Amalgamation

[urbd]

Any sort of merger, if it were to happen, would likely be named Kitchener because it's by far the largest city.  That said, it will never happen. All 3 cities are very different and have different values. Within Cambridge it's even mixed up. Around there, it's still Galt, Preston and Hespeler.

One day, though, maybe 30-50 years from now, Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge/Guelph will look like 1 city to any outsider. Kinda like how when you go to the GTA.

I'm still rooting for #BERLIN

No never!!! we don't want another city name like London (ON).

[DHLawrence]

Maybe consult with the local First Nations and see if there are any significant place names?

[urbd]

Maybe consult with the local First Nations and see if there are any significant place names?

Does anyone know what the original name of the Grand River was?

[jgsz]

Maybe consult with the local First Nations and see if there are any significant place names?

Does anyone know what the original name of the Grand River was?

Grande-Rivière and then Ouse River.  Mohawks called it Tie. 

[jamincan]

As far as I know, the Six Nations only moved to S. Ontario after the American Revolution, and although they were given the land along the Grand, I'm not clear how much of it they actually settled. Would the Wendat/Huron be the original inhabitants before that point in time? I recall their being some information panels about evidence of old settlements around the Huron Natural Area in Kitchener, but I don't recall how old the settlements were, what people they belonged to, and if they were the most recent indigenous inhabitants.

[tomh009]

Grande-Rivière and then Ouse River.  Mohawks called it Tie. 

O : se Kenhionhata : tie in Iroquois, to be complete -- the Willow River.

Attawandarons, the neutrals, lived in the Grand River valley from the 1500s on, but they also spoke Iroquois, so the name above is possibly still correct. There is not much information available from before the arrival of the French explorers in Ontario.

[KevinL]

I recall their being some information panels about evidence of old settlements around the Huron Natural Area in Kitchener, but I don't recall how old the settlements were, what people they belonged to, and if they were the most recent indigenous inhabitants.

That was determined to be a Neutral site, yes.

[ijmorlan]

I recall their being some information panels about evidence of old settlements around the Huron Natural Area in Kitchener, but I don't recall how old the settlements were, what people they belonged to, and if they were the most recent indigenous inhabitants.

That was determined to be a Neutral site, yes.

Can anybody explain the Neutral name to me? Is it a people called the Neutral, a word that coincidentally is also an English word, or are they called that because at some point they were the neutral party in some sort of dispute?

[tomh009]

That was determined to be a Neutral site, yes.

Can anybody explain the Neutral name to me? Is it a people called the Neutral, a word that coincidentally is also an English word, or are they called that because at some point they were the neutral party in some sort of dispute?

We don't know what they called themselves. They were called Neutrals because they were not at war with either the Hurons or the Iroquois (or the French or the English).

[KevinL]

"...they managed to trade simultaneously with the oft-warring Huron and Iroquois. Since they were not at war with either of those nations in the 1600s, the Jesuits travelling in the area... called them the Neutrals."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutral_Nation

[robdrimmie]

Thank you for the direction this thread has taken. I was not aware of the Neutrals, and it is very interesting.

[urbd]

This is amazing, thanks for the contributions everyone

[panamaniac]

I believe that there were nomadic groups of Mississauga's in the Region, until some years/decades after the first settler arrivals.

[jgsz]

I believe that there were nomadic groups of Mississauga's in the Region, until some years/decades after the first settler arrivals.

Mississauga is named after the Mississaugas.  If the Region amalgamates, lets call it Attawandaron, after the Attawandarons.  Anything but Kitchener.

[Rainrider22]

I believe that there were nomadic groups of Mississauga's in the Region, until some years/decades after the first settler arrivals.

Mississauga is named after the Mississaugas.  If the Region amalgamates, lets call it Attawandaron, after the Attawandarons.  Anything but Kitchener.

I am good with Kitchener..