Lake Témiscamingue

Lake Témiscamingue is a long, deep widening of the upper Ottawa River, bordered by forest and rocky shores. Its Algonquin name refers to deep water. Anicinabeg families have travelled and gathered along the lake for thousands of years, linking it to exchange routes reaching far beyond the Ottawa valley.

French authorities established a trading post on the lake in the late seventeenth century to compete with English traders on Hudson Bay. In 1720 a post was built at Obadjiwan on the eastern shore, where Algonquin hunters and their families brought furs for exchange. The North West Company held the trade by the 1790s, followed by the Hudson's Bay Company after 1821. The post depended on the knowledge, work and relationships of the people who knew the surrounding country.