People at an Ancient Crossroads / Un ancien point de jonction

English: , Canada’s Capital is young , but the land is old, and the people have lived here for a long, long time. After the glaciers melted and the waters of the Champlain Sea retreated from this valley (10,000 to 13,000 years ago), the first humans started to arrive in the region (6,000 to 7,000 years ago). They likely came in small bands, some travelling by canoe, others on foot, and camped on the sloping northern banks of the river before you. Century after century, they fished in these waters, hunted in forests along the riverbanks and traded far and wide. The river , the "Kitchissippi" (great river) to the Algonquins and, later, the "Ottawa" to the Europeans , stretches northwestward into the heart of Canada and southeastward to the mighty St. Lawrence River. Two important tributaries, the Gatineau and Rideau rivers, join the Ottawa not far from here. It was a natural crossroads for ancient travellers and early traders., Aboriginal Traders , The canoe was the workhorse of ancient peoples in this region. Laden with trade goods (for example, stone tools and copper), canoes crossed the continent. The "Ottawa" , or adawe, meaning "to trade" in Algonkin , was named for the Algonquin groups from the Georgian Bay area that travelled the river in the 17th century.,