![[Pasted image 20250211173007.png]] (1625-1701) Wendat ([[Huron]]) chief and diplomat. Known by the French as the muskrat or rat. After the defeat and scattering of the Huron by the [[HISTORY Teaching Content/US 1/Topic Index/Iroquois]] in 1649, Kandiaronk settled at [[Michilimackinac]], the strait that connects Lakes Huron and Michigan. He devoted much of his strategic skill to insuring that the conflict between the Iroquois and the French that has become known as the [[Beaver Wars]] continued as long as possible, to insure the safety of his people under French protection. He managed to "kill the peace" several times when it seemed the parties were coming to terms. Finally, once he believed the Huron were relatively safe, he brought all the combatants together and negotiated the [The Great Peace of Montreal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Peace_of_Montreal) (1701) between France, the Iroquois, and the other Indian tribes of the Upper Great Lakes. Kandiaronk was celebrated during his life as a great orator and conversationalist. He was often invited to dine with the French Governor-General, [Frontenac](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_de_Buade_de_Frontenac), because he was said to be the best dinner debater in America. The Jesuit historian, [Charlevoix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Fran%C3%A7ois_Xavier_de_Charlevoix), said no Indian he had met “ever possessed greater merit, a finer mind, more valor, prudence or discernment in understanding those with whom he had to deal”. Part of Kandiaronk’s understanding of the French came from over a decade of study that he claimed included a visit to France. Kandiaronk mentions this in a discussion he had with the Baron Lahontan, which [[Lahontan]] published as part of his three-volume memoir of his travels in America. In this "curious dialogue", Kandiaronk criticizes French culture and compares it with his own, expressing ideas about individual liberty and social justice that anticipate the European [[Enlightenment]].  *Kandiaronk's mark on the Great Peace Treaty, noting "mark of the rat, chief of the hurons".*