|
The Ojibwa believed that when Gitchi Manitou (the Great Spirit) created the world he reserved the best bits for himself and created MANITOULIN (God's Island) - the world's largest freshwater island - as his own home. A continuation of the limestone Niagara Escarpment , Manitoulin is strikingly different from the harsh grey rocks of the Canadian Shield, its white cliffs, wide lakes, gentle woodland and stretches of open, prairie-like farmland presenting an altogether more welcoming aspect. This rural idyll has long attracted hundreds of summer sailors, who ply the lakes that punctuate the island, and has proved increasingly popular with motorized city folk, who arrive here in numbers on the car ferry from Tobermory in southwest Ontario. Nevertheless, it's easy enough to escape the crowds, either by driving along the north shore, the prettiest part of the island, or by hunkering down in one of Manitoulin's resorts or B&Bs. About a quarter of the island's 12,000 inhabitants are aboriginals, descendants of groups believed to have arrived here over 10,000 years ago. Archeologists have uncovered evidence of these Paleo-Indians at Sheguiandah , on the east coast, and the small display of artefacts at the museum here contains some of the oldest human traces found in Ontario. Much later, in 1836, the island's aboriginal peoples - primarily, Ojibwa and Odawa - reluctantly signed a treaty that turned Manitoulin into a refuge for several Georgian Bay bands who had just been dispossessed by white settlers. Few of them came, which was just as well because the whites soon revised their position and wanted the island for themselves. In 1862, this pressure culminated in a second treaty that gave most of the island to the newcomers. It was all particularly shabby and, to their credit, the Ojibwa band living on the eastern tip of the island at Wikwemikong refused to sign. Their descendants still live on this so-called "unceded reserve", and, during the August Civic Weekend, Wiky , as it's always known, holds the largest powwow in the country. Manitoulin can be reached either by road (and bridge) from Hwy 17 to the north or by car ferry from Tobermory in the south (May to late June & early Sept to mid-Oct 2-3 daily; late June to early Sept 4 daily; $11.20 one-way, cars $24.50; reservations on tel 1-800/265-3163). Ferries arrive on the island's south coast at South Baymouth. There are no bus or train services to or around the island.
Your Tip for Manitoulin Island
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to Manitoulin Island - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to Manitoulin Island - visit the main Manitoulin Island forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the Manitoulin Island webguide section below! Thanks.
|
