Iroquoian scholar Bruce Trigger suggests it is derived from a branch of the local Neutral Confederacy, referred to as the Niagagarega people on several late-17th-century French maps.

[6] George R. Stewart posits that it comes from an Iroquois town named Ongniaahra, meaning "point of land cut in two.

Power plants on the river include the Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Generating Stations (built in 1922 and 1954) on the Canadian side, and the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant (built in 1961) on the American side, collectively generating 4.4 gigawatts of electricity.

Ships on the Great Lakes use the Welland Canal, part of the St. Lawrence Seaway, on the Canadian side of the river, to bypass Niagara Falls.

The Niagara River and Falls have been known outside of North America since the late 17th century, when Father Louis Hennepin, a French explorer, first witnessed them.

Called "The Cradles" and "The Old Lewiston Incline", it featured loaded carts pulled up wooden rails by rope.

The river was an important route to liberation before the American Civil War, as many African-Americans escaping slavery on the Underground Railroad crossed it to find freedom in Canada.

[12][13] On the Canadian side of the river the provincial agency Niagara Parks Commission maintains all of the shoreline property, including Fort Erie, except the sites of Fort George (a National Historic Site maintained federally by Parks Canada), as a public greenspace and environmental heritage.

This history includes numerous bridges that have fallen victim to the harsh conditions of the Niagara Gorge, such as landslides and icepacks.