French & English Traders Move In

Early French traders, from the small French trading fort at the mouth of the Humber River on the grounds of the present day Canadian National Exhibition grounds, would arrive at the Riviere au Credite to trade with the Mississaugas of the Credit. This tradition continued when the English absorbed the old French fur trade in the area.

The Credit Mississaugas lost most of their land in Mississauga between Burlington and Etobicoke during the land treaty of 1806, but maintained a reserve a mile to the east and west of the Credit River. At this time, their main village was on the grounds of the present Mississauga Golf Club and a smaller settlement was on the west side of the river at it's mouth.

Illnesses and disease, caused by drinking heavily industrially-polluted river water, so severely affected their lives that they were largely forced to cede their reserve lands to the colonists and flee to the Grand River. They were welcomed by their former enemies, the Six Nations Confederacy, and given land.