Before the first European settlers arrived in 1836, the Ho-Chunk Indians (formerly called the Winnebago) lived in the area where Madison is located today. Many people of different backgrounds have arrived since then to make their homes in Madison. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city was over 208,000 people.

The Ho-Chunk called the Madison area "Taychopera" - meaning "land of the four lakes." The lakes are Mendota, Monona, Waubesa, and Kegonsa. Lakes Mendota and Monona are actually in Madison, but Waubesa and Kegonsa are south of the city.

Over the years, people have disagreed about how these lakes were first named. For example, some people say that Monona meant "beautiful" and the Ho-Chunk called it that because they thought it was the prettiest lake. Other people think the name meant "lake of the morning" because the Indians saw it as they watched the sun rise from the east in the morning.

Some people claim that Lake Mendota meant "large" or "great" because it was the biggest lake, but other people thought the name meant "lake of the evening" because the Indians looked across it as they watched the sun set in the west.

From about 300-1300 A.D., Native American "mound builders" lived in the area where Madison is today. These Indian people built thousands of effigy mounds, but only a small number of the mounds survive. This example is the Vilas Circle Bear Effigy Mound, and it can be found on Vilas Avenue, near Lake Wingra and Vilas Park.

In 1829 James Doty, a territorial judge who later became governor of Wisconsin Territory, traveled through the isthmus between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona. He liked the area so much that he purchased 1,200 acres of land for $1,500. Next, Doty hired Moses M. Strong to plat out a city in what was then a wilderness, and he named this spot "Madison" in honor of the fourth president of the United States, James Madison.

In 1836 Doty convinced the legislature to move the territorial capital from Belmont to his new city. In April, 1837 Roseline and Eben Peck arrived and built a log cabin that served as their home and also as an inn for travelers and for the men who were working on the capitol building. In this cabin the first pioneer child in Madison was born, and she was named Wisconsinana Victoria Peck.