Georgian Bay
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Georgian Bay (French: baie Georgienne) is a large bay of Lake Huron, located in Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east and northeast of the Bruce Peninsula, south of Greater Sudbury and north of Collingwood. The North Channel of Georgian Bay extends further west, to St. Joseph Island near Sault Ste. Marie, dividing Manitoulin Island from the mainland of Northern Ontario. The Main Channel divides Manitoulin Island from the Bruce Peninsula, and connects Georgian Bay to the rest of Lake Huron; a series of smaller channels, including the Mississagi Strait and the False Detour Channel, connect the North Channel and the main water body between Manitoulin Island, Cockburn Island, Drummond Island and St. Joseph Island.
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[edit] Geography
Georgian Bay is about 320 kilometres long by 80 kilometres wide. It covers over 15,000 square kilometres, making it almost as large as Lake Ontario. Eastern Georgian Bay is part of the southern edge of the Canadian Shield, a geological formation carved out by the retreating glaciers at the end of the last ice age, about 11,000 years ago. The granite rock formations and windswept Eastern White Pine are characteristic of the islands and much of the shoreline of the bay. The beauty of the area has inspired landscapes by artists of the Group of Seven (an example of which is the painting by Frederick Varley shown above). The western part of the bay, from Collingwood north, and including Manitoulin Island, Drummond, Cockburn and St. Josephs Island, borders the Niagara Escarpment.
There are tens of thousands of islands in Georgian Bay. Most of these islands are along the east side of the bay and are collectively known as the "Thirty Thousand Islands," including the larger Parry Island and Christian Island. Manitoulin Island, lying along the northern side of the bay is the world's largest island in a freshwater lake. The Trent-Severn Waterway connects Georgian Bay to Lake Ontario, running from Port Severn in the southeastern corner of Georgian Bay through Lake Simcoe into Lake Ontario near Trenton. Further north, Lake Nipissing drains into it through the French River. In October 2004, the Georgian Bay Littoral was declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.
[edit] History
Archeological records reveal an Aboriginal presence in the southern regions of the Canadian Shield dating from 11,000 years ago. Evidence of later paleo-Aboriginal settlements have been found on Manitoulin Island and near Killarney, Ontario. At the time of contact the Ojibwe and Ottawa First Nations, both of whom call themselves Anishinaabe (plural: Anishinaabeg), lived along the northern and eastern shores of Georgian Bay. The Huron (or Wendat) and Iroquois (or Haudenosaunee) inhabited the lands to the south. Names of islands such as "Manitoulin" (from Gitchi Manitou, the Great Spirit) and "Giant's Tomb" are indicative of the richness of the cultural history of the area. Aboriginal communities continue to live on their territories and practise their cultural traditions.
The first Europeans to visit this area, the French explorers Samuel de Champlain and Étienne Brûlé, arrived in the 17th century. French Jesuits established the mission of Sainte-Marie among the Hurons, Ontario's first European settlement, in 1649 at what is now the community of Midland. The reconstructed Jesuit mission, Sainte-Marie among the Hurons, is now an historic site. Also nearby is the Martyrs' Shrine, a church dedicated to the Canadian Martyrs, Jesuits who were killed around Georgian Bay in the 17th century. Penetanguishene, also located at the southern tip of the bay near Midland, was created as a naval base in 1793 by John Graves Simcoe.
In 1814, during the War of 1812, one of the battles was fought in Southern Georgian Bay. On August 17, at the mouth of the Nottawasaga River near Wasaga Beach, the British schooner HMS Nancy was sunk by three American vessels. Several weeks later, the Nancy was avenged when two of the American vessels were surprised and captured by British boarding parties in the Detour Passage.
Georgian Bay was first charted in 1815 by Captain William Fitzwilliam Owen who called it Lake Manitoulin. In 1822, it was named after King George IV by Captain Henry Bayfield who made much more detailed charts of the bay. These are the basis of those in use today.
[edit] Settlements
The towns of Midland and Penetanguishene, at the southern end of the bay, are a popular site for summer cottages, as are the many bays and islands on the eastern shore. At the southern end of the bay, around Nottawasaga Bay, are found Collingwood, Meaford and Wasaga Beach. Owen Sound and Wiarton are located on the Bruce Peninsula along the southern and southwestern shore of the bay, while Tobermory is located at the northern tip of the Bruce Peninsula on the Main Channel. The Chi-Cheemaun ferry travels from Tobermory, across the Main Channel to South Baymouth on Manitoulin Island. Parry Sound, the world's deepest freshwater port, is located on the eastern shore of the bay.
[edit] References
- Historical Atlas of Canada, Volume I: From the Beginning to 1800. Edited by R. Cole Harris. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1987. ISBN 0-8020-2495-5
- Native Languages of the Americas
- "Ojibwe History" Shultzman, L. 2000. First Nations Histories. Accessed: 2006-03-28.
[edit] External links
- Satellite view of Georgian Bay
- Photo Gallery of Georgian Bay and Around
- Photo Gallery of southern Georgian Bay from Collingwood
