Mackinac definition of Mackinac in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Mackinac (măk`ĭnô'), historic region of the Old Northwest (see Northwest Territory Northwest Territory, first possession of the United States, comprising the region known as the Old Northwest, S and W of the Great Lakes, NW of the Ohio River, and E of the Mississippi River, including the present states of Ohio, Ind., Ill., Mich., Wis.
..... Click the link for more information. ), a shortening of Michilimackinac. The name, in the past, was variously applied to different areas: to Mackinac Island; to Michigan; to the whole fur-trading region supplied from the island; to the northern mainland shore (St. Ignace, Mich., has been sometimes called Ancient Michilimackinac); and to the southern mainland shore, where Mackinaw City, Mich. is located and where a fort called Old Mackinac once stood. The Straits of Mackinac, a passage between the Upper and Lower peninsulas of Mich., connecting Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, served for many years as an important Native American gathering place. In 1634 the French explorer Jean Nicolet was the first European to pass through the straits. The French Jesuit Claude Allouez, in 1665, was the first missionary to go there; he was followed by Father Jacques Marquette, who established a mission at St. Ignace in 1671. A fort was later built there, and it became the headquarters of French trade operations in New France and an important military post in the Old Northwest; its importance declined when Detroit was founded in 1701. The region passed into British hands in 1761 during the last conflict of the French and Indian Wars French and Indian Wars, 1689–1763, the name given by American historians to the North American colonial wars between Great Britain and France in the late 17th and the 18th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. . In 1763 members of the British garrison at Old Mackinac were attacked and killed by the Ottawa during Pontiac's Rebellion Pontiac's Rebellion, Pontiac's Conspiracy, or Pontiac's War, 1763–66, Native American uprising against the British just after the close of the French and Indian Wars , so called after one of its leaders, Pontiac .
..... Click the link for more information. . During the American Revolution American Revolution, 1775–83, struggle by which the Thirteen Colonies on the Atlantic seaboard of North America won independence from Great Britain and became the United States. It is also called the American War of Independence.
..... Click the link for more information. , the fort and town at Old Mackinac, threatened by the exploits of the American general George Rogers Clark Clark, George Rogers, 1752–1818, American Revolutionary general, conqueror of the Old Northwest, b. near Charlottesville, Va.; brother of William Clark .
..... Click the link for more information. , were moved to Mackinac Island. The island and the straits were awarded to the United States in 1783 by the Treaty of Paris, but they remained in British hands until 1794. One of the first events of the War of 1812 was the British capture of Mackinac; it was returned to U.S. control by the Treaty of Ghent Ghent, Treaty of, 1814, agreement ending the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain. It was signed at Ghent, Belgium, on Dec. 24, 1814, and ratified by the U.S. Senate in Feb., 1815. The American commissioners were John Q. Adams , James A.
..... Click the link for more information. in 1814. After the war, Mackinac Island became the center of operations of John Jacob Astor Astor, John Jacob (ăs`tər), 1763–1848, American merchant, b. Walldorf, near Heidelberg, Germany.
..... Click the link for more information. 's American Fur Company American Fur Company, chartered by John Jacob Astor (1763–1848) in 1808 to compete with the great fur-trading companies in Canada—the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company.
..... Click the link for more information. , which thrived until the 1830s, when fur trading declined. After the 1840s the straits area changed from an important crossroads to an out-of-the-way shipping point, and the U.S. army post on the island was abandoned in 1894. Mackinac Island became a Michigan state park and, along with Bois Blanc Island, a popular summer resort. Iron-ore mining revitalized the area in the early 20th cent., but the mineral was soon depleted. The Mackinac Straits Bridge (3,800 ft/1,158 m long; opened 1957) spans the straits and links St. Ignace with Mackinaw City. The connection has stimulated the economy of the Upper Peninsula as a result of the added transportation route for tourists, vacationers and sports enthusiasts. The straits are an important link in the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence waterway.

Mackinac

a wooded island in N Michigan, in the Straits of Mackinac (a channel between the lower and upper peninsulas of Michigan): an ancient Indian burial ground; state park. Length: 5 km (3 miles)