Wendake () is the current name for two urban reserves, Wendake 7 () and Wendake 7A, () of the

Huron-Wendat Nation The Huron-Wendat Nation (or Huron-Wendat First Nation) is an Iroquoian-speaking nation that was established in the 17th century. In the French language, used by most members of the First Nation, they are known as the . The French gave the nickn ...

in the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. They are enclaves entirely surrounded by the La Haute-Saint-Charles borough of

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

, within the former city of

Loretteville Loretteville () is a List of former municipalities in Quebec, former city in central Quebec, Canada. It was amalgamated into Quebec City on January 1, 2002. It is located within the borough of La Haute-Saint-Charles, and also contains the upmark ...

. One of the

Seven Nations of Canada The Seven Nations of Canada (called Tsiata Nihononhwentsiá:ke in the Mohawk language) was a historic confederation of First Nations living in and around the Saint Lawrence River valley beginning in the eighteenth century. They were allied to New ...

, the settlement was formerly known as ''Village-des-Hurons'' ("Huron Village"), and also as ''(Jeune)-Lorette'' ("New Lorette"). Since the late 20th century, archeologists have found large 16th-century villages of the Wendat (Huron) in the northern

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...

region, which is where they believe the people coalesced as a distinct group. Later they migrated south and by the early 17th century had settled in their historical territory of Wendake in the

Georgian Bay The Georgian Bay () is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To its northwest is t ...

region. The Wyandot Confederation was made up of loosely associated tribes who spoke a mutually intelligible

Iroquoian language The Iroquoian languages () are a language family of indigenous peoples of North America. They are known for their general lack of labial consonants. The Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic and head-marking. As of 2020, almost all surviving I ...

History

Archeologists Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeolog ...

have excavated 16th-century settlements north of Lake Ontario at the

Mantle Site The "Jean-Baptiste Lainé" or Mantle Site in the town of Whitchurch–Stouffville, north-east of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is the largest and most complex ancestral Wendat-Huron village to be excavated to date in the Lower Great Lakes region. Th ...

(2005), Aurora Site and Ratcliff Site in

Whitchurch-Stouffville Whitchurch-Stouffville (2021 Canadian census, 2021 population 49,864) is a town in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada, approximately north of downtown Toronto, and north-east of Toronto Pearson International Airport. It is in area, ...

, Ontario, all attesting to distinctly Wendat (Huron) occupancy. They have concluded the people coalesced in this area as a distinct group. Later they migrated to the

area, where they encountered Europeans in the 17th century. Until the middle of the 17th century, the Wendake ancestors occupied a vast territory straddling part of what is now the United States (from

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

to south-eastern

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

(

Penetanguishene Penetanguishene (, sometimes shortened to Penetang) is a town in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the southeasterly tip of Georgian Bay. Incorporated on February 22, 1882, this bilingual ( French and English) community has a popu ...

and Midland) and

. They hunted and trapped throughout this territory (mainly in the

Laurentian Mountains The Laurentian Mountains, also known as the Laurentians or Laurentides, are a mountain range in Canada. The range is long and ranges in height from with peaks over . The Laurentian Mountains extend across Labrador and Quebec within the Laurent ...

, between the central section of the Saint-Maurice and the Saguenay rivers). Between 1634 and 1650, the Wyandot Confederation was dismembered; its families, having been gathered into four or five

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

s, were dispersed. It is estimated that the Huron population totalled approximately 20,000 to 30,000 people in 1634. By 1650, only a few hundred individuals remained. Most had been decimated by

infectious infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

disease

epidemic An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of hosts in a given population within a short period of time. For example, in meningococcal infection ...

s, to which they had no natural

immunity Immunity may refer to: Medicine * Immunity (medical), resistance of an organism to infection or disease * ''Immunity'' (journal), a scientific journal published by Cell Press Biology * Immune system Engineering * Radiofrequence immunity ...

; survivors were attacked by wars, especially by the

Iroquois Confederacy The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

, who pushed from the south (present-day New York) trying to control hunting grounds and the

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...

. Part of the Huron population had also been integrated into the Iroquois Confederation. The survivors of this tragic period divided into two groups in Canada: the Great-Lake Wyandot and the Huron-Wendat. The latter were the ancestors of the Huron-Wendat of Wendake. This marked the beginning of a period of exile for the 300 or so Wendat who remained, an era during which they would occupy as many as six different sites in the province of Quebec. They finally settled for good in the village of Lorette in 1697. First established on

Île d'Orléans Île d'Orléans (; ) is an island located in the Saint Lawrence River about east of downtown Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. It was one of the first parts of the province to be colonized by the French, and a large percentage of French Canadians c ...

in 1651, the community moved to Quebec City in 1668. Subsequently, the Wendat temporarily resided in Beauport, Notre Dame de Foy,

L'Ancienne-Lorette L'Ancienne-Lorette () is a city in central Quebec, Canada. It is a suburb of and an enclave within Quebec City. It was merged with Quebec City on January 1, 2002, as part of a 2000–2006 municipal reorganization in Quebec, but, after a 2004 r ...

and then New Lorette in 1673. As of the

2016 Canadian census The 2016 Canadian census was an enumeration of Canadian residents, which counted a population of 35,151,728, a change from its 2011 population of 33,476,688. The census, conducted by Statistics Canada, was Canada's seventh quinquennial census. ...

the population of the two reserves was 2,135 people and the

has a total of 4,314 registered members, most of which live off reserve. Wendake 7 occupies an area of and Wendake 7A for a total of . As of 2021, the Grand Chief is Rémy Vincent and previous chiefs include Konrad Sioui, who succeeded Max Gros-Louis in 2008. The Huron had called their historic homeland Wendake; it was the territory south of

in present-day Simcoe and

Grey County Grey County is a county in the province of Ontario. The county is located in the Southwestern Ontario region, and is a part of the Georgian Triangle. At the time of the 2021 Canadian census the population of the county was 100,905. Owen Sound is ...

counties. The region was informally known as "Huronia" or the

Georgian Triangle The Georgian Triangle is the name of a geographic region in Southern Ontario containing the counties surrounding Georgian Bay, mostly Nottawasaga Bay, in particular. The main urban centres in the region are Collingwood, Owen Sound, and situated ...

. A very large 15th-century Huron-Wendat settlement (the

) has recently been discovered in Whitchurch–Stouffville. Its discovery has added to archeologists and anthropologists believing that the Wendat arose as a people in this area. Other remnants of the Wendat and

Petun The Petun (from ), also known as the Tobacco people or Tionontati (Dionnontate, Etionontate, Etionnontateronnon, Tuinontatek, Dionondadie, or Khionotaterrhonon) ("People among the hills/mountains"), were an indigenous Iroquoian people of the w ...

peoples formed the Wyandot and migrated south, to present-day Michigan. Later they were forced west of the Mississippi River to

Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...

in Kansas and Oklahoma. In the United States, there is one federally recognized Wyandot tribe: the

Wyandotte Nation The Wyandotte Nation is a Federally recognized tribes, federally recognized Native American tribe headquartered in northeastern Oklahoma. They are descendants of the Wyandot people, Wendat Confederacy and Native Americans with territory near ...

of Oklahoma. The self-identified

Wyandot Nation of Kansas The Wyandot Nation of Kansas is an self-identifying tribe and nonprofit organization headquartered in Kansas City, Kansas. They identify as being Wyandot. History An 1855 treaty attempted to dissolve the Wyandot tribe, but not all members a ...

and Wyandot Nation of Anderdon in Michigan are not federally recognized. In August 1999, these nations joined the contemporary Wendat Confederacy, pledging to provide mutual aid to each other in a spirit of peace, kinship, and unity."The Wendat Confederacy"
August 27, 1999, ''Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma.'' 2008 (retrieved February 2, 2009)

References

Community Profile: Wendake Indian Reserve, Quebec; Statistics Canada

External links

Wendake website
{{Authority control Indian reserves in Quebec Huron-Wendat Nation National Historic Sites in Quebec 1651 establishments in the French colonial empire Canada geography articles needing translation from French Wikipedia Ethnic enclaves in Quebec Populated places in Capitale-Nationale Quebec City Area