Wendat people

The Wendat people (also known as the Huron) are the peoples of the in present-day southern Ontario, which was forcibly disbanded in the 1650s but reestablished in 1999. The Wendat Confederacy originally consisted of several nations and was one of the principal Indigenous powers of the Great Lakes region in the early 17th century. They were defeated and dispersed by the Haudenosaunee during the Beaver Wars.

The Wendat first emerged as a confederacy of five nations in the St. Lawrence River Valley, especially in Southern Ontario, including the north shore of Lake Ontario. Their original homeland extended to the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron and Lake Simcoe in Ontario, Canada and occupied territory around the western part of the lake.

Two significant surviving groups of the Wendat population remained after the dispersal. One relocated to Quebec, where their descendants form the present-day Huron-Wendat Nation. The others joined the Tionontati confederacy, who were in turn also displaced, causing the formation of the Wyandot people. In Canada, the Huron-Wendat Nation has two First Nationsreserves at Wendake, Quebec.