Sault Ste. Marie (also know as 'the Sault' or 'the Soo') is a city located on the St. Marys River in Ontario, Canada. It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario, with a population of approximately 75,000; residents of the city are called Saultites. Sault Ste. Marie is one of the oldest settlements in North America. For at least 2,000 years, people have lived beside the rapids of the St. Marys River such as Jesuit Missionaries, explorers, voyageurs, artists, soldiers, and traders. The rapids provided an ideal environment for fish gathering and for centuries communities of Ojibwa lived close to the river, their livelihood based on whitefish. With a mission established by French Jesuits in 1668, claiming of the area by Simon-François Daumont de Saint-Lusson, in the name of Louis XIV of France, and fur trading posts soon after, this was one of the oldest European settlements in Canada. Sault Ste. Marie is bordered to the east by the Rankin and Garden River First Nation reserves and to the west by Prince Township. To the north, the city is bordered by Hayden, Goulais River, Searchmont, Batchawana Bay, and Pancake Bay. To the south, across the St. Marys River is the United States of America and the city of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Due to having the same name, these border towns are known locally as the twin cities; they are joined by the International Bridge, which connects Interstate 75 on the Michigan side and Huron Street on the Ontario side. Traffic on the Great Lakes flows through the St Marys Rapids via the American Soo Locks, the world's busiest canal in terms of tonnage that passes through it, while smaller recreational boats use the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie Canal.