Kondiaronk

Kondiaronk (c. 1625–1701) (Gaspar Soiaga, Souojas, Sastaretsi), known as Le Rat (The Rat), was chief of the Native American Wyandot (Huron) people at Michilimackinac in New France, where they settled after war with the Haudenosaunee in 1649. This is the area around the strait connecting Lake Huron and Lake Michigan and separating Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas in the present-day United States. Noted as a brilliant orator and a formidable strategist, Kondiaronk led the pro-French Wyandot of Michilimackinac, a mixed community of Petun and Wendat people, against their traditional Haudenosaunee enemies. In the chaotic and violent strategic environment of the Beaver Wars, he aimed to prolong the fighting between the Wyandot's main rivals, the Haudenosaunee and the French. Kondiaronk succeeded in this aim; however, once he had secured the position of the Wyandot, he favored a general peace settlement and managed to persuade all sides. This effort concluded in the 1701 Great Peace of Montreal between France, the Haudenosaunee, and the other indigenous peoples of the Upper Great Lakes. This ended the Beaver Wars and helped open up the interior of North America to deeper French exploration and commerce. The Jesuit historian Father Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix wrote that "it was the general opinion that no Indian had ever possessed greater merit, a finer mind, more valor, prudence or discernment in understanding those with whom he had to deal". Louis-Hector de Callière, the Onontio (governor) that replaced Frontenac, was "exclusively indebted to him for ... this assemblage, till then unexampled of so many nations for a general peace". Kondiaronk contracted a fever and died in Montreal during the negotiations for the Great Peace on August 2, 1701. His body was buried at Montreal's Notre-Dame Church after a majestic funeral. Today, no trace of the grave remains. The Kondiaronk Belvedere...