Language and Orgins
The Mi'kmaq people were from the Wabanaki people. Mi'kmaq means: nikmak, "my kin friends". They lived on this land for ten thousand years. The Mi'kmqs spoke Abenaki, Penobsot, Maliseet-Passamaquoddy and the Eastern Algonquian language. Their Algonquian language contained eleven consonants: p, t, k, q, j, s, l, m, n, w, y and five vowels: a, e, i, o, u. A man named Silas T. Rand had translated the Mi'kmaq language. In the Mi'kmaqs stories, power is the usual theme: used, lost, and gained.
Arrival to Mi'kmaq
The first contact between the Europeans and the Mi'kmaq people were in the 1500s, when Basque, Portugese, English, and Breton fishermen needed to repair their ships. By the 1600s, the fishing fleets expanded and contacted the Mi'kmaq more frequently. They traded iron, cloth, and copper on the Newfoundland and the Gulf of St.Lawrence. In the 1700s, the foreign nations and the Mi'kmaqs traded too much fur. This nearly depleted all fur-bearing animals. Unfortunatley, the Europeans also brought diseases with them, killing 75% of the Mi'kmaqs. The diseases were flu, measles, typhoid, pneumonia, colds, chicken pox, whooping cough, scarlet fever, diphtheria, dysentery plague, and strep infections. Going back in time, the Mi'kmaqs made an important alliance with the French Jesuits in 1610. This soon led to French allying with the Mi'kmaqs. However in 1710, the French lost the land of Acadia to the British. Acadia was the homeland of the Mi'kmaqs. Because of this disaster, the Mi'kmaq signed a series of treaties with the British between 1725-1779. However, disaster struck, when the British deported all French allies in 1755. Mi'kmaq had lost their land.
Mi'kmaq contact with Missionaries
Present Mi'kmaq People
There are about 40000 Mi'kmaqs living in Canada and the United States of America. Some have jobs in the fishing industry and some live in the reserves to preserve their culture.
Above: One of the Mi'kmaq State Flags.