- Petun
The Petun or Tionontati were an Iroquoian-speaking people whose homeland was located in the area immediately to the west of the territory of the Huron Confederacy in
Southern Ontario , a people to whom they were closely related. They were, with the Huron, dispersed by theIroquois in the late 17th century. The remnants joined with some refugee Hurons to become the Huron-Petuns, later known as theWyandot .The Tobacco Indians were so called from their industrious habit of cultivating that plant. Petun was the nickname given to them by the French traders. It became an obsolete word for tobacco which had derived from the early French
Brazil ian trade. ["Historical Magazine," Vol. V, O. S., 1861, p. 263.] In the Mohawk dialect of the Iroquois the name for tobacco is O-ye-aug-wa. [ Gallatin's "Synopsis American Aboriginal Archives," Vol. II, p. 484.] Ohio Valley colonial tradesmen and following settlers called the Wyandot,Guyandotte . TheGuyandotte River in south-westernWest Virginia was named for these elements ofWendat who also migrated to the area during theFur Trade wars.*Ramsden, Peter G. [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0006257 "Petun"] . "
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