Editing Mackinac County, Michigan (section)

==History==
{{see also|History of Northern Michigan}}
Michilimackinac County was created on October 26, 1818, by proclamation of territorial governor [[Lewis Cass]]. The county originally encompassed the [[Lower Peninsula]] of Michigan north of [[Macomb County, Michigan|Macomb County]] and almost the entire present [[Upper Peninsula]]. As later counties were settled and organized, they were divided from this territory.

On April 1, 1840, areas in the Lower Peninsula were laid off to create 30 new counites.<ref>{{cite book |author=George Dawson |date=1840 |title=Acts of the Legislature of the State of Michigan Passed at the Annual Session of 1840 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aDg4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA196 |location=Detroit |pages=196–200}}</ref> By 1841, the County of Michilimackinac was confined to the Upper Peninsula and its nearby islands, bordering [[Chippewa County, Michigan|Chippewa]] and [[Menominee County, Michigan|Menominee]] counties.<ref>{{cite book |author=H. S. Tanner |date=1841 |publication-date=1844 |title=Tanner's Universal Atlas |page=25 |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3200m.gcws0193/?sp=37 |location=Philadelphia |publisher=Carey & Hart}}</ref>

On March 9, 1843, Michigan further divided the Upper Peninsula into six counties. At this time, the County of Michilimackinac more closely resembled its modern configuration, including only a portion of the Upper Peninsula closest to the Straits of Mackinac, plus several islands.<ref>{{cite book |author=Ellis & Briggs |date=1843 |title=Local Acts of the Legislature of the State of Michigan Passed at the Annual Session of 1843 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015033931703&seq=217 |location=Detroit |pages=201}}</ref>

At the time of founding, the county seat was the community of Michilimackinac Island on Michilimackinac Island, later known as [[Mackinac Island, Michigan]]. This has been an important center for [[fur trading]] before the 1830s, when European demand declined. The county was organized in 1849 as Mackinac County. In 1882 the county seat was moved from Mackinac Island to [[St. Ignace, Michigan]], which had been founded as a French [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] [[Mission (station)|mission]] village during the colonial years.

Mackinac County is home to the [[Mackinac Bands of Chippewa and Ottawa Indians]], a Native American [[state recognized tribe]] located in [[St. Ignace]].
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|Image = Tourist's Pocket Map Of Michigan (Samuel Augustus Mitchell, 1835).jpg
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|Description = An 1835 Map Of Michigan shows the County of Michilimackinac encompassing the Upper Peninsula and the entirety of [[Northern Michigan]], as well as the "[[Holmes Township, Mackinac County, Michigan|Township of Michillimackinac]]".
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|Description = As settlers arrived between 1840 and 1853, the state broke up the single Michilimackinac County and established [[plat]]ted counties across Northern Michigan.
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