Tinawatawa facts for kids
Tinawatawa, also known as Quinaouatoua, was an old Iroquois village. It belonged to the Seneca people, who are part of the Iroquois. This village was located on the western side of Lake Ontario. It was in a rich, flat area called the Niagara corridor. This land stretched from western New York to the start of the Thames River in Ontario.
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Where Was Tinawatawa Located?
Historians and archaeologists have different ideas about the exact spot of Tinawatawa. One idea is that it was east or northeast of today's Westover, Ontario. This area is on the north side of Spencer Creek and near Beverly Swamp. This swamp was a place where people hunted in winter.
Studies of an old site called Christianson suggest it was used by Iroquois people around 1615 to 1630. This could be where Tinawatawa was located.
Other ideas suggest Tinawatawa was along Ancaster Creek in Ancaster, Ontario. This area is between Dundas and Brantford. It might also have been in West Flamborough along the Grand River. There was a high ground trail there, which is now Regional Road 97. It is also thought to be halfway between the Grand River and Brantford.
The History of Tinawatawa
In the 1600s, the area that is now Southern Ontario was called Huronia. This region around the Great Lakes was a mix of different groups. It had people who had conquered land, people who had fled from other places, and people who had spread out.
Trade and Conflicts
European countries like the Dutch, French, and English wanted to trade with the Indigenous peoples. Explorers and mapmakers traveled through this land. The Beaver Wars were a series of conflicts. They involved the Iroquois and people who spoke Algonquian languages.
By the 1660s, Tinawatawa was part of the land controlled by the Iroquois. However, other groups also traveled through the area. From 1660 to 1690, Tinawatawa was an important central village.
Important Meetings
On September 24, 1669, two famous explorers, Louis Jolliet and René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, met at Tinawatawa. They met with René de Bréhant de Galinée and François Dollier de Casson. Dollier de Casson was a leader of the Sulpicians, a group of missionaries from Montreal.
These missionaries were exploring the western frontier. They wanted to find a place to start a mission. They stopped at Tinawatawa to find a guide. They needed someone to lead them further west.
Later Years of the Village
After this meeting in 1669, there were 30 years of smaller conflicts. Tinawatawa faced attacks from the French and the Ojibwe people. By 1701, most of the Iroquois people moved away from southern Ontario.
The original five nations of the Iroquois Confederacy sometimes used old settlements in Southern Ontario again. Tinawatawa was one of these. It was also known as Quinaouotuan and Tinaouatoua. The historian Francis Parkman called it Otinawatawa.
