Michilimackinac ( ) is derived from an Ottawa Ojibwe name for present-day Mackinac Island and the region around the Straits of Mackinac between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. Early settlers of North America applied the term to the entire region along Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior. Today it is considered to be mostly within the boundaries of Michigan, in the United States. Michilimackinac was the original name for present day Mackinac Island and Mackinac County. History Woodland Period (1000 BCE–1650 CE) Pottery first appears during this period in the style of the Laurel complex. The people of the area engaged in long-distance trade, likely as part of the Hopewell tradition. The Anishinaabe and the French (1612–1763) The Straits of Mackinac linking Lakes Michigan and Huron was a strategic area controlling movement between the two lakes and much of the pays d'en haut. It was controlled by Algonquian Anishinaabe nations including the Ojibwa (called Chippewa in the United States) and the Odawa. The area was known to the Odawa as Michilimackinac, meaning "Big Turtle". For these people, "Michilimackinac is literally the birthplace and centre of the world" and is where the Three Fires Confederacy took place. The Anishinaabe had good relations with the Iroquoian-speaking Wyandot, who were the first group to establish relations with the French after Champlain's arrival in 1608. The Anishinaabe used these relations to trade indirectly with the French.After the fall of Huronia in the Beaver Wars, The Anishinaabe began to trade directly with the French, and started inviting French settlers to Michilimackinac. The French were the first Europeans to explore the area, beginning in 1612. They established trading posts and Jesuit Catholic missions. One of the oldest missions, St. Ignace Mission, was located on the north side of the strait at Point Iroquois, near present-day St. Ignace, Michigan. This mission was established in 1671 by the Jesuit Father Jacques Marquette. In 1654, a large Iroquois force was attacked by the Odawa and Ojibwe as they tried to cross the straits near Michilimackinac. In 1658, the Iroquois attacked again, but were again defeated by the Anishinaabe. In 1683, under pressure from the Odawa, the French established a presence on the North side of the straits at the St. Ignace Mission in an alliance with the Anishinaabe against the Iroquois.Between 1670 and 1700, Michilimackinac flourished and became one of the central sites of the fur trade. Soon, French visitors