Archaeological evidence suggests that Native peoples had been attracted to the Credit River Valley over thousands of years. At the time of European contact in 1615, both Iroquoian and Algonquian- speaking peoples inhabited this area. By 1700, an Ojibwa (Anishnabe) group known as the Mississaugas had driven the Iroquois from the north shore of Lake Ontario. The name "Mississauga" is believed to mean "river of the north of many mouths," referring to a river in Northern Ontario which drained into Lake Huron. It was from this part of Ontario that the Mississaugas had traveled in the late 17th century.

In the 1720s, the French established many trading posts around Lake Ontario, one of which was located near the mouth of the Credit River, so named from the custom of trading with the Mississaugas on credit. After a decline of French power in the region, the British continued to trade with the Natives. It did not take long for the introduction of European cultures, technology and diseases to prompt an end to the Mississauga's way of life.