Many thousands of years ago, small groups of nomadicA nomad is someone who lives by travelling from place to place. Nomadic thus means anything that involves... hunters migrated in successive waves from Asia to North America by crossing the Bering Strait. Approximately 11 000 years ago, nomads began living in the Maritime region: Before this, the territoryA territory is an area of land, or sometimes of sea, that we can say "belongs"... could not be inhabited because it was covered with ice.
The first Mi’kmaq settled in Gaspé 3 000 years before the first Europeans arrived. Because they were nomads, they spent most of the year on the coastCoast - A coast is an area where the land meets the sea. Côte - Une... where they lived by fishing, hunting marine mammals and gathering shellfish and wild berries. During the winter, they returned to the forest where they lived mainly by hunting moose, caribou and beaver. The Mi’kmaq, who were excellent navigators, built long canoesCanoes - A type of small boat that is used with a paddle. It is often... of birch bark with raised edges, and they could use these to sail the seas. Around the 1500s, about 6 000 Mi’kmaq lived in the Maritime region.
First contact with EuropeansContact with Europeans- When European settlers arrived in North America and came into initial contact with...
From the 16th century on, the Mi’kmaq spent time with Europeans who fished for cod and hunted whales on the coastCoast - A coast is an area where the land meets the sea. Côte - Une... of the Gaspé Peninsula. They had close contacts with these newcomers. They helped in their fishing and traded furs with them for their goods. Gradually, they became dependent on these new products, including metal objects (axes, arrowheads, needles, knives), they could not reproduce. Diseases brought by the Europeans, such as smallpox and measles devastated the Mi’kmaq: Depending on the region, 50% to 90% of them died.
In 1605, ChiefChiefs Definitions: The leaders of the clans and tribes were called chiefs. These men were elected... Membertou met with Samuel de Champlain and his men at Portendroit près d’un cours d’eau où il y a des bateaux
Royal in Mi’kmaq territoryA territory is an area of land, or sometimes of sea, that we can say "belongs".... Later, some settlers from France settled among them. But it was from 1784 on that Loyalists, who were Anglophones, chose to settle in large numbers in the Gaspé
