The origin of the name "Ottawa" is derived from the Algonquin word adawe, meaning "to trade". The word refers to the Indigenous Peoples who used the river to trade, hunt, fish, camp, harvest plants, ceremonies, and for other traditional uses. The first maps made of the area started to name the major river after these peoples. The Ottawa, or Odawa as sometimes spelled, were traders, with birch bark canoes, and they traveled widely throughout the river watershed.