Samuel de Champlain, the founder of
New France, commissioned
Jean Nicolet to form a peaceful alliance with
Native Americans in the western areas, whose unrest interfered with the French fur trade, and to search for a shorter trade route to China through Canada. Nicolet and others had learned from other First Nations of the
Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) people, who identified as "People of the Sea", and believed they must reside on or near an Ocean. Champlain had also heard about natural resources in the area, including fertile soil, forests, and animals. Nicolet began his journey for this new land shortly before winter in 1634. In what later became a French fur-trading route, he sailed up the
Ottawa River, through
Lake Nipissing and down the
French River to
Lake Huron, then through the straits of
Michilimackinac into Lake Michigan. He is believed to have landed at Red Banks, near the site of the modern-day city of Green Bay, Wisconsin.
From the trading post La Baie des Puants to the town La Baie verte (1634–1761) Nicolet founded a small trading post here in 1634, originally named
La Baye or
La Baie des Puants (French for "the Bay of Stinking Waters"). Nicolet's settlement was one of the oldest European permanent settlements in America. When Nicolet arrived in the Green Bay area, he encountered the
Menominee, who occupied this territory. He also met the
Ho-Chunk (also known as the Winnebago), a people who spoke a
Siouan language. The Winnebago hunted and fished, and also cultivated corn, beans, squash, and tobacco.
Wild rice, which they had incorporated as a dietary staple, grew in abundance along the riverbanks. The women regularly harvested and cooked this, along with a wide variety of nuts, berries, and edible roots which they gathered in the woods. The men typically hunted and fished for food, and the women processed game and other foods in cooking. They prepared and made clothing from the furs, as well as using other parts of animals to make tools, cord, etc. Women also had a role in the political process, as no action could be taken without agreement of half of the women. Nicolet stayed with this tribe for about a year, becoming an ally. He helped open up opportunities for trade and commerce with them before returning to Quebec. The British gradually took over Wisconsin during the
French and Indian War, taking control of Green Bay in 1761 and gaining control of all of Wisconsin in 1763. Like the French, the British were interested in little but the fur trade. The first permanent settlers, mostly
French Canadians, some Anglo-New Englanders and a few African American freedmen, arrived in Wisconsin while it was under British control.
Charles Michel de Langlade is generally recognized as the first settler, establishing a trading post at Green Bay in 1745, and moving there permanently in 1764. Settlement began at Prairie du Chien around 1781. The French residents at the trading post in what is now Green Bay, referred to the town as "La Bey," however British fur traders referred to it as "Green Bay," because the water and the shore assumed green tints in early spring. The old French title was gradually dropped, and the British name of "Green Bay" stuck. The region coming under British rule had virtually no adverse effect on the French residents as the British needed the cooperation of the French fur traders and the French fur traders needed the goodwill of the British. During the French occupation of the region licenses for fur trading had been issued scarcely and only to select groups of traders, whereas the British, in an effort to make as much money as possible from the region, issued licenses for fur trading freely, both to British and French residents. The fur trade in what is now Wisconsin reached its height under British rule, and the first self-sustaining farms in the state were established as well. From 1763 to 1780, Green Bay was a prosperous community which produced its own foodstuff, built graceful cottages and held dances and festivities. In 1791, two free African Americans set up a fur trading post among the Menominee at present day
Marinette.
After independence The Green Bay area was still under British control until the 1783 treaty formally ended the
American Revolutionary War. Following the
War of 1812, which in part was over disputes related to the border with Canada, the United States built
Fort Howard on the
Fox River in 1816 to protect its northern border. is on the
National Register of Historic Places and is now used as the Brown County Historical Society. Wisconsin's first newspaper,
The Green Bay Intelligencer, was started in 1833 by
Albert Ellis and John V. Suydam. The borough of Green Bay, created in 1838, is the center of the present-day city. The borough combined the town of Astor (a company town of the
American Fur Company) with Navarino, platted by
Daniel Whitney. Before Wisconsin became a state in 1848, its commerce was based on the
fur trade, which became dominated by
John Jacob Astor's
American Fur Company. After statehood, there was a shift away from fur trading toward lumbering. "For a short time in 1860s and 1870s, iron smelting in charcoal kilns rivaled the timber industry while the port handled increasing amounts of fuel, feed, and lumber. Today's major local industry had its start in 1865 when the first paper mill was built." The
Green Bay Area Public School District was founded in 1856. Significant numbers of English immigrants, many having lived first in Canada, also moved to Green Bay during this period, usually arriving as large families. There was also a small Dutch community in Green Bay at this time. Green Bay had a larger portion of first generation immigrants from France than any other city in Wisconsin at this time as well. The
Green Bay Packers, an American Football team, were founded in 1919. They have been a member of the
National Football League since 1921, the only remaining "small town" team in any of the "
big four" major league sports leagues. In 1934, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt came to Green Bay to honor its tercentenary. ==Geography==