Mi'kmaq

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  (Redirected from Micmac)
Jump to: navigation, search
Míkmaq
One of the Míkmaq State flags
Total population
20,000
Regions with significant populations
Canada (New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec), United States (Maine)
Languages

English, Míkmaw, French
Religion

Christianity, Míkmaq Traditionalism and Spirituality, others
Related ethnic groups

other Algonquian peoples
The Míkmaq

The Míkmaq (pronounced [miːɡmax]), traditionally spelled Micmac in English, but Mi’kmaq (singular Mi’kmaw) by the Míkmaq of Nova Scotia, Miigmaq (Miigmao) by the Míkmaq of New Brunswick, Mi’gmaq by the Listuguj Council in Quebec, or Mìgmaq (Mìgmaw) in some native literature,[1] are a First Nations (Native American) people, indigenous to northeastern New England, Canada's Atlantic Provinces, and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec.

"Micmac" until the 1980s was the most common spelling in English, and is still used for example in Ethnologue, but has fallen out of favor in recent years, and been replaced by the native spelling Mi'kmaq in nearly all scholarly publications.[2] The Míkmaq themselves prefer to use one of the three current Míkmaq orthographies when writing in English or French,[3] and say that the English spelling is "perceived as being colonially tainted."[1]

The nation has a population of about 20,000 of whom nearly 11,000 speak the Algonquian language Lnuísimk, more commonly known as "Micmac".[4][5][6] Lnuísimk was once written in Míkmaq hieroglyphic writing and is now written using most letters of the standard Latin alphabet.

In the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, October is celebrated as Míkmaq History Month and the entire Nation celebrates Treaty Day annually on October 1. This was first signified in the year, 1752, with the Peace and Friendship Treaty (also called the Treaty of 1752) signed by Chief Cope of Shubenacadie, representing all of the Míkmaq people, and the king's representative. It was stated that if the natives would be given gifts annually,"as long as they continued in Peace."[7][citation needed]

Contents

[edit] Etymology

Lnu (the adjectival and singular noun, previously spelled "L'nu"; the plural is Lnúk, Lnu’k, Lnu’g, or Lnùg) is the self-recognized term for the Míkmaq of New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Maine, meaning "human being" or "the people".[8]

Various explanations exist for the origin of the term Míkmaq. The Mi'kmaw Resource Guide states that "Míkmaq" means "the family":

The definite article "the" suggests that "Mi'kmaq" is the undeclined form indicated by the initial letter "m". When declined in the singular it reduces to the following forms: nikmaq - my family; kikmaq - your family; wikma - his/her family. The variant form Mi'kmaw[sic?] plays two grammatical roles: 1) It is the singular of Mi'kmaq and 2) it is an adjective in circumstances where it precedes a noun (e.g. mi'kmaw[sic?] people, mi'kmaw treaties, mi'kmaw person, etc.)[9]

However, there are other hypotheses:

The name "Micmac" was first recorded in a memoir by de La Chesnaye in 1676. Professor Ganong in a footnote to the word "megamingo", earth, as used by Marc Lescarbot, remarked "that it is altogether probable that in this word lies the origin of the name Micmac." As suggested in this paper on the customs and beliefs of the Micmacs, it would seem that megumaagee the name used by the Micmacs, or the Megumawaach, as they called themselvs, for their land, is from the words megwaak, "red", and magumegek, "on the earth", or as Rand recorded, "red on the earth," megakumegek, "red ground," "red earth." The Micmacs, then, must have thought of themselves as the Red Earth People, or the People of the Red Earth. Others seeking a meaning for the word Micmac have suggested that it is from nigumaach, my brother, my friend, a word that was also used as a term of endearment by a husband for his wife... Still another explanation for the word Micmac suggested by Stansbury Hagar in "Micmac Magic and Medicine" is that the word megumawaach is from megumoowesoo, the name of the Micmacs' legendary master magicians, from whom the earliest Micmac wizards are said to have received their power.[10]

Members of the Mi'kmaq First Nation historically referred to themselves as Lnu, but used the term níkmaq "my kin" as a greeting. The French initially referred to the Míkmaq as "Souriquois"[11] and later as "Gaspesians" or (through English) "Mickmakis". The British originally referred to them as Tarrantines.[12]

[edit] History

The Míkmaw territory was divided into seven traditional "districts". Each district had its own independent government and boundaries. The independent governments had a district chief and a council. The council members were band chiefs, elders, and other worthy community leaders. The district council was charged with performing all the duties of any independent and free government by enacting laws, justice, apportioned fishing and hunting grounds, made war, and sued for peace, etc.

The Seven Míkmaq Districts are Kespukwitk, Sikepnékatik, Eskíkewaq, Unamákik, Piktuk aqq Epekwitk, Sikniktewaq, and Kespékewaq.

In addition to the district councils, there was also a Grand Council or Santé Mawiómi. The Grand Council composed of "Keptinaq", or Captains in English, who were the district chiefs. Also Elders, the Putús (Wampum belt reader, historian, and dealt with the treaties with the non-natives and other Native tribes), the women council, and the Grand Chief. The Grand Chief was a title given to one of the district chiefs, which was usually from the Míkmaq district of Unamáki or Cape Breton Island. This title was hereditary and usually went to the Grand Chief's eldest son. The Grand Council met on a little island on the Bras d'Or lake in Cape Breton called "Mniku", on a reserve today call Chapel Island or Potlotek. To this day, the Grand Council still meet at the Mniku to discuss current issues within the Míkmaq Nation.

The Míkmaq were members of the Wapnáki (Wabanaki Confederacy), an alliance with four other Algonquian nations: the Abenaki, Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, and Maliseet. At the time of contact with the French (late 16th century), they were expanding from their maritime base westward along the Gaspé Peninsula /St. Lawrence River at the expense of Iroquoian Mohawk tribes, hence the Míkmaq name for this peninsula, Kespek ("last-acquired"). On 24 June 1610, Grand Chief Membertou converted to Catholicism and was baptised, and he concluded an alliance with the French Jesuits which affirmed the right of Míkmaq to choose Catholicism, Míkmaw tradition, or both.

The Míkmaq, as allies with the French, were amenable to limited French settlement in their midst. After France lost political control of Acadia in 1710, the Míkmaq engaged in intermittent warfare with the British, which ended with the fall of the French Fortress of Louisbourg in Cape Breton in 1758. They soon found themselves overwhelmed by the British, who seized much of their land without payment and, in 1755, deported the Acadian French (see Great Upheaval). Between 1725 and 1779, the Míkmaq signed a series of peace and friendship treaties with Great Britain, but none of these were land cession treaties. The nation historically consisted of seven districts, which was later expanded to eight with the ceremonial addition of Great Britain at the time of the 1749 treaty. Later the Míkmaq also settled Newfoundland as the unrelated Beothuk tribe became extinct. Míkmaq delegates also concluded the first international treaty with the United States soon after its declaration of independence, the Treaty of Watertown, in July 1776. These delegates did not officially represent the Mi'kmaq government, although many individual Mi'kmaq did privately join the Continental army as a result.

[edit] Míkmaq First Nation subdivisions

Míkmaw names in the table are spelled according to several orthographies. The Míkmaw orthographies in use are Míkmaw pictographs, the orthography of Silas Tertius Rand, the Pacifique orthography, and the most recent Smith-Francis orthography, which has been adopted throughout Nova Scotia and in most Míkmaw communities.

Community Province/State Town/Reserve Est. Pop. Míkmaq name
Abegweit First Nation PE Scotchfort, Rocky Point, Morell 396 Epekwitk
Conne River First Nation NL Conne River, Newfoundland ~900 Miawpukek
Acadia NS Yarmouth 996 Malikiaq
Annapolis Valley NS Cambridge Station 219 Kampalijek
Aroostook Band of Micmac ME Presque Isle 920 Ulustuk
Bear River First Nation NS Bear River 272 Lsetkuk
Buctouche First Nation NB Buctouche 80 Puktusk
Burnt Church First Nation NB Burnt Church 14 1,488 Eskinuopitijk
Chapel Island First Nation NS Chapel Island 576 Potlotek
Eel Ground First Nation NB Eel Ground 844 Natuaqanek
Eel River Bar First Nation NB Eel River Bar 589 Ugpi'gangij
Elsipogtog First Nation NB Big Cove 3000+ Lsipuktuk
Eskasoni First Nation NS Eskasoni 3,800+ Wékistoqnik
Fort Folly First Nation NB Dorchester 105 Amlamkuk Kwesawék
Micmacs of Gesgapegiag QC Maria 1,174 Keskapekiaq
Nation Micmac de Gespeg QC Fontenelle 490 Kespék
Glooscap First Nation NS Hantsport 360 Pesikitk
Indian Island First Nation NB Indian Island 145 Lnui Menikuk
Lennox Island First Nation PE Lennox Island 700 Lnui Mnikuk
Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation QC Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation 3,166 Listikujk
Membertou First Nation NS Sydney 1,051 Maupeltuk
Metepenagiag Míkmaq Nation NB Red Bank 527 Metepnákiaq
Miawpukek First Nation NL Conne River 2,366 Miawpukwek
Millbrook First Nation NS Truro 1400 Wékopekwitk
Pabineau First Nation NB Pabineau 214 Kékwapskuk
Paq’tnkek First Nation NS Afton 1 Paqtnkek
Pictou Landing First Nation NS Trenton 547 Puksaqtéknékatik
Indian Brook First Nation NS Indian Brook (Shubenacadie) 2,120 Sipekníkatik
Wagmatcook First Nation NS Wagmatcook 623 Waqmitkuk
Waycobah First Nation NS Whycocomagh 900 Wékoqmáq


[edit] Demographics

Year Population Verification
1500      4,500 Estimation
1600      3,000 Estimation
1700      2,000 Estimation
1750      3,000 Estimation
1800      3,100 Estimation
1900      4,000 Census
1940      5,000 Census
1960      6,000 Census
1972      9,800 Census
1998    15,000 SIL
2006    20,000 Census

The pre-contact population is estimated at 50,000-100,000.[citation needed] In 1616, Father Biard believed the Míkmaq population to be in excess of 3,000, but he remarked that, because of European diseases, there had been large population losses during the 16th 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, apparently stable during the 19th century. During the 20th century, the population was on the rise again. The average growth from 1965 to 1970 was about 2.5%.

[edit] Notable Míkmaq

[edit] Other

One spiritual capital of the Míkmaq nation is Mniku, the gathering place of the Míkmaq Grand Council or Santé Mawiómi, Chapel Island in the Bras d'Or Lakes of Cape Breton Island. The island is also the site of the St. Anne Mission, an important pilgrimage site for the Míkmaq. The island has been declared a historic site.[13]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Emmanuel Metallic et al., 2005, The Metallic Mìgmaq-English Reference Dictionary
  2. ^ Mi'kmaq Landscapes by Anne-Christine Hornborg (2008), p. 3
  3. ^ "it is now the preferred choice of our People." Daniel Paul, We Were Not the Savages, 2000, p. 10
  4. ^ Ethnologue
  5. ^ Statistics Canada 2006
  6. ^ Indigenous Languages Spoken in the United States
  7. ^ Treaty of 1752
  8. ^ The Nova Scotia Museum's Míkmaq Portraits database
  9. ^ Mi'kmaw Resource Guide, Eastern Woodlands Publishing (1997)
  10. ^ cited in Paul to Marion Robertson, Red Earth: Tales of the Micmac, with an introduction to their customs and beliefs (1965) p. 5.
  11. ^ Relations des Jésuites de la Nouvelle-France
  12. ^ Lydia Affleck and Simon White. "Our Language". Native Traditions. http://www.peicaps.org/betweengen/circle/language.html. Retrieved on 2006-11-08. 
  13. ^ CBCnews. Cape Breton Míkmaq site recognized

[edit] References

  • Bock, Philip K. 1978. "Micmac." Pp. 109-122. In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15. Northeast. Bruce G. Trigger, editor. Smithsonian Institution Press.
  • Davis, Stephen A. 1998. Míkmaq: Peoples of the Maritimes, Nimbus Publishing.
  • Paul, Daniel N. 2000. We Were Not the Savages: A Míkmaq Perspective on the Collision Between European and Native American Civilizations, Fernwood Pub.
  • Prins, Harald E. L. 1996. The Míkmaq: Resistance, Accommodation, and Cultural Survival (Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology), Wadsworth.
  • Rita Joe, Lesley Choyce. 2005. The Míkmaq Anthology, Nimbus Publishing (CN), 2005, ISBN 1-895900-04-2
  • Robinson, Angela 2005. Tán Teli-Ktlamsitasit (Ways of Believing): Míkmaw Religion in Eskasoni, Nova Scotia. Pearson Education, ISBN 0-13-177067-5.
  • Whitehead, Ruth Holmes. 2004. The Old Man Told Us: Excerpts from Míkmaq History 1500-1950, Nimbus Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-921054-83-1
  • Wicken, William C. 2002. Míkmaq Treaties on Trial: History, Land, and Donald Marshall Junior, University of Toronto Press.

http://www.cmmns.com/KekinamuekPdfs/Ch2screen.pdf

[edit] Documentary film

  • Our Lives in Our Hands (Míkmaq basketmakers and potato diggers in northern Maine, 1986) [1]

[edit] External links

Search Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Category:Micmac

Unama'ki Institute of Natural Resources

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mi%27kmaq"
Personal tools