Strait of Makinac

The Straits of Mackinac join Lakes Michigan and Huron, where islands and narrow passages link the upper Great Lakes. Odawa and Ojibwe communities lived around these waters, which became an important meeting place in the fur trade. Canoes travelling between the eastern lakes and the western interior passed through the straits, bringing traders into contact with people whose routes and relationships already crossed the region and extended far beyond the shores of either lake.

In 1715 French soldiers built Fort Michilimackinac on the southern shore near an Odawa community and a Jesuit mission. British troops took over the fort in 1761. Two years later Ojibwe warriors captured it during the wider uprising against British posts. The fortified trading community was eventually moved to Mackinac Island in 1781.