Magdalen Islands
Encyclopedia
The Magdalen Islands form a small archipelago
Archipelago
An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...

 in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence
Gulf of Saint Lawrence
The Gulf of Saint Lawrence , the world's largest estuary, is the outlet of North America's Great Lakes via the Saint Lawrence River into the Atlantic Ocean...

 with a land area of 205.53 square kilometres (79.4 sq mi). Though closer to Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...

 and Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

, the islands form part of the Canadian province of Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

.

The islands form the territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) and census division (CD) of Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine. Its geographical code is 01.

The islands also form the urban agglomeration
Urban agglomerations of Quebec
An agglomeration, or urban agglomeration, is an administrative subdivision of Quebec at the local level that may group together a number of municipalities which were abolished as independent entities on 1 January 2002 but reconstituted on 1 January 2006.Urban agglomerations have certain powers that...

 of Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine, divided into two municipalities. These are Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine
Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec
Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine is one of two municipalities forming the urban agglomeration of Îles-de-la-Madeleine in Quebec, Canada. It is part of the Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine region and the population is 12,628 as of 2009....

 (2006 census
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada is the Canadian federal government agency commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. Its headquarters is in Ottawa....

 pop. 12,560), the central municipality
Urban agglomerations of Quebec
An agglomeration, or urban agglomeration, is an administrative subdivision of Quebec at the local level that may group together a number of municipalities which were abolished as independent entities on 1 January 2002 but reconstituted on 1 January 2006.Urban agglomerations have certain powers that...

, and Grosse-Île
Grosse-Île, Quebec
Grosse-Île is one of two municipalities forming the urban agglomeration of Îles-de-la-Madeleine in Quebec, Canada. It is part of the Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine region and the population is 539 as of 2009....

 (pop. 531). The current mayors are Joêl Arseneau and Rose Elmonde Clarke.

Geography

There are eight major islands: Havre-Aubert, Grande Entrée, Cap aux Meules
Grindstone Island (Magdalen Islands)
Grindstone Island is an island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The island is one of the Magdalen Islands of Quebec, Canada. The island is the second largest island by area of the Magdalen Islands....

, Grosse Île
Grosse Ile
Grosse Ile may refer to:* Grosse Ile Township, Michigan*Grosse Ile , the largest island in the township* Grosse Ile, Quebec, an island where many Irish Immigrants to Canada were housed and the site of the Grosse Isle Disaster...

, Havre aux Maisons, Pointe-Aux-Loups, Île d'Entrée
Entry Island
Entry Island is an island off the east coast of the Magdalen Islands, which are part of the Canadian Province of Quebec. The island is 2 km wide and 3 km long. The island is located 12 km from the main port of Cap-aux-Meules of the Magdalen Islands. Entry Island is only accessible...

 and Brion. All except the latter are inhabited. There are several other tiny islands which are also considered part of the archipelago: Rocher aux Oiseaux, Île aux Loups-marins, Île Paquet and Rocher du Corps Mort.

History

Jacques Cartier
Jacques Cartier
Jacques Cartier was a French explorer of Breton origin who claimed what is now Canada for France. He was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, which he named "The Country of Canadas", after the Iroquois names for the two big...

 was the first European to visit the islands, in 1534. However, Mi'kmaq Indians had been visiting the islands for hundreds of years as part of a seasonal subsistence round, probably to harvest the abundant walrus population. A number of archaeological sites have been excavated on the archipelago.

It was named in 1663 by the seigneur
Seigneurial system of New France
The seigneurial system of New France was the semi-feudal system of land distribution used in the North American colonies of New France.-Introduction to New France:...

 of the island, François Doublet, after his wife, Madeleine Fontaine.
In 1755, the islands were inhabited by French-speaking Acadians. When the British expelled the Acadians
Great Upheaval
The Expulsion of the Acadians was the forced removal by the British of the Acadian people from present day Canadian Maritime provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island...

 from the rest of what are now the Maritime Provinces of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, they did not come as far as the Magdalen Islands. To this day, many inhabitants of the Magdalen Islands (Madelinots) fly the Acadian flag and think of themselves as both Acadians and Québécois
French-speaking Quebecer
French-speaking Quebecers are francophone residents of the Canadian province of Quebec....

.

The islands were administered as part of the Colony of Newfoundland from 1763 until 1774, when they were joined to Quebec by the Quebec Act
Quebec Act
The Quebec Act of 1774 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain setting procedures of governance in the Province of Quebec...

.
Until the 20th century, the islands were completely isolated during the winter, since the pack ice made the trip to the mainland impassable by boat. The inhabitants of the island could not even communicate with the mainland. In the winter of 1910, they sent an urgent request for help to the mainland by writing many letters and sealing them up inside a molasses barrel (or puncheon), which they set adrift. When this reached the shore, on Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....

, the government sent out an icebreaker
Icebreaker
An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller vessels .For a ship to be considered an icebreaker, it requires three traits most...

 to bring aid. Within a few years, the Magdalens were given one of the new wireless telegraph
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

 stations so that the inhabitants could at least have some communication in the winter. The puncheon is now famous, and every tourist shop sells replicas.

At one time, large walrus
Walrus
The walrus is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic Ocean and sub-Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the Odobenidae family and Odobenus genus. It is subdivided into three subspecies: the Atlantic...

 herds were found near the islands but they had been eliminated due to overhunting by the end of the 18th century. The islands' beaches provide habitat for the endangered Piping Plover
Piping Plover
The Piping Plover is a small sand-colored, sparrow-sized shorebird that nests and feeds along coastal sand and gravel beaches in North America. The adult has yellow-orange legs, a black band across the forehead from eye to eye, and a black ring around the neck...

 and the Roseate Tern
Roseate Tern
The Roseate Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a number of geographical races, differing mainly in bill colour and minor plumage details....

.

Demographics

A segment of the population are descendants from survivors of the over 400 shipwreck
Shipwreck
A shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....

s on the islands. The islands are the location of some of Quebec's oldest English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

-speaking settlements, and although the majority of anglophones have since been assimilated with the francophone
Francophone
The adjective francophone means French-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....

 population or migrated elsewhere, there are still English-speaking settlements at Old Harry, Grosse-Ile, and Entry Island. As well as the English-speaking settlements, the islands are known for their world famous children's French camp. Activities include sand-castle competitions and a night alone in the woods.

Lighthouse
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....

s were eventually set up, and this reduced the number of shipwrecks, but there are still many old hulks on the beaches and under the waters.

In the 2001 Census, the archipelago was found to support a population of 12,818, down from 13,991 in 1991 – the official 2006 census figure is 13,091 – whose main occupations include lobster fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

.

Tourism

Tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

 is a major industry on the Magdalen Islands. The islands have many kilometres of white sand beaches, along with steadily eroding sandstone cliffs. It is an excellent destination for bicycle
Bicycle
A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....

 camping, sea kayak
Sea kayak
A sea kayak or touring kayak is a kayak developed for the sport of paddling on open waters of lakes, bays, and the ocean. Sea kayaks are seaworthy small boats with a covered deck and the ability to incorporate a spraydeck...

ing, windsurfing and kitesurfing
Kitesurfing
Kitesurfing or Kiteboarding is an adventure surface water sport that has been described as combining wakeboarding, windsurfing, surfing, paragliding, and gymnastics into one extreme sport. Kitesurfing harnesses the power of the wind to propel a rider across the water on a small surfboard or a...

. During the winter months, beginning in mid-February, eco-tourists
Ecotourism
Ecotourism is a form of tourism visiting fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas, intended as a low impact and often small scale alternative to standard commercial tourism...

 visit to observe new-born and young harp seal
Harp Seal
The harp seal or saddleback seal is a species of earless seal native to the northernmost Atlantic Ocean and adjacent parts of the Arctic Ocean. It now belongs to the monotypic genus Pagophilus. Its scientific name, Pagophilus groenlandicus, means "ice-lover from Greenland", and its synonym, Phoca...

 pups on the pack ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence
Gulf of Saint Lawrence
The Gulf of Saint Lawrence , the world's largest estuary, is the outlet of North America's Great Lakes via the Saint Lawrence River into the Atlantic Ocean...

 surrounding the islands.

Industry

The island is home to Canadian Salt Company
Canadian Salt Company
Founded in 1893, in Windsor, Ontario, with three employees of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company and was originally named The Windsor Salt Company. Within a few years, the operation was sold and became The Canadian Salt Company, Limited...

 Seleine Mines, which produces road salt for use in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada is the region of Canada comprising the four provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec: the three Maritime provinces – New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia – and Newfoundland and Labrador...

 and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 eastern seaboard. Opened in 1982, the salt mine and plant is located in Grosse-Île and extracts salt from an underground mine 30 metres (98.4 ft) below Grande-Entrée Lagoon, produces 1 million tons of salt, and employs 200 people.

Transportation

The Coopérative de transport maritime et aérien
Coopérative de transport maritime et aérien
The Coopérative de Transport Maritime et Aérien is a Canadian transportation company operating in Quebec and Prince Edward Island.Labelling itself Groupe CTMA, the company operates the seasonal ferry service from Cap-aux-Meules, Quebec in the Magdalen Islands to Souris, Prince Edward Island using...

 (Groupe C.T.M.A.) operates a ferry service between terminals in Souris
Souris, Prince Edward Island
Souris is a Canadian port town in northeastern Kings County, Prince Edward Island. It is located in an area famous for its beaches and potatoes, containing the majority of Prince Edward Island's potato manufacturers.-History:...

, Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...

 and Cap-aux-Meules
Cap-aux-Meules, Quebec
Cap-aux-Meules is an unincorporated Canadian community located on Île du Cap aux Meules in Quebec's Magdalen Islands...

. Groupe C.T.M.A. also operates a seasonal cruise ferry service between the islands and Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

.

The Magdalen Islands Airport
Îles-de-la-Madeleine Airport
Îles-de-la-Madeleine Airport, , is located on Havre aux Maisons island in the Magdalen Islands, Quebec, Canada. Although it is almost at sea level, nearby land rises significantly to the south, prohibiting circling approaches in that direction...

 at Havre-aux-Maisons offers scheduled air service to the Maritimes and mainland Quebec.

Gallery

See also

  • Quebec Route 199
    Quebec route 199
    Route 199 is a 85 km north/south highway located on the Magdalen Islands, in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Stretching from Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine's communities of L'Île-du-Havre-Aubert to Grande-Entrée, the route is the main artery of the archipelago and is the only Quebec numbered highway that is...

    , the only provincial highway on the islands
  • Coopérative de transport maritime et aérien
    Coopérative de transport maritime et aérien
    The Coopérative de Transport Maritime et Aérien is a Canadian transportation company operating in Quebec and Prince Edward Island.Labelling itself Groupe CTMA, the company operates the seasonal ferry service from Cap-aux-Meules, Quebec in the Magdalen Islands to Souris, Prince Edward Island using...

    , the ferry company serving the Magdalen Islands
  • Municipal reorganization in Quebec
    Municipal reorganization in Quebec
    The most recent episode of municipal reorganization in Quebec, Canada, was undertaken in 2002 by the Parti Québécois Government of Quebec, headed by Premier Lucien Bouchard and his successor Bernard Landry....

  • List of Quebec regions
  • Coins of the Magdalen Islands
    Coins of the Magdalen Islands
    The Magdalen Islands had only one coin - a 1 Penny token issued in 1815 by Sir Isaac Coffin.The obverse of the coin depicts a seal on an ice floe. It is inscribed 'MAGDALEN ISLAND TOKEN 1815'. The reverse of the coin depicts two gutted fish similar to that depicted on 1/2d. tokens from Prince...

    (numismatic history).

External links

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