Green Bay is a city in Brown County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Green Bay inlet at the mouth of the Fox River on Lake Michigan. With a population of 107,395 at the 2020 census, it is the third-most populous city in Wisconsin and third-most populous city on Lake Michigan. The Green Bay metropolitan area has an estimated 335,000 residents.
The Green Bay area was inhabited by various indigenous tribes, including the Menominee and Ho-Chunk. It was settled in 1634 by Jean Nicolet as a fur trading post in New France. The first permanent European inhabitants arrived during British control in the mid-18th century. Its development was shaped by its location at the mouth of the Fox River, and the city emerged as a center for the lumber and paper industries in the 19th and 20th centuries. Green Bay is also known for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League.
History
Samuel de Champlain, the founder of New France, commissioned Jean Nicolet to form a peaceful alliance with Native Americans in the western areas, whose unrest interfered with the French fur trade, and to search for a shorter trade route to China through Canada. Nicolet and others had learned from other First Nations of the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) people, who identified as "People of the Sea", and believed they must reside on or near an Ocean. Champlain had also heard about natural resources in the area, including fertile soil, forests, and animals. Nicolet began his journey for this new land shortly before winter in 1634. In what later became a French fur-trading route, he sailed up the Ottawa River, through Lake Nipissing and down the French River to Lake Huron, then through the straits of Michilimackinac into Lake Michigan. He is believed to have landed at Red Banks, near the site of the modern-day city of Green Bay, Wisconsin.
From the trading post La Baie des Puants to the town La Baie verte (1634–1761)
Nicolet founded a small trading post here in 1634, originally named La Baye or La Baie des Puants (French for "the Bay of Stinking Waters"). Nicolet's settlement was one of the oldest European permanent settlements in America. When Nicolet arrived in the Green Bay area, he encountered the Menominee, who occupied this territory. He also met the Ho-Chunk (also known as the Winnebago), a people who spoke a Siouan language.
The Winnebago hunted and fished, and also cultivated corn, beans, squash, and tobacco. Wild rice, which they had incorporated as a dietary staple, grew in abundance along the riverbanks. The women regularly harvested and cooked this, along with a wide variety of nuts, berries, and edible roots which they gathered in the woods. The men typically hunted and fished for food, and the women processed game and other foods in cooking. They prepared and made clothing from the furs, as well as using other parts of animals to make tools, cord, etc. Women also had a role in the political process, as no action could be taken without agreement of half of the women. Nicolet stayed with this tribe for about a year, becoming an ally. He helped open up opportunities for trade and commerce with them before returning to Quebec.]]
The British gradually took over Wisconsin during the French and Indian War, taking control of Green Bay in 1761 and gaining control of all of Wisconsin in 1763. Like the French, the British were interested in little but the fur trade. The first permanent settlers, mostly French Canadians, some Anglo-New Englanders and a few African American freedmen, arrived in Wisconsin while it was under British control. Charles Michel de Langlade is generally recognized as the first settler, establishing a trading post at Green Bay in 1745, and moving there permanently in 1764.
Settlement began at Prairie du Chien around 1781. The French residents at the trading post in what is now Green Bay, referred to the town as "La Bey," however British fur traders referred to it as "Green Bay," because the water and the shore assumed green tints in early spring. The old French title was gradually dropped, and the British name of "Green Bay" stuck. The region coming under British rule had virtually no adverse effect on the French residents as the British needed the cooperation of the French fur traders and the French fur traders needed the goodwill of the British.
During the French occupation of the region licenses for fur trading had been issued scarcely and only to select groups of traders, whereas the British, in an effort to make as much money as possible from the region, issued licenses for fur trading freely, both to British and French residents. The fur trade in what is now Wisconsin reached its height under British rule, and the first self-sustaining farms in the state were established as well. From 1763 to 1780, Green Bay was a prosperous community which produced its own foodstuff, built graceful cottages and held dances and festivities. In 1791, two free African Americans set up a fur trading post among the Menominee at present day Marinette.
After independence
The Green Bay area was still under British control until the 1783 treaty formally ended the American Revolutionary War. Following the War of 1812, which in part was over disputes related to the border with Canada, the United States built Fort Howard on the Fox River in 1816 to protect its northern border.
thumb|right|Built in 1837, the [[Hazelwood (Green Bay, Wisconsin)|Hazelwood Historic House Museum is on the National Register of Historic Places and is now used as the Brown County Historical Society.]]
Wisconsin's first newspaper, The Green Bay Intelligencer, was started in 1833 by Albert Ellis and John V. Suydam. The borough of Green Bay, created in 1838, is the center of the present-day city. The borough combined the town of Astor (a company town of the American Fur Company) with Navarino, platted by Daniel Whitney. Before Wisconsin became a state in 1848, its commerce was based on the fur trade, which became dominated by John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company. After statehood, there was a shift away from fur trading toward lumbering. "For a short time in 1860s and 1870s, iron smelting in charcoal kilns rivaled the timber industry while the port handled increasing amounts of fuel, feed, and lumber. Today's major local industry had its start in 1865 when the first paper mill was built." The Green Bay Area Public School District was founded in 1856. Significant numbers of English immigrants, many having lived first in Canada, also moved to Green Bay during this period, usually arriving as large families. There was also a small Dutch community in Green Bay at this time. Green Bay had a larger portion of first generation immigrants from France than any other city in Wisconsin at this time as well.
The Green Bay Packers, an American Football team, were founded in 1919. They have been a member of the National Football League since 1921, the only remaining "small town" team in any of the "big four" major league sports leagues.
In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt came to Green Bay to honor its tercentenary.
Geography
Green Bay is in the eastern part of Wisconsin at the mouth of the Fox River. Today, Interstate 43 meets Interstate 41 (also U.S. Route 41) in Green Bay, approximately north of Milwaukee.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.
About 14% of the city of Green Bay is inside the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin reservation.
Climate
Green Bay has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb), with some moderation due to the city's proximity to Lake Michigan. Like other cities with this type of climate, there are four distinct seasons, often with severe or extreme variation between them in terms of temperature and precipitation. Green Bay experiences warm, humid summers and cold, snowy winters. The variance in temperature and precipitation between months is severe and often extreme. Tornadoes are rare in the Green Bay area, with the strongest being an F3 tornado that hit the community of Pittsfield on June 26, 1969.
Monthly mean temperatures range from in January to in July.
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