
Ontario.
Legacy
Today
Historically, there are five
First Nations that make up the
Mississauga Nations. Today, the Mississaugas are the following:
One of the largest is the
Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nations. As of 2005, the Mississaugas of New Credit have a population of 1,375 which makes up a small part of the Ojibwa nation of 200,000 people.
