History History

The end of the last ice age marks the slow creation of the Great Lakes. It is not known how long ago the region was settled, but it is known that the Miami, Sauk, Fox and Poteouatami Amerindians occupied the area before the arrival of Europeans.

The first European explorers arrive in the region. Étienne Brûlé, scout for Samuel de Champlain, explored four of the Great Lakes: Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.

Jean Nicolet, who arrived in Quebec in 1618, became the first European to explore Lake Michigan. While searching for a passage to the Orient, he discovered the territory corresponding to present-day Wisconsin and met the Ho-Chunk Amerindians.

On their return from an expedition to the Mississippi, Jesuit Father Jacques Marquette, a missionary from New France, and the coureur des bois Louis Joliet set foot on the soil of present-day Chicago. They became the first Europeans to travel up the Chicago River. Marquette established Jesuit missions in the area, including Green Bay, Wisconsin and St. Ignatius, Michigan.

Jesuit Father François Pinet founded the Guardian Angel Mission at the site of the future Chicago, with the aim of evangelizing the Amerindian populations. The mission is abandoned four years later.

Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac arrived in America in 1683, at the age of 25. The son of simple bourgeois, he took advantage of his arrival in the New World to change his identity and invent a prestigious genealogy. Educated, boastful, explorer and freebooter, he devoted himself to trade and then presented himself to the governor of Frontenac, who sent him to explore the New England coast. Not hesitating to add to his military experience, he became an officer in the marine troops and in 1694 was appointed commander of the Pays-d'en-Haut, a territory of New France that encompassed the Great Lakes basin. In 1701, he founded Fort Pontchartrain in a strategic location that he himself had chosen, between the Great Lakes and the river basins. The construction of the fort marked the founding of the city of Detroit. Accused of trafficking and abuse of power, he had to leave the Strait and was appointed governor of Louisiana, where the king ordered him to surrender. Cadillac refused to comply and returned to France, where he resumed his true identity, with wife and children. In 1722, a few years before his death, he succeeded in having his rights to the Detroit estate recognized.

Aware of its extraordinary potential and the market that was available to them, the French decided to settle in the region. Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded Fort Pontchartrain to prevent the British enemy from advancing westward and to ensure French domination in the fur trade. The construction of the fort marks the founding of the city of Detroit

In the context of the "Fox Wars", clashes broke out between the French and the Amerindian tribe of the Mesquakies for control of the Fox River. The French wanted to appropriate it to gain access to the Mississippi River and facilitate the fur trade between French Canada and the interior of the continent. The Mesquakies, who saw this project as an intrusion, resisted. When the conflict ended twenty years later, the population of the Mesquakies was decimated.

The Seven Years' War, which opposed the English and the French and their respective allies in Europe, India and America, was called the War of the Conquest, or the French and Indian War in English. At stake was the colonial domination of North America. With the help of their respective Amerindian allies, the French and the English attacked enemy military outposts. England emerged victorious and the Treaty of Paris ended the war. The English took over all of the formerly French territories in Canada and the Midwest

Following the defeat of the French, the Amerindians rose up against the English occupier, who posed as a colonizer. Chief Pontiac, of the Ottawa tribe in the Detroit area, led a two-year rebellion against the English occupiers, laying siege to many English strongholds throughout the Great Lakes region. In 1765, the English managed to regain control of the region and put an end to the rebellion. But this episode made them realize that they could not control the region without developing better relations with the Indian nations. This strategy was to pay off during the American Revolution, when all the American Indian nations allied themselves with the British against the Americans. Only the tribes of southeastern Lake Michigan united with the independence forces, but the vast majority of Native Americans feared the Americans who sought to take over their lands.

War breaks out between the British Crown and its American colonies, which declare their independence. The Treaty of Paris of 1783, in which England recognized the independence of the United States of America, put an end to the conflict.

Jean Baptiste Point du Sable became the very first resident, outside of the indigenous populations, of what would become the city of Chicago. He builds a house as well as a supply post for trappers, merchants and Amerindians at the mouth of the Chicago River.

Following their defeat at the battle of Fallen Timber, the Amerindians ceded to the Americans a portion of their territory corresponding to the current Ohio, part of Chicago and Detroit. The Americans can continue their conquest towards the West.

Because he needed funds to support his European wars, Napoleon sold the land in Louisiana to the Americans for $15 million. Today's Minnesota is one of those vast territories that make up 22% of today's United States.

Against a backdrop of strong trade tensions, a new war, declared by the United States against the British, broke out. The Potéouatamis Indians took advantage of this to send five hundred warriors to attack Fort Dearborn, built at the mouth of the Chicago River in 1803. The fort is destroyed, fifty-two Americans are killed and forty-two are captured. The Anglo-American War of 1812 would end two years later with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, without any territorial takeover having taken place.

By signing the Treaty of St. Louis, the Amerindians ceded to the Americans a decisive area that would allow the construction of the Illinois-Michigan Canal from 1836

The U.S. Congress passes laws authorizing the removal of Native American populations to lands west of the Mississippi. This was the beginning of a long series of deportations and massacres of Native American peoples

Black Hawk, the chief of the Sauk and Fox tribes, opposes the removal of his people to the inhospitable lands of Iowa. He tried to reach an arrangement with the American authorities, who in response shot one of his emissaries. Black Hawk retaliated, but the Americans launched a major offensive and massacred almost all of Black Hawk's warriors, who were eventually expelled to Iowa. This conflict marked the end of the American Indian wars in the Great Lakes region

The city of Chicago is founded, with a population of 350.

St. Paul's becomes the capital of Minnesota.

After twelve years of construction, the Illinois and Michigan Canal is finally operational. Most of the workers were Irish immigrants. The canal allowed for river transportation from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River, and made Chicago one of the largest logistics centers in the United States. In the same year, the Chicago Board of Trade was created to set prices for goods passing through the city

Chicago's economy is booming. Already connected by water, the city's status as a transportation hub is being reinforced by the construction of railroads. More than thirty train lines pass through Chicago. With the arrival of the railroad, factories were set up in the region, Chicago became industrialized and its population exploded: from 4,000 in 1840, it reached 112,000 in 1860.

During the Civil War, the region developed its industries and supported the war effort. The Great Lakes states joined the Union, with Illinois alone sending more than 250,000 troops to the front. Chicago becomes a major industrial port. Metallurgical plants and the manufacturing industry operate at full capacity.

Growth was underway, the number of factories exploded, as did the population. The opening of the Union Stockyards, large slaughterhouses on the south side of Chicago, attracted immigrants by the trainload, especially Irish, Italians and Poles. Wisconsin saw hundreds of thousands of German Protestants arrive, while Minnesota welcomed Swedes and Slavic populations. In Michigan, especially Detroit, which was growing rapidly thanks to the automobile industry, migrants from Greece, Poland, Germany and Ireland settled

The discharge of pollutants into the Chicago River causes epidemics that kill thousands of people. To fight against this scourge, the Water Tower Pumping Station is built, but this is not enough to stop the epidemics. It was not until 1900 and the reversal of the flow of the Chicago River: thanks to the construction of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, sewage from the river no longer flowed into Lake Michigan, which was the city's source of drinking water, but into the Mississippi River.

The Great Chicago Fire killed 300 people and destroyed a third of the city.

Construction of the Home Insurance Building, the first skyscraper in history, rising to 42 metres (51 metres a few years later). It wasdemolished in 1931, but the Monadnock Building, built in 1891 and still standing today, is close to it

On May¹, 1886, a general strike of workers was launched with the aim of demanding an eight-hour working day. Thousands of workers were gathered at the McCormick plant when police stormed in and charged, killing one worker and injuring several others. Three days later, a protest rally, organized by a workers' union, was held in Haymarket Square. A bomb was thrown at the police and a general fight ensued, killing seven police and three workers. This incident made Chicago an epicenter of social strife. Eight men associated with the anarchist movement were arrested and tried, seven of them were executed. In memory of these events, Labor Day, Labor Day, is celebrated on May^1st each year

The first L train, the Chicago subway, comes into service.

The Columbian World's Fair in Chicago celebrates the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the New World. The modern Ferris wheel, invented by a certain Mr. Ferris, is born on this occasion. The site of the exhibition is located in the south of the city, in Jackson Park, and the architect Daniel Burnham and the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted show the world that the city stands as a true architectural laboratory on the ruins of the Great Fire of 1871. During this event, a certain H.H. Holmes, considered to be the country's first serial killer, will be in the shadows, whose crimes committed in his "castle" will fascinate the whole country

Massive influx of Jewish, Slavic, Greek and Italian immigrants, until restrictive quotas were introduced in the 1940s. Chicago's population increases dramatically to reach 2.1 million before World War I.

African Americans from the American South migrate to the Midwest, North and East to escape racism and find work. Many settled in the cities of Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis and Cleveland. In Chicago, the African American population grew from 278,000 to 813,000 between 1940 and 1960. African Americans represented a cheap labor force, previously supplied by European immigrants, whose arrival had been greatly slowed by World War I and the introduction of quotas.

The first assembly line at Ford's Detroit plants is commissioned. Thousands of cars leave the plants, symbolizing a progress that is now accessible to the greatest number of people

Having grown out of the First World War, the United States entered a period of euphoria and growth called the Roaring Twenties. It is the era of jazz, silent cinema, and the development of art in all its forms. It was also a time of celebration. Everyone tries to forget past troubles by having fun. This America of fun and prosperity is contrasted with a conservative value system, on which the country was founded. Prohibition, which prohibits the manufacture, consumption, and sale of alcohol, was introduced at the federal level in January 1919. Protestant groups, at the initiative of this movement, wanted to end the evils of American society, such as unemployment and violence, allegedly caused by the consumption and abuse of alcohol. As a result, Chicago becomes the playground for gangsters, who get rich by taking control of the illegal alcohol market. This traffic brings in tens of millions of dollars in the city of Chicago alone. Al Capone, the terrible godfather of the Outfit, takes the law into his own hands and controls the entire chain of alcohol production, from the distilleries to the speakeasies

The climate of clandestinity that reigns in large American cities, especially Chicago, leads to violent settling of scores that are exposed on the streets. This was the case on February 14, 1929, when seven members of the North Side Gang, the Irish mafia in Chicago, were murdered by Al Capone's men disguised as policemen. The Valentine's Day Massacre is considered to be the last great episode in Chicago's gang war.

Economic prosperity came to an abrupt end in 1929, when the Wall Street stock market collapsed. The United States, and then the whole world, entered an unprecedented crisis. In Detroit, the automobile industry was hit very hard. In the rural areas of the Midwest, the crisis was made worse by the fact that farmland had been severely affected by the 1927 Mississippi River flood, which had devastated the land in the valley. The Great Depression left millions unemployed and homeless. It wasn't until 1936 and Roosevelt's New Deal that economic recovery slowly began

The end of Prohibition is ratified. On the whole, the experiment was a bitter failure because of corruption, smuggling and lack of means put in place by the government and local authorities

Chicago and the Great Lakes region experienced an economic boom after the Second World War. Chicago asserts its status as a commercial and industrial centre.

Richard J. Daley was elected mayor of the city and remained so until his death in 1976.

Born in a working-class neighborhood in Chicago, Richard J. Daley worked a series of odd jobs to pay his way through law school. After a first experience in a law firm, he devoted himself to politics and made a place for himself in the Democratic Party. In 1955, he was elected mayor of Chicago. Daley is considered the last boss of big cities, in reference to the way he runs his own. Instrumentalizing the electorate, controlling votes, corruption, he uses every strategy to achieve his ends. The control of the city council allows him to pass his decisions. However, he remains popular with the inhabitants, who see his electoral tactics as a lesser evil compared to the national and international prestige acquired by the city. His vast construction projects, such as the John Hancock Center, O'Hare Airport, and the University of Illinois, helped revitalize Chicago. With an iron fist, he saved the city from the economic crisis that hit the Great Lakes region in the 1970s. He spent 21 years at the head of Chicago, a record only surpassed by his son, Richard M. Daley, mayor of the city from 1989 to 2011.

For 5 days, race riots shook the city of Detroit, resulting in the death of 43 people. The trigger was a police raid on a speakeasy frequented mainly by African-Americans. The 1970s saw an accelerated process of desertification of the city by white populations

The construction of the John Hancock Center, which reaches a height of 344 metres, is completed. It is one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world.

A new economic crisis, caused by the oil crisis and European and Asian competition, is hitting the Great Lakes. In order to emerge from it, the region begins a process of deindustrialisation, which leads to the closure of the Union Stockyards and many factories. New industries are developing, such as information, aeronautics, aerospace and biotechnology. On the other hand, nothing seems to be able to save Detroit, whose decline has begun. The city's population continues to decline and its economy is falling.

Inauguration of the Sears Tower (now the Willis Tower), which will remain the world's tallest skyscraper for 25 years.

Jane Byrne, Chicago's first female mayor, is elected. She makes culture one of the priorities of her term

Chicago elects Harold Washington, its first African-American mayor

Richard J. Daley's son, Richard M. Daley, becomes mayor of the city. He was re-elected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2007. He was behind the creation of Millennium Park, inaugurated in 2004, the implementation of environmental projects and the modernization of the metro system. He has been accused of increasing police violence and an unfortunate tendency to make his relatives benefit from public contracts.

The basement of Chicago, at the Loop area, is flooded after six hundred million litres of water spilled into the transport tunnels after a wall was damaged. The Loop area was evacuated, and it took three days before normal activity resumed

Barack Obama, a Democratic senator from Illinois, is elected president of the United States. He will be re-elected in 2012. During his two terms, he will keep his home in the Hyde Park district of Chicago

Rahm Emmanuel, a Democrat close to Barack Obama, was elected mayor of the city. Chicagoans owe him the creation of many green spaces and a strong development of the tourism industry.

With an estimated debt of over $18.5 billion, the city of Detroit filed for bankruptcy. It will come out of bankruptcy the following year, thanks to a vast recovery plan. Photographs of the ruins (or ruin porn) of some of the city's theaters or the Michigan Central Station became the symbol of the wreckage of deindustrialization in the Rust Belt , a once prosperous region.

The city of Flint, Michigan, is facing contamination of its drinking water. The water, pumped from Flint's polluted river following a decision by the state governor, contains lead levels up to 30 times higher than normal. This health crisis, which affects a predominantly black and poor population, is causing at least 12 deaths.

Large demonstrations are being held in Chicago following the release of a video of a police officer shooting a black youth 16 times a year earlier. This was yet another racist incident that led to the dismissal of the Chicago police chief and the opening of a major federal judicial investigation into the actions of the Chicago Police Department.

Following the induction of President Donald Trump, demonstrations were held in cities across the country. There are about 100,000 protesters in Saint Paul, Minnesota, almost as many in Madison, Wisconsin, and about 250,000 in Chicago

Lori Lightfoot is sworn in as mayor of Chicago. She becomes the first black mayor and the first gay mayor of the city

The statue of Christopher Columbus was removed by the city council on July 24. It crystallized many tensions on the place where it was erected, in the margin of the protests following the death of George Floyd. However, there is talk of its return soon, and this would not be so surprising: the Italian-American community is quite courted electorally speaking.

During the 4th of July parade in Highland Park, a gunman attacked onlookers on the side of the road. Several people were killed and dozens were injured. This event echoes the tragedy of Uvalde, Texas, a few months earlier. In this context of increasing gun violence, Chicago is unfortunately no exception.