According to the oral histories of the Anishinaabe, after departing the "Second Stopping Place" near
Niagara Falls, the core Anishinaabe peoples migrated along the shores of
Lake Erie to what is now southern
Michigan. They became "lost" both physically and spiritually. The Mississauga migrated along a northern route by the
Credit River, to
Georgian Bay. These were considered their historic traditional lands on the shores of
Lake Superior and northern
Lake Huron around the
Mississagi River. The Mississauga called for the core Anishinaabeg to
Midewiwin, meaning 'return to the path of the good life'. The core Anishinaabe peoples formed the
Council of Three Fires and migrated from their "Third Stopping Place" near the present city of
Detroit to their "Fourth Stopping Place" on
Manitoulin Island, along the eastern shores of Georgian Bay. The homelands of the Mississaugas were originally claimed by the
Huron/Wyandot, who were driven off by the
Iroquois in the
Beaver Wars in 1649/50. The Ojibwe Anishinaabe then moved into the area around 1700, pushing out the Iroquois. (
Misi-zaaging dash ininweg: "Regular-speakers of the Great River-mouth"). This was not how the Mississaugas originally knew themselves, Starting in 1781 during the waning years of the
American Revolutionary War,
the Crown purchased land which encompassed much of present-day southern
Ontario from the Mississauga in a series of transactions. They purchased the land to fulfill promises made in the
Haldimand Proclamation concerning land promised to the Iroquois for their support for the Crown during the war, and to compensate the Iroquois for losing territory to American colonists. The sale of land by the
Mississaugas of the Credit to the Crown was referred to as the "Between the Lakes Treaty." Beginning in the 19th century, the Mississauga sought to gain compensation for the land granted to them but given to other settlers. In the 21st century, the Canadian government awarded the Mississauga of the New Credit First Nation nearly $145 million in settlement of this land claim. ==Legacy==