1. Michigan History By Lorna Wadlington August 22, 2005 Ashford University EDU 640 – Technology, the Teacher, and Research Professor Kilmer Heighton, Instructor

2. Where it Began: According to the Encyclopedia.com, the Ojibwa, the Ottawa, the Potawatomi, and other Algonquian-speaking Native American groups were living in Michigan when the French explorer Étienne Brulé landed at the narrows of Sault Ste. Marie in 1618, probably the first European to have reached present Michigan. Later French explorers, traders, and missionaries came, including Jean Nicolet, who was searching for the Northwest Passage. French posts were scattered along the lakes and the rivers, and Mackinac Island became a center for fur trade. Fort Pontchartrain, later Detroit, was founded in 1701 by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. The vast region was weakly held by France until lost to Great Britain in the last conflict (1754-63) of the French and Indian Wars. Michigan Capitol, 1900s

3. Building Fort Pochartrain Upon landing at the site of the new settlement, a ceremony was held to formally take possession of the land. In honor of his comrade, Louis (or his son, Jerome) Phélypeaux, Comte du Ponchartrain, Minister of Marine to Louis XIV, Cadillac named the settlement Fort Ponchartrain du Detroit. Cadillac then marked village borders. The southern border was present day Jefferson Avenue. The northern border was between present day Larned Street and Jefferson Avenue. The eastern end was approximately where Griswold Street is today. And the western border was along present day Shelby Street. The area Cadillac marked off covered 192.75 square feet.

6. References Michigan History in Pictures, http://willett.org/michiganhistory/detroit.htm , © September, 2001 Michigan History, http://www.encyclopedia.com.html/section/ Michigan_History.asp The History of Detroit, Michigan, http://www.historydetroit.com/places/fort ponchartrain.asp