Paleo-Indian Migrations

≈11000 BC – The final glacier of the last ice age retreated from Wisconsin, leaving behind lakes and rivers as well as tundra suitable for large animals such as the wooly mammoth, mastodons, bison, and muskox.
≈10000 BC – Wisconsin’s first known inhabitants, the Paleo-Indian people, are thought to have arrived from the west and south. The Paleo-Indians were nomadic, moving frequently to follow large animal migrations.
8500-6000 BC – As forests continued to emerge, big game species moved northward toward the receding glaciers, forcing people to rely on smaller mammals and gathered plants. Over time people began to travel less, instead settling in to particular regions.
6000-2000 BC – As the Wisconsin climate became warmer and drier, prairies began to take over some forest land. Around this time, people began to use locally-sourced copper to develop weapons as well as tools that assisted them with creating dugout canoes, wooden bowls, and other implements. The societies of this
The Iroquois attacked and raided other Indian Nations allied with the French in present-day Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Ontario to gain access to their fur-bearing lands. As a result, many of these Indian Nations, including the Sauk, Fox, Potawatomi, Mascouten, Kickapoo, Ottawa, Miami and Huron, fled for more remote areas of the west. The Sioux Nations blocked travel of these Nations across the Mississippi River so many settled in Wisconsin and Illinois. The existing tribes of Wisconsin, particularly the Ho-chunk and Menominee, lost many tribal members due to European diseases brought by the refugees. Thousands of new and existing Wisconsin Indians also died as a result of starvation and warfare due to overcrowding. The Iroquois Wars halted further French exploration of Wisconsin for decades as they focused instead on protecting Montreal, Quebec, and existing fur trade routes from the Iroquois