Micmac

Micmac, Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). They inhabit Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Massachusetts, and Maine. French missionaries came into contact with them in the early 17th cent., and the Micmacs were allies of the French throughout the history of New France. Contact with Europeans did not have the usual effect of tribal disintegration, and the Micmacs still thrive, though their culture has changed radically. Many are Roman Catholics. The Micmacs are expert canoeists, and, although their economy once centered on fishing and hunting, they now derive their income primarily from agriculture. In 1990 there were over 15,000 Micmac in Canada. Another 2,700 Micmac live in the United States, the only federally recognized band being the Aroostook in Maine.

Bibliography

See W. D. and R. S. Wallis, The Micmac Indians of Eastern Canada (1955); J. F. Pratson, Land of the Four Directions (1970).

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Micmac

 or Mi'kmaq

North American Indian people living in Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, Can.; and in Aroostook, Maine, and near Boston, Mass., U.S. The Micmac comprise the largest of the Indian tribes of Canada's eastern Maritime Provinces. Early chronicles describe them as fierce and warlike, but they were among the first Indians to accept Jesuit teachings and intermarry with the settlers of New France. The Micmac formed a confederacy of several clans. In winter they hunted caribou, moose, and small game; in summer they fished, gathered shellfish, and hunted seals. They were expert canoeists. In the 17th–18th century they were allies of the French against the English. Early 21st-century population estimates indicated approximately 14,000 Micmac descendants.