The French in Michigan

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The French in Michigan

Let's get started!

Which places in our state have French history??

Notice all these Midwest place names ithat are French!

France in North America

What OTHER places in Michigan have a French name? Make a list!

At that time, the French wanted to develop their trade with China and Asia. From France, it was difficult to go to China by traveling toward the east on land. Maybe they could to China by boat, if they could find a water route that went through North America! So they wanted to explore.

In the 16th century (the 1500s), North America was populated by many Native American tribes. But the French, like the English and the Spanish, thought they could benefit from this rich land --a land that was unknown for the French.

Who were the Native people living in Canada?

France in North America

Next, the French founded a second settlement on an island in the St. Lawrence River, a site that was also inhabited by Native people: this is Montreal!

In 1603, Samuel de Champlain first came to North America. In 1608 he established a small "habitation" or settlement on a site where Native people lived already. Today, this is Quebec City.

The French king decided to send men to explore this new continent. First, Jacques Cartier came down the huge St. Lawrence River several times starting in 1534. He met Native people who lived in that region. But the French did start any towns yet.

Click here to learn more about Father Marquette in Michigan!

Who were the Native people living in Michigan?

France in North America

In 1673, Louis Jolliet and Father Marquette were the first Frenchmen to see the Mississippi River. They came down Green Bay and crossed what is today Wisconsin by taking the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers. They traveled south partway to the Gulf of Mexico and returned home through Illinois and Lake Michigan. On their trip, they were guided by Native people and they met other Natives up and down the Mississippi.

By 1645, the French had founded small settlements in Canada: Quebec City, Trois-Rivières, and Montreal. Frenchmen continued to travel from these towns toward the region of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. Louis Jolliet and Father Marquette, Jean Nicolet, René-Robert Cavelier de LaSalle, and other men traveled into the middle of the continent.

Explore Native nations in Michigan today!

The Native people were important partners for the French in the fur trade and they were very important in helping the French survive.

The Fur Trade and Native People

A fur (pelt) of a beaver, stretched on a frame. It was necessary to process the furs before trading them.

The French saw that they could buy furs (also called pelts) like beaver and send them to Europe to sell them there. In Europe, there was a large demand for furs. The French believed that they could bring in profit through buying furs from the Natives and sending them back to Europe to sell them there. This business--the fur trade--seemed like it might be very valuable!

Who were the Native people that the French traded and lived with? In Michigan and the larger Great Lakes area, there were many tribes: Odawa, Ojibwe, Potawatomi, Illinois, Menominee, Ho-Chunk, Miami, Meskwaki, Hurons, and more!

What have you learned?

The French said that the whole territory was a French colony. But the Native people lived everywhere in this region, and they continued to see this land as their land where they had the right to live.

• The Native people knew how to survive in this environment, which was different from France!

• The Native people supplied the furs that the French people wanted to export to Europe.

• The Native people could help the French be integrated into the trade network that already existed among Native tribes.

In North America, the French needed Native people for several reasons.

Native People and the French

Who came? Soldiers, priests, traders, and habitants.

Towns like Detroit and Michilimackinac (Mackinac Island) and in the River Raisin area had French speakers living there even in the 1800s!

Some forts didn't last very long and don't exist today: Fort Miami is an example.

Often forts and religious missions were built together. This was true for the St. Ignace area as well as Sault Ste. Marie.

Learn about voyageurs!

Forts and villages

After the explorers, French-speaking people came little by little to live in the territory that is Michigan today. They built:

• forts
• religious missions
• villages

What are habitants?

What have you learned?

Plaque in Québec City saying that the city was founded by Champlain

New France was divided into two regions: Canada (in the north) and Louisiana (in the south). The area around the Great Lakes, including Michigan, was called "the Upper Country."

More Info!

The territory in blue on this map was the French colony that they called "New France" ("la nouvelle France"). The smaller red area was the British colony. The situation changed in 1763, after the end of the French & Indian War.

The end of New France, but ...

In 1763, France lost the French & Indian War to Great Britain. As a result, all the territory east of the Mississippi became British territory. (To the west of the Mississippi it became Spanish territory.) It was no longer New France. And, at the end of the 18th century the area that is now Michigan became part of the new country, the United States of America. For the Native people, of course, this was still their territory. They still had to deal with European people, whether they were French or British.

The part of North America that was French became British after 1763. It included what is now MIchigan! This was before the United States existed.

The land east of the MIssissippi River became part of the new United States after 1783. This includes Michigan!

Explore archaeology at Fort St. Joseph!

Explore River Raisin!

LaFrambroise house on Mackinac Island (today it's a bed and breakfast inn!)

Magdelaine LaFramboise, born in 1776, was an important fur trader in northern Michigan. Her father was French-Canadian and her mother was Odawa. With her husband, Mme LaFramboise built a fur trade business, and she ran it very successfully after her husband died in 1806. You can still see her large house on Mackinac Island!

Fort St. Joseph (near Niles, in southwest Michigan) was founded by the French in 1691. The fort was abandoned in 1780. Archaeologists found the site of the fort in 1998 and every summer they dig at the site to discover more about the lives of people who lived at the fort!

French continued in Michigan!

Basilica of Ste. Anne, Detroit

The fort at Michilimackinac became British and then American, and was moved onto Mackinac Island in 1781. But French speakers continued to be leaders in the fur trade into the 1800s.

Detroit was founded by the French in 1701. The Catholic parish of Ste. Anne was formed in the same year and was an important center for the French and French Canadians who remained in the town. There were also a number of French speakers in Monroe, on the River Raisin south of Detroit.

What have you learned?

• Choose a French site in Michigan and research it. Create a brochure for tourists or other visitors that gives them good information about this place.

• French settlements--forts, missions, or villages--in Michigan are almost always on a river or a lake. Why?

• Research the Native tribes that were and are in Michigan: Odawa, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, or Miami Where are there Native tribal land holdings in Michigan today?

• The French needed their Native trade partners in order to survive! Make a list of the things that the French needed, in this new land, which the Native people could give them or help with.

Click here to learn more

Let's think about it!!

The French in Michigan

For more info...

Which places in our state have French history??

State highway map link

Google map link

Here's a partial list. Look at the map of Wisconsin and find these names. Do you know someone who speaks French? Look at a map of Wisconsin and ask them to help you find more!!

Why so many French names?

French place names in Wisconsin!

How many can you find?

• Racine
• Portage
• Butte des Morts
• La Pointe
• Prairie du Sac
• Radisson
• Eau Claire
• La Crosse
• Lac du Flambeau
• Nicolet National Forest

Artist's conception of Frenchtown at River Raisin (by Tim Kurz)

River Raisin National Battlefield Park

Visit the River Raisin National Battlefield Park website!

Traders traveled a lot to trade for furs with the Natives and usually didn't have farm crops. Traders often married Native women.

"Habitants" raised crops and didn't travel as often, though they often did some fur trading. The land of much of the southern part of Michigan was rich and productive.

Although French-speaking traders and habitants lived in Michigan in the 17th and 18th centuries, the villages were not large. The biggest often had no more than 200 French speakers living there!

Reconstructed row Houses at colonial fort Michilimackinac

Let's EXPLORE!

Traders and habitants

What's the difference between fur traders and habitants?

Archaeology students from WMU (Shelby Johnson photo)

Archaeologists are scientists who learn about past times by looking at what human-made objects people left behind, like remains of houses, tools, dishes, bones, clothing, or even jewelry. Archaeologists from Western Michigan University have been digging at the site of Fort St. Joseph since 1998! They have found stones that show where the chimneys of buildings were, and objects like a metal kettle.

Link to the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph

A view of the MIssissippi River from near Prairie du Chien

Marquette and Jolliet started their trip in St. Ignace (in today's Michigan). They came south in Green Bay and took the Fox River south and west. They portaged between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers at the site of the city of Portage, Wisconsin. They first saw the Mississippi River near today's city of Prairie du Chien.

Many of Michigan's Native tribes have websites that you can explore. Here are a few: click on the blue symbol to go to their website.

• Pokagon Band of Potawatomi:

• Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians:
• Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (Ojibwe)
• Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians:

Native people today

To find out more, you can visit this website from the University of Michigan: https://guides.lib.umich.edu/c.php?g=283427&p=8234907

Statue of Father Marquette in Marquette, Michigan

Catholic Father Jacques Marquette helped found Sault Ste. Marie and St. Ignace in the 1660s. He wanted to spread Christianity to the Native people he met. He also founded a religious mission at Chequamegon (northern Wisconsin today). He was part of an expedition with Louis Jolliet to explore the Mississippi River in 1673. From what is today Wisconsin, the expedition traveled south on the big river, and returned home to northern Michigan through present-day Illinois and then up Lake Michigan. Then, Marquette came back to Illinois in 1674. He became sick, however, and was traveling back to St. Ignace when he died near what is today Ludington. He was buried in St. Ignace.