Newfoundland Canada

Micmac Tribe

Micmac Birchbark Box with Porcupine Quills

Micmac Indians, Mi’kmaq First Nation. (Migmak, ‘allies’; Nigmak, ‘our allies.’ Hewitt). Alternative names for the Micmac, which can be found in historical sources, include Gaspesians, Souriquois, Acadians and Tarrantines; in the mid-19th century Silas Rand recorded the word wejebowkwejik as a self-ascription. An important Algonquian tribe that occupied Nova Scotia, Cape Breton and Prince Edward Islands, the north part of New Brunswick, and probably points in south and west Newfoundland. While their neighbors the Abnaki have close linguistic relations with the Algonquian tribes of the great lakes, the Micmac seem to have almost as distant a relation to the group as the … Read more

Beothuk Tribe

Beothukan Family, Beothuk Indians (from the tribal or group name Béothuk, which probably signifies ‘man,’ or ‘human being,’ but was employed by Europeans to mean ‘Indian,’ or ‘Red Indian’; in the latter case because the Beothuk colored themselves and tinted their utensils and arms with red ocher). So far as known only a single tribe, called Beothuk, which inhabited the island of Newfoundland when first discovered, constituted this family, although existing vocabularies indicate it marked dialectic differences. At first the Beothuk were classified either as Eskimauan or as Algonquian, but now, largely through the researches of Gatschet, it is deemed best … Read more

The Micmac Indians At Bay d’Espoir

Plan of Indian Settlement Conne River Bay Despoir

The Micmac Indians At Bay d’Espoir is a report made in 1908 by William MacGregor on the state of habitation by the Micmac Indians on their reservation at Bay d’Espoir.