Mackinac, Michigan (MI), United States

Facts & Statistics
Place Name	Mackinac
Pronunciation	MA-ki-naw
Place Status (Type)	region
Location	Michigan, United States, North America
Latitude	unknown
Longitude	unknown

Mackinac (MA-ki-naw), historic region of the Old Northwest (former Northwest Territory), a shortening of Michilimackinac. The name, in the past, was variously applied to different areas: to Mackinac Isl., to Mich., to the whole fur-trading region supplied from the isl., to the N mainland shore (St. Ignace, Mich., has been sometimes called Anc. Michilimackinac), and to the S mainland shore, where Mackinaw City (Mich.) is located and where a fort called Old Mackinac once stood. The Straits of Mackinac, a passage bet. the Upper and Lower peninsulas of Mich., connecting L. Michigan and L. Huron, served for many years as an important Native Amer. gathering place. In 1634 the Fr. explorer Jean Nicolet was the 1st European to pass through the straits. The Fr. Jesuit Claude Allouez, in 1665, was the 1st missionary to come here; he was followed by Father Jacques Marquette, who established a mission at St. Ignace in 1671. A fort was later built here, and it became the hq. of Fr. 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 Br. hands in 1761 during the last conflict of the Fr. and Indian Wars. In 1763 members of the Br. garrison at Old Mackinac were attacked and killed by the Ottawa during Pontiac's Rebellion. During the Amer. Revolution, the fort and town at Old Mackinac, threatened by the exploits of the Amer. general George Rogers Clark, were moved to Mackinac Isl. The isl. and the straits were awarded to the U.S. in 1783 by the Treaty of Paris, but they remained in Br. hands until 1794. One of the 1st events of the War of 1812 was the Br. capture of Mackinac; it was returned to U.S. control by the Treaty of Ghent in 1814. After the war, Mackinac Isl. became the center of operations of John Jacob Astor's Amer. Fur Company, 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 isl. was abandoned in 1894. Mackinac Isl. became a Mich. state park and, along with Bois Blanc Isl., 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.