Fort Michilimackinac was an island of French presence on the frontier from which the French carried out the fur trade, sought alliances with native peoples, and protected their interests against the colonial ambitions of other European nations. Overlooking the Straits of Mackinac connecting Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, the fort served as a supply post for French traders operating in the western Great Lakes region and as a primary stopping-off point between Montreal and the western country. The fort was not built primarily as a military facility but as a link in the French trade system, which extended from Montreal through the Great Lakes region and northwest to Lake Winnipeg and beyond.
Several years later, as the French sought to expand the fur trade, they built Fort Michilimackinac to re-establish a French presence in the Straits area.įort Michilimackinac was a strategically located fortified trading post. Ignace to Detroit, which led to the closing of the mission and considerably reduced French occupation in the area. In 1701, Cadillac moved the French garrison from St. Ignace where Father Marquette established a Jesuit mission in 1671 and Fort de Baude was established around 1683. Previously, French presence in the Straits area was focused in what is now St. Fort Michilimackinac was built by the French on the south shore of the Straits of Mackinac in approximately 1715.
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