Toronto in New France
Published on Nov 19, 2015
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It all began here on the banks of the Humber River in a Toronto city park named Étienne Brulé at Baby Point. There are no remains. The larger trees are the only witnesses of New France
Photo by Bobcatnorth
In 1615 the French were the first to set foot in Toronto where they built three forts in the vicinity of what is now the Swansea neighbourhood to trade with First Nations living there
Photo by Cosmic Smudge
Étienne Brulé, who arrived at Quebec City in 1608, travelled with companions along the Humber River in the summer of 1615 by means of birchbark canoes. Rivers and lakes were the highways of New France
Photo by Bad Alley
Several First Nations inhabited the Toronto area in 1615-1760 and centuries before, in particular the Hurons, Senecas and Mississaugas. They lived in longhouses made of strips of bark woven horizontally through the lines of poles
In 1623-1624 French missionary Gabriel Sagard visited the aboriginal town of Teiaiagon at Baby Point which was described to him in Huron language as "Toronton" to mean a place of meeting. He recorded the name. History was made
Photo by Grant MacDonald
Gabriel Sagard is remembered for his writings on New France. His book The Long Voyage to the Country of the Hurons (Paris, 1632) included a lengthy dictionary of Huron words. It was the first history book about Canada written by a religious historian
Photo by jilliancyork
Lacrosse was seen as a popular game between First Nations. It took place over several days and was played over a huge open area with few basic rules. Lacrosse was first coined by Father Jean de Brébeuf in 1636 who died in Midland, Huronia, north of Toronto
Photo by John Vetterli
In1678, Father Louis Hennepin (the first non aboriginal to see Niagara Falls) stayed in Teiaiagon for three weeks while visiting the area. He recorded Toronto as a bustling place of commerce with a palisade, 50 longhouses and 5,000 inhabitants
Photo by (Jc)
Indications are that Teiaiagon was surrounded by agricultural fields where First Nations harvested corn, beans, squash, pumpkins, berries and tobacco; corn being their primary diet
Photo by dklimke
In August of 1680 French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle and his team camped for several days at the mouth of the Humber River on their way to explore the Mississippi. They exchanged goods for corn with the First Nations of Toronto
Photo by Everyspoon
The name Teiaiagon (Toronto) first appeared on a 1688 map of New France drawn by world reknowned cartographer Jean-Baptiste-Louis Franquelin who was the first official cartographer in Canada
Photo by swisscan
Fur trade attracted settlers to Toronto. Pelts were the economic engine of New France. Combined with evangelization, it drove territorial expansion and fostered contact with many First Nations throughout North America
Photo by Leo Reynolds
In 1720 French merchant Phillipe Douville, Sieur de la Saussaye erected Fort Douville at Baby Point. Toronto's first fort was a two storey blockhouse operating as a "Magasin royal" (a King's store). Its structure was most likely similar to Fort Ouiatenon built in 1717 in West Lafayette, Indiana [picture below]
Photo by Hammer51012
The Toronto Passage was a major aboriginal trail that followed the Humber River linking Huronia on Georgian Bay to Teiaiagon, the trail's southern terminus. It was also an overland shortcut to the upper Great Lakes. For this reason Toronto became a hot spot for French travellers
Photo by gtall1
In 1749 a larger magasin royal was needed. Fort Portneuf was constructed on La Salle's camp site at the mouth of the Humber River. First Nations called it Fort Toronto. It was named after the French military officer who built it, Pierre Robineau de Portneuf (born in Montreal in 1708)
Photo by John Vetterli
To better protect the site, Fort Rouillé was erected in 1750 on the ground of what is now the CNE Place. The fort, comprised of several log buildings, was named after Antoine Louis Rouillé, the French Minister of Marine and Colonies whose ministry was in Versailles
Fort Rouillé was erected by colonial troops from the "Compagnies franches de la marine" according to a fortification structure designed by Vauban, King Louis XIV's military engineer. Toronto's third fort was supplied by Fort Frontenac which later became Kingston, Ontario
Photo by The City of Toronto
Traffic was busy between Fort Rouillé and Fort Niagara (1678) on Lake Ontario south shore and its nearby magasins royals, Fort des Sables (1717) in Rochester and Fort du Portage (1750) above the falls at Lewiston, New York
Photo by borisvolodnikov
For the French the fur trade was more than the value of furs. Because they had far fewer colonists than the British in New England, the French went to great lengths to create and maintain an amicable relationship with the First Nations
Photo by hyfen
The Toronto settlement was in "Les Pays d'en haut" which referred to the whole of the Great Lakes region and beyond. It included Fort Détroit in Detroit (1701), Fort La Baye in Green Bay (1717), Fort Kaministiquia in Thunder Bay (1717), Fort Rouge in Winnipeg (1738), and Fort Duquesne in Pittsburgh (1754)
Photo by josullivan.59
After having been abandoned by the French in 1760 following the fall of Montreal at the end of the Seven Years' War with Great Britain, Fort Rouillé felt into ruin during the next 30 years until Loyalists fled the United States and settled in Toronto
Photo by Ozont
At present, Canada's largest city with a population of 5.6 million people (GTA) is still very much "a place of meeting" and of commerce where residents from more than 200 distinct ethnic origins live, work, play and trade in harmony
Photo by paul bica
If the larger trees of Toronto's Étienne Brulé Park at Baby Point could speak, they would say that Canada's metropolis has an amazing history
Photo by Anton Bielousov
