Wyandot people

Lore & Background

The Wyandot are primarily the descendants of the Etionnontateronnon (Tionontati) and Wendat who historically lived near the southern shores of Georgian Bay, part of Lake Huron, in what is now south-central Ontario. They are closely related to other Iroquoian peoples from the Great Lakes region including the Haudenosaunee, Erie, Neutral and Wenrohronon (Wenro). In the early 17th century, the Wendat, a confederacy of four nations, occupied the territory they called Wendake (Huronia) located between Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe. The Etionnontateronnon, also known as the Tionontati or the Petun, lived to the southwest of Wendake along the base of the Niagara Escarpment.

The Wendat and Etionnontateronnon were essentially two branches of the same cultural tree, sharing an almost identical way of life rooted in Iroquoian traditions. Both societies were organized into matrilineal clans and lived in palisaded villages of bark-covered longhouses, where they practised a 'Three Sisters' (maize, beans, and squash) agricultural economy. Wyandot (Wyandotte) stems from the Wendat word Waⁿdát which translates roughly as 'dwellers on the peninsula.' They were known to the French as the 'Huron.' This name is believed to be a derivation of the word hure (boar's head), a reference to the hairstyle of Wendat warriors.

The Etionnontateronnon, an Wendat word meaning 'people of the hill' were known to the French as the 'Petun,' an obsolete French word meaning tobacco. The Wendat and Petun spoke mutually intelligible languages of the Northern Iroquoian language family. Research by linguist John Steckley suggests that the Wyandot language which evolved after the Petun and Wendat were driven from their homeland is effectively a Petun dialect.

Steckley argues that the Petun element was the most significant contributor to the Wyandot's lasting cultural and linguistic identity. By the time the Petun/Wendat settled near Detroit around 1701 they were effectively functioning as the Wyandot people. Although they referred to themselves as the Wendat, the French continued to call them the Huron. British traders who encountered the Wendat in the Ohio Country in the mid-18th century recorded their name as Wyandot, and later applied this name to those in the Detroit area as well.

Reader's Guide

The Wyandot were the result of Wendat refugees merging with the Petun following the destruction of Wendake by the Haudenosaunee in 1649. Although the Wendat had been in conflict with the Haudenosaunee for many years, the nature of the conflict changed in the late 1640s. Supplied with firearms by the Dutch, the Haudenosaunee began conducting large-scale attacks against Wendat villages in 1647. After the destruction of roughly half their villages, the Wendat decided to abandon Wendake in 1649.

Many fled to Gahoendoe (Christian Island) and later to Île d'Orléans on the St. Lawrence River near Quebec. Others, primarily from the Attignawantan nation, took refuge with the Petun. With them was a population of Wenro who had fled Haudenosaunee aggression a decade earlier. The Petun were attacked by the Haudenosaunee in late 1649, dispersing them along with the Wendat and Wenro.

They decided to take refuge with the Odawa (Ottawa) to the north. They settled briefly on Mackinac Island before moving further west to Rock Island on Lake Michigan at the mouth of Green Bay. In 1659, they moved inland to the Black River. Conflict with the Sioux pushed them north to Chequamegon Bay on Lake Superior in 1661.

In 1671, they moved to Michilimackinac where the Jesuits had established the St. Ignace Mission. Kondiaronk, a Petun known to the French as Le Rat, became leader of the Petun/Wendat at Michilimackinac. In 1689, fearing that a treaty between the French and the Haudenosaunee would marginalize his people, he led an ambush against an Onondaga peace delegation travelling to Montreal. He captured the delegates and convinced them that the French had ordered the attack, a deception that effectively shattered the peace talks and reignited the war.

In 1701, he played a critical role in the negotiations that led to the Great Peace of Montreal. Despite being terminally ill, he gave a powerful final speech that helped unite 39 different Indigenous nations, ending decades of conflict between the Haudenousaunee, the French and France's Indigenous allies. He died a few days before the signing of the treaty in Montreal on Aug 4, 1701 and was accorded a grand funeral. His signature was added posthumously to the treaty in recognition of his contribution to the success of the event.