The
Niagara River ( ) is a river that flows north from
Lake Erie to
Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the Province of
Ontario in
Canada (on the west) and the State of
New York in the
United States (on the east). There are differing theories as to the origin of the name of the river. According to Iroquoian scholar
Bruce Trigger, "Niagara" is derived from the name given to a branch of the locally residing native
Neutral Confederacy, who are described as being called the "Niagagarega" people on several late-17th-century French maps of the area. According to
George R. Stewart, it comes from the name of an
Iroquois town called "Ongniaahra", meaning "point of land cut in two".