In the earliest oral history, the Algonquins say they migrated from the Atlantic coast. Together with other "Anicinàpek", they arrived at the "First Stopping Place" near Montreal. While the other "Anicinàpe" peoples continued their journey up the St. Lawrence River, the Algonquins settled along the "Kitcisìpi" (Ottawa River), a long-important highway for commerce, cultural exchange and transportation. Algonquin identity, though, was not fully realized until after the dividing of the Anicinàpek at the "Third Stopping Place". Scholars have used the oral histories, archeology, and linguistics to estimate this took place about 2000 years ago, near present-day Detroit.