The Nipissing, an aboriginal people of Ojibwa and Algonquin descent who have lived in the area of Lake Nipissing in the Canadian province of Ontario for about nine thousand four hundred years, are known in history by many names, but are generally considered part of the Anishinaabe peoples, a grouping which includes the Odawas, Ojibwe and Algonquins.
This broad heritage is likely the result of the Nipissings living at the crossroads between two watersheds, and are key to trade to the East, West, North and South of Lake Nipissing.
This watershed divide will later be portaged extensively by the French in accessing the Great Lakes by canoe from settlements around Montreal.
To the west, their trade routes extend as far as Lake Nipigon and their Ojibwa neighbors, and to the north as far James Bay where they trade with the Cree.
Their trade network to the east extends as far as present day Quebec City.
The Hurons had lived nearby to the South, and there is archaeological evidence that the Nipissings have integrated some Huron styles and techniques in their pottery.
They obtain food primarily through hunting, fishing, and gathering although their extensive trading likely allows them to supplement their diets with corn, beans and squash as well.
Certainly the land in the lake valleys would have supported some horticulture.
The trade routes that had been under the Nipissings' control had become increasingly desirable during the early colonial period, as the French proved a large market for the inland pelts.
As a result, the Iroquois had executed military campaigns against the Huron and, by 1647, the Nipissing had regrouped in the Lake Nipigon area.
The Nipissing nonetheless continued to use their historical trade routes, but at greater risk to themselves.
Claude-Jean Allouez visited the Nipissings at Lake Nipigon 1667, but in 1671 he reports that the Nipissing have returned to Lake Nipissing.
After returning to Lake Nipissing, some of the Nipissings relocate to the missions at Trois-Rivières, Quebec and Oka, Quebec.
