Certainly known to the Amerindians, who had to fish and hunt in the region, the Péribonka river was mentioned for the first time in an official document, the Mission Register, on April 16, 1679. On that day, "juxtà fluvium Perib8ka ad lacum Peok8agami ”(near the Péribonka river at Lac Saint-Jean), Father François de Crespieul baptizes two children. In October of the same year, after investigating the state of the English positions at Hudson Bay, Louis Jolliet returned to Quebec on this route. The famous Canadian explorer also drew the outline on a handwritten map also dating from 1679. He then named the Périboca River. This designation remains on the map of Guillaume Delisle (1703), but turns into Periboaka on that of Father Laure (1731) and in Periboac on that of Nicolas Bellin (1755).