Great Peace of Montreal The Great Peace of Montreal was a peace treaty between New France and 40 First Nations of North America . It was signed on August 4 , 1701 , by Louis - Hector de Callière , governor of New France , and 1300 representatives of 40 aboriginal nations . The French , allied to the Hurons and the Algonquians , provided 16 years of peaceful relations and trade before war started again . Present for the diplomatic event were the various peoples ; part of the Iroquois confederacy , the Huron peoples , and the Algonquian peoples . This has sometimes been called the " Grand Settlement of 1701 . " Not to be confused with the Act of Settlement 1701 . Fur wars . The foundation of Quebec City in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain , one of the first governors of New France , marked the beginning of the systematic exploitation of the great northern forests by traders from Metropolitan France . Control over the fur trade became a high - stakes game among Native American tribes , as all of them wanted to be the Europeans ' chosen intermediary . The " Fur Wars " soon see the Hurons and Algonquins , supported by the French , pitted against the Iroquois of the powerful League of Five Nations , who were supported first by New Netherland , and later by the English when they took New Amsterdam in the 1660s and 1670s , renaming it New York City . In the first half of the 17th century , the Dutch - allied Iroquois made substantial territorial gains against the French - allied Indians , often threatening French settlements at Montreal and Trois - Rivières . In an attempt to secure the colony , in 1665 the Carignan - Salières Regiment was sent to New France . Their campaign in 1666 devastated a number of Mohawk communities , who were forced to negotiate a peace . A period of prosperity followed for France ' s colony , but the Iroquois , now supported by the English , continued to expand their territory to the westward , fighting French allies in the Great Lakes region , and again threatening the French fur trade . In the 1680s the French became actively involved in the conflict again , and they and their allied Indians made significant gains against the Iroquois , including incursions deep into the heartland of Iroquoia ( present - day Upstate New York ) . After a devastating raid by the Iroquois against the settlement of Lachine in 1689 , and the entry the same year of England into the Nine Years ' War ( known in the English colonies as King William ' s War ) , Governor Frontenac organized raiding expeditions against English communities all along the frontier with New France . French and English colonists , and their Indian allies , then engaged in a protracted border war that was formally ended when the Treaty of Ryswick was signed in 1697 . The treaty , however , left unresolved the issue of Iroquois sovereignty ( both France and England claimed them as part of their empire ) , and French allies in the upper Great Lakes continued to make war on the Iroquois . Prelude to peace . The success of these attacks , which again reached deep into Iroquois territory , and the inability of the English to protect them from attacks originating to their north and west , forced the Iroquois to more seriously pursue peace . Their demographic decline , aided by conflicts and epidemics , put their very existence into doubt . At the same time , commerce became almost nonexistent because of a fall in price of furs . The Indians preferred to trade with the merchants of New York because these merchants offered better prices than the French . Preliminary negotiations took place in 1698 and 1699 , but these were to some degree frustrated by the intervention of the English , who sought to keep the Iroquois from negotiating directly with the French . After another successful attack into Iroquoia in early 1700 , these attempts at intervention failed . The first conference between the French and Iroquois was held on Iroquois territory at Onondaga in March 1700 . In September of the same year , a preliminary peace treaty was signed in Montreal with the five Iroquois Nations . Thirteen Native American symbols are on the treaty . After this first entente , it was decided that a bigger one would be held in Montreal in the summer of 1701 and all Nations of the Great Lakes invited . Selected French emissaries , clergy and soldiers , all well - perceived by the Native Americans , were given this diplomatic task . The negotiations continued during the wait for the big conference ; the neutrality of the Five Nations was discussed in Montreal in May 1701 . The entente . The first delegations arrived in Montreal at the beginning of the summer of 1701 , often after long , hard journeys . The ratification of the treaty was not agreed to immediately , due to the discussions between the Native American representatives and Governor Callières dragging on , both sides being eager to negotiate as much as possible . The actual signing of the document took place on a big field prepared for the special occasion , just outside the city . The representatives of each Nation placed their tribe ' s symbol , most often an animal , at the bottom of the document . A great banquet followed the solemn occasion , with a peace pipe being shared by the chiefs , each of them praising peace in turn . This treaty , achieved through negotiations according to Native American diplomatic custom , was meant to end ethnic conflicts . From then on , negotiation would trump direct conflict and the French would agree to act as arbiters during conflicts between signatory tribes . The Iroquois promised to be neutral in case of conflict between the French and English colonies . Aftermath . Commerce and exploratory expeditions quietly resumed in peace after the signing of the treaty . The French explorer Cadillac left Montreal to explore the Great Lakes region , eventually founding the city of Detroit , which had a promising future . Jesuit priests resumed their spiritual mission - based work in the north . The Great Peace of Montreal is a unique diplomatic event in the history of the Americas . The treaty is still valid and recognized as such by the Native American tribes involved . The French , in negotiating followed their traditional policy in the Americas , where the relationship with the natives was characterized by mutual respect and admiration and based on dialogue and negotiation . According to the 19th century historian Francis Parkman : Commemoration . A square in Old Montreal was renamed Place de la Grande - Paix - de - Montréal to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the peace . Several locations in Quebec are named for the Petun leader Kondiaronk , one of the architects of the peace , including the Kondiaronk Belvedere in Mount Royal Park overlooking downtown Montreal .