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Étienne Brulé came to Canada with Samuel de Champlain and was eventually sent up the Ottawa River by Champlain in 1610 on a mission to make friends with the Huron and other tribes living in the Lake Simcoe area. Accompanied by a Algonquin guide, he is thought to be the first European to see the Chaudiere Falls and the future site of the nation’s capital, and possibly also the first European to see Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Lake Superior.
Brûlé was quite the character, quickly adopting native ways, traveling and living among the natives for many years, but he apparently was not only adventurous, but treacherous and argumentative. In 1629 he helped the British capture Quebec and capture his old boss Champlain. In 1633, arguments with Hurons in the village where he was living near Penetanguishene led to a fight in which Brûlé was stabbed to death. It’s said that the native cut up and boiled his body for a feast.
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Appointed earlier in the year to superintend the building of the Rideau Canal, Colonel John By arrives in Ottawa in September to begin planning and preparations.
Of course, the place isn’t called Ottawa then. But it would shortly come to be called Bytown, and would keep that name until 1855.
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On January 1 of 1855, Bytown was legally incorporated as a city, and took on the name of Ottawa to commemorate what was regarded as the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Ottawa River for peaceful trade by an Algonquins.
It’s now thought that the word Ottawa ultimately derives, via “Outaouais,” from the Algonquin word “adawa,” which means “to trade.” There seems, however, to be plenty of confusion about whether an Algonquin tribe actually had this name or the Europeans misunderstood what they were saying.
At the time of incorporation, in any event, it was thought that the original Algonquin tribe doing the trading was called the “Ottawa.” It may or may not have been understood at the time although it seems to have been understood that this tribe actually lived far to the west and only used the river as the most convenient route to Montreal.
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The first mayor of the newly incorporated City of Ottawa was John Bower Lewis. He served until 1857.
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