text: when explorers came to ontario in the 1600s what tribe of indians did they find along the st.lawrence river? please please help me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! there appears to be a lot of tribes...and it would help if the exact time in the 1600's were given. apparently the earliest records of the area claim that ontario was mainly occupied by the algonquian and iroquoian nations (indian tribes). however the first european to get there was jacques cartier and he made his way up the st. lawrence river and met what he called the "st. lawrence iroquoians" at quebec city in 1535. now obviously i realize that you asked for explorers in the 1600's so the next person would then be samuel de champlain who visited the same area in 1603, however the tribes that jacques saw were gone. according to my research, that area during the late 1500's and throughout most of the 1600's had gone through several different (tribal) wars as well as "european vs. tribe" wars. the st. lawrence river then became what is referred to as "no man's land" until the iroquois came out victorious in battle. another european finally visted the same stretch of land that the two previous explorers visited and there, met up with the iroquois nation. however this was in 1673 and the time might be a little to late for your question.   regardless my best guess would be the iroquois nation; seeing as how the "st. lawrence iroquoians" were halfly influenced by the iroquois nation (the other half being the huron nation) plus the phrase sounds more like a nickname than anything else. hope i helped.  questions about the issue: cando417@e-garfield.com