Kichesipirini

The Kichesipirini, whose name means men of the great river, were an Algonquin nation of the Ottawa River, known to the French as the Island Indians because their main village stood on Morrison Island beside Allumette Island. The river itself they called Kitchissippi, and their country stretched along both its banks between Ontario and Quebec.

They may have been the first Algonquin people to meet the French: their one-eyed chief Tessouat met Samuel de Champlain in 1603, and Champlain visited the island village again in 1613. Holding the narrows and portages, the Kichesipirini charged tolls on traders and missionaries.

In 1645 they and their Huron allies made peace with the Haudenosaunee, but the settlement collapsed, and by 1650 raiding had driven them from their islands. Their survivors are thought to have taken refuge among the Odawa.