St. Joseph Island (Ontario)
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Native name: Anipich or Payentanassin (Ojibwe) Nickname: St. Joe |
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 St. Joseph Island
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| Geography | |
| Location | Lake Huron, east of the mouth of the St. Marys River. |
| Coordinates | 46°13′11″N 83°56′47″W / 46.21972°N 83.94639°WCoordinates: 46°13′11″N 83°56′47″W / 46.21972°N 83.94639°W |
| Archipelago | Manitoulin archipelago |
| Area | 365 km2 (141 sq mi) |
| Length | 30 km (19 mi) |
| Width | 20 km (12 mi) |
| Highest elevation | 335 m (1,099 ft) |
| Highest point | Carterton |
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Canada
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| Province | Ontario |
| District | Algoma District |
| Largest settlement | Richards Landing |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 2,031 (2016) |
| Pop. density | 5.56 /km2 (14.4 /sq mi) |
St. Joseph Island is located in northern Ontario, Canada in northwestern Lake Huron. At 365 km2, it is the second largest island on Lake Huron, following Manitoulin Island, and the third largest of all the islands on the Great Lakes, trailing Manitoulin and Lake Superior's unpopulated Isle Royale.
By road, the island is approximately 68 km (42 mi) south east of the city of Sault Ste. Marie and 273 km (170 mi) west of Sudbury.
St. Joseph Island played an important role for First Nations and Europeans in the early fur trade and as a staging point for the first victory for British North America in the War of 1812. Today it is a destination for tourists and cottagers in northeastern Ontario.
Unlike neighbouring islands, little evidence has been found of early human activity on St. Joseph Island. Archeologists have found very little to confirm settlement, farming or hunting on the island before the 17th century.
It is speculated that the first humans to see St. Joseph Island and set foot on it were the hunter-gatherers of the Plano cultures who travelled north from the Great Plains of the continent between 9000 BCE and 6000 BCE. These peoples followed the bison and other animals into the areas revealed by retreating glaciers. Evidence of Plano migrations – particularly projectile point tools - has been found in the Great Lakes basin from Lake Superior through the St. Marys River to the north channel of Lake Huron.
By about 5000 BCE, St. Joseph Island would have formed part of the boundary between the Laurentian Archaic and the Shield Archaic peoples. The Laurentian people, hunters and fishers who came from the southeast settled in the lower St. Lawrence and eastern Great Lakes region. The Shield people, likely descendants of the Plano came south from the Tyrrell Sea (a much larger Hudson Bay) and travelled along the northern shores of lakes that are today Superior and Huron.
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Wikipedia