Gourt Home::Gourt :: Mi'kmaq
Related Topics:Mi'kmaq
The Mi'kmaq (also Míkmaq, Mi'gmaq, Micmac or MicMac) are a First Nations people, (self recognized as L'nu/Lnu'k) indigenous to northeastern New England, Canada's Atlantic Provinces, and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec. The word Mi'kmaw is the singular form of Mi'kmaq. The Nation has a population of about 40,000 of whom approximately one-third still speak the Algonquian language Lnui'simk (Mi'kmaq Language) which was once written in Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing and is now written using most letters of the standard English alphabet.
In the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador October is celebrated as Mi'kmaq History Month and the entire Nation celebrates Treaty Day annually on October 1st.
Mi'kmaq First Nation subdivisions
Note: Mi'kmaq names in the table have all been spelled according to a several orthographies; The Mi'kmaq orthographies in use are Hieroglyphs, Rand, Pacifique, and the most recent Smith-Francis, which has been adopted by most of the Mi'kmaq First Nation. (Compare Kespék versus Gespeg).
Demographics
In 1616 Father Biard believed the Mi'kmaq population to be in excess of 3.000. But he remarked that, because of European diseases, there had been large population losses in the last century. Smallpox, wars and alcoholism led to a further decline of the native population, which was probably at its lowest in the middle of the 17th century. Then the numbers grew slightly again and seemed to be stable during the 19th century. In the 20th century the population was on the rise again. The average growth from 1965 to 1970 was about 2.5 %.
- bgcolor="#EFEFEF" | Year | Population | Verification | - bgcolor="#EFEFEF" | 1500 | 4.500 | Estimation | - bgcolor="#EFEFEF" | 1600 | 3.000 | Estimation | - bgcolor="#EFEFEF" | 1700 | 2.000 | Estimation | - bgcolor="#EFEFEF" | 1750 | 3.000 | Estimation | - bgcolor="#EFEFEF" | 1800 | 3.100 | Estimation | - bgcolor="#EFEFEF" | 1900 | 4.000 | Census | - bgcolor="#EFEFEF" | 1940 | 5.000 | Census | - bgcolor="#EFEFEF" | 1960 | 6.000 | Census | - bgcolor="#EFEFEF" | 1972 | 9.800 | Census | - bgcolor="#EFEFEF" | 2000 | 20.000 | Estimation | - bgcolor="#EFEFEF" |
|---|
Other
The spiritual capital of the Mi'kmaq nation is the gathering place of the Mi'kmaq Grand Council, Mniku or Chapel Island in the Bras d'Or Lakes of Cape Breton Island. The island also the site of the St. Anne Mission, an important pilgrimage site for the Mi'kmaq. The island has been declared a historic site. (CBC)
The name "Quebec" is thought to derive from a Mi'kmaq word meaning "strait," referring to the narrow channel of the Saint Lawrence River near the city site.
See also
- Treaty of Watertown
- Bob Newman - radio host and Mi'kmaq
- Elsipogtog First Nation
Literature
- Bruce G. Trigger (Hrsg.): Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15. Northeast. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. 1978 ISBN 0-16004-575-4
- Harald E. L. Prins: The Mi'kmaq: Resistance, Accommodation, and Cultural Survival (Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology), Thomson Learning, 1996, ISBN 0030534275
- Stephen A. Davis: Mi'kmaq: Peoples of the Maritimes, Nimbus Publishing (CN), 1998, ISBN 1551091801
- Daniel N. Paul:We Were Not the Savages: A Mi'kmaq Perspective on the Collision Between European and Native American Civilizations, Fernwood Pub., 2000, ISBN 1552660397
- William C. Wicken: Mi'kmaq Treaties on Trial: History, Land, and Donald Marshall Junior, University of Toronto Press Inc., 2002, ISBN 0802076653
- Ruth Holmes Whitehead: The Old Man Told Us: Excerpts from Mi'kmaq History 1500-1950, Nimbus Pub Ltd, 2004, ISBN 0921054831
- Rita Joe, Lesley Choyce: The Mi'kmaq Anthology, Nimbus Publishing (CN), 2005, ISBN 1895900042
External links
- First Nations Profiles
- Micmac History
- Mi'kmaq History Month
- Mi'kmaq Portraits Collection
- Mi'kmaq Dictionary Online
Mi'kmaq | First Nations in Atlantic Canada | First Nations in Quebec | Native American tribes | Indigenous peoples of the Americas
"Mi'kmaq"