Brief History

People: The Mi'kmaq  First Nations are indigenous people of eastern Canada, variously spelled Mi'kmaq, Míkmaq, Mikmak, Mi'gmak, or Mikmaq. Their original term for themselves was Lnu'k (or L'nu'k), "the people." Mi'kmaq comes from a word in their own language meaning "my friends"; it is the preferred tribal name now, though fluent speakers often use the adjective form, Mi'kmaw. The Micmacs were sometimes also called Porcupine Indians because of their porcupine-quill art. They were kinfolk and traditional allies of the Abenaki, Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, and Maliseet Indians, with whom they formed the historic Wabanaki Confederacy of New England and the Maritimes. Traditional Micmac territory is concentrated in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, but the Micmac people also had a presence in parts of Quebec, Newfoundland, and Maine. There are about 25,000 Mi'kmaq Indians today, most of whom still live on their traditional lands.

History: In allying with the French, the Mi'kmaq tribe did not pick the winning side in the European fight over Nova Scotia; they did, however, pick pretty good friends. Not only didn't the French massacre the Mi'kmaqs, they kept their own settlements to the coast and didn't infringe much on Mi'kmaq hunting grounds. For their part, the Mi'kmaq people were staunch allies of the French in good times and bad, and if the tribe had not been devastated by smallpox and other European diseases, the history of Nova Scotia might have been written very differently. As it was, the English, helped by the Mohawk and other Iroquoians, did eventually defeat and deport the French, but the Mikmaq tribe remains in the Maritimes to this day.