Ontario, History, Early Inhabitants, Contacts, and Rivalries

In the early 1600s about 60,000 people lived in what is today Ontario.

In the north were the Algonquian peoples, wandering hunter-gatherers. In the south were a large group of Iroquoian peoples who were skilled farmers. The largest numbers were part of what was known as the Huron confederacy, comprising between 10,000 and 30,000 people living in perhaps two dozen villages, some well fortified. The Huron grew maize (corn), beans, and squash, and supplemented their farming by hunting and fishing. A smaller group called the Tobacco Nation lived to the west, and a third group, the Neutral Nation, lived to the south along the north shore of Lake Erie. The French named the group the Neutral Nation because the band did not take part in the endemic warfare that existed between the Huron and the powerful group to the south, the so-called Five Nations Iroquois.

from: "Ontario (province, Canada)" Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001 http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

The Neutrals

In 1641 2,000 warriors of the Neutrals attacked a large, fortified Asistagueronon village in central Michigan (presumed by location to have been Mascouten). After a ten-day siege, the village was overrun, and 800 prisoners taken. Women and children were taken back to the Neutrals' villages, but the men were blinded and then left to wander aimlessly in the woods until they starved to death.

Neutral Location

Southern Ontario north of Lake Erie. Their territory also included a some of western New York (east and south of Niagara Falls) and a portion of southeastern Michigan near Detroit.

Population

The population of the Neutrals in 1615 has been estimated at somewhere between 10,000 to 20,000 living in 28-40 villages spread across southern Ontario.

Names

Because they were neutral in the wars between the Huron and Iroquois, the French called this large Iroquian Confederacy the Neutre (Nation du Neutre, Neuter Nation or Neutrals). Whatever name the Neutrals used for their confederacy has been lost, but most Iroquoian tribes in southern Ontario referred to themselves collectively as the Wendat "dwellers on a peninsula." The Huron called them the Attiwandaron (Attionondaron or Attiwandaronk) meaning "those who speak a little differently." The Iroquois name, Hatiwantarunh, had a similar meaning. Apparently some of the Neutrals were more closely attached to the Erie than the others, because both the Seneca and Huron often referred to both the Erie and Neutrals as the "Cat Nation." The Seneca name in this case was Kahkwa (Kahqua), while its equivalent in Huron was Yenresh.

Sub-tribes

The Neutrals were a confederacy, but the names and exact number of the member tribes are unknown.

Culture

Warlike and aggressive, the neutrality of the Neutrals applied only to wars between the Huron and Iroquois. Otherwise, this confederacy was anything but peaceful. For the most part, the Huron considered the Neutrals as hostile (but not enemies), and relations between them were usually tense, even when they visited each other's villages for trade. Men filled most positions of leadership, but some Neutral villages were known to have been ruled by women.

In most ways, the Neutrals closely resembled the Huron and Iroquois. Their villages of bark-covered longhouses were fortified and usually built in high, easily-defended locations. Diet depended mostly on agriculture (corn, beans, squash, sunflowers, and tobacco) supplemented by hunting and fishing. Meat and fish constituted a relatively small portion of their diet, and as much as 80% of their calories came from agriculture and the gathering of wild fruits and vegetables. The Iroquian peoples of this region grew at least 15 varieties of corn, 60 types of beans, and six kinds of squash.

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