Pessamit

Pessamit lies where the river known to the Innu as Pessamiu Shipu meets the St. Lawrence. Its name is often understood to mean a place of lampreys, eels or leeches. The river leads into the forested homeland of the Pessamit Innu, whose ancestors lived along the north shore and travelled inland to hunt. French traders established a post at the river mouth, recorded by the intendant Gilles Hocquart in 1733 as Pointe-des-Bersimites. It was probably on the western bank. The post later passed into the North West Company's trading network; after that company joined the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821, the latter continued the trade and renewed its lease in 1831.