Ochechiton

Ochechiton, recorded as the Great Water in an early Spanish account, is a name for the Mississippi River. Its broad valley joined a multitude of Indigenous communities long before European expeditions followed its course. On the eastern bank, fertile floodplains supported villages and fields of the Illinois peoples. French missionaries and traders later established settlements along this reach, including the mission at Cahokia in 1699. The river carried their boats south towards Louisiana and north towards the tributaries leading to the Great Lakes.