Islands of the Madeleine

See also: Islands of the Madeleine (homonymy)

This article treats archipelago as a geographical entity and human. For the Municipality, to see the Iles-de-la-Madeleine. ---- The islands of the Madeleine are a Canadian archipelago Golfe of the St. Lawrence pertaining to the province of the Quebec. Its inhabitants is the Madeliniens (usually called Madelinots) and the Madeliniennes .

Geography

The Archipel is located approximately at the center of the Golfe of the St. Lawrence, trônant on the high funds between the Péninsule Gaspésie and the island of the Cape-Breton (Nova Scotia) and halfway between the Island-of-Prince-Edouard and Newfoundland.

The very wooded territory in the past, is now the object of continuous afforestation and is covered with forests with nearly 25%. It is also very dune, offering nearly 300 km of beaches. In the south of the Archipelago, two islands are very different one from the other: the island of Le Havre Aubert largest, the most are timbered and inhabited by Francophone S. the second, the island of Entry, are inhabited by Anglophone S, are an small island not connected by the Dune S, dominated by the highest hills ( Big Hill ) of the archipelago and equipped with some trees only, joined together in small wooded.

The islands of the archipelago are mainly connected by four long Dune S and two Pont S:

The archipelago also includes/understands, detached from the principal group,

  • the island of Entry,
  • the Île Brion,
  • the Rocher with the Birds,
  • the island of the Corps-Mort

The territory of the archipelago is divided into two municipalities, that is to say the Iles-de-la-Madeleine which gathers the great majority of the territory and the population, and Grosse-Île, which is become again a distinct municipality on January 1st 2006.

The inhabitants live with the normal hour of the Atlantic (HNA), as those of the extreme is low Coast-North, i.e. one hour later that in the remainder of the Quebec, which lives with the normal hour of the East (HNE).

713 Naufrage S were entered on these islands, had with strong storms, which gives to the Iles-de-la-Madeleine the sad title of larger marine Cimetière in North America. The last Naufrage to date is that of the Nadine , which ran the December 16th 1990, to a few kilometers of the coasts.

Geology

The archipelago of the Iles-de-la-Madeleine east on the site of a sea dating from the time when the continents were joined together (pangée). The sea was then opposite the equator and it was drained leaving a thick layer of salt, on which then a succession of Sédiment S of Roche S Volcanique S. the compression of the new layers piled up made them denser than the salt which preceded them and this last tends to go up in the forms of bubbles, or columns, which one calls saline domes or Diapir S. Several salt diapirs surround the archipelago and three large diapirs support the islands: opposite the island of Le Havre Aubert, the island of the Cape to the Grinding stones and Currant, where the mine Seleine , exploits salt for the thawing of ice of the roads. This phenomenon of diapirs deforming the higher geological layers is called raising Isostatique and is due to the lithostatic pressures of these layers.

A good part of the territory is of formation dune, where the Ammophile plays a big role in the fixing of the ground. The many and coloured cliffs show us also various structures. For example, when they red and are carved in Grotte S, these are formations Sable use, whose crumbling provides the sand dunes. One sees there also Siltstone S, of the Argile S, the sandstone, of the Albâtre, various volcanic rocks and of the Gypse, present also in the form of diapirs.

Fauna and flora

Mammals

Several species of Phoque S côtoient the islands, like the gray Phoque or the common Phoque; the Seal of Greenland and the Phoque with cap are two species which come to put low in Hiver on water of the Golfe the St. Lawrence. The fauna of the gulf also contains some Rorqual S and Dauphin S.

The archipelago counts few Mammifère S Terrestre S, compared to the other areas of the Quebec. Principal the Species S Indigenous S such as the russet-red Fox, the woodland Mouse, the Rat surmulot and the Campagnol of the fields. All seems to indicate that there are also Coyote S, at least on the island of Le Havre Aubert.

The russet-red squirrel was introduced on the archipelago at the end of the years 1970 and adapted very well there. A study of Population density revealed that a density of squirrel S higher than elsewhere with the Square kilometer, that is due mainly to the quasi absence of Prédateur S. Notez that this species is found only on the islands of Harbor-Aubert, Cape-with-Grinding stones and Harbor-with-Houses. The Lièvre of America was present on the islands in the past and the population was decimated. In 1994, a project of reintroduction of the Lièvre took place on the island of Le Havre Aubert. Today, one finds this last on this island and the island of the Cape to the Grinding stones, and the population goes well. In the past, a breeding of Vison of America had course on the island of Le Havre Aubert. Some individuals are escaped of their place of captivity and one now finds a small population in the pond S bordering the Lagune of the Harbor-with-Basques.

Birds

There is a little more than 300 Espèce S which were indexed in the Islands of the Madeleine, but they is roughly 200 Espèce S of birds which attend the Archipel annually. These birds have various statutes: Nicheur S, Migrating S, Resident S, Espèces Wintering be and visitors. The marine birds, of shore and the Sauvagine represent the majority of the species which composes the fauna Aviaire of the Islands of the Madeleine. One can also observe Rapace S and Passereau X.
  • Among the Nicheur S, several are live birds in colony: the Gannet , the Kittiwake, the Large héron, the Cormorant with brushes, the Guillemot with mirror, the Puffin monk, the Small penguin, etc the whistling Plover, a Species in the process of disappearance universally niche only on the Beach S of the Iles-de-la-Madeleine, with regard to the Quebec. Between on May 1st and the August 15th, it is recommended to avoid the surfaces of reproduction identified by control panels. Two others Species S of birds attending the Islands of the Madeleine, the Tern of Dougall and the Grèbe esclavon, are also on the list of the threatened species.
  • Among the Migrateur S frequently finds the birds of shores: the Sandpiper X, the Plover S, the knight S, the Tournepierre S, the Curlew corlieu and the Barge hudsonienne.
  • As for the Resident S, they is very few. One counts approximately 25 Espèce S, of the Corneille of America, very widespread, with rare the Harfang of snows. Let us note finally that the number of individuals and species reaches his maximum at the end of the be and the beginning of the Automne when the migratory birds make their halt in the archipelago.

Ecology

The medium of the archipelago is constantly swept by the Vent and is subject to the influence of different running S from the gulf. What saw there remains fragile and vulnerable there in front of the erosion. This process is accelerated by the Climate changes and the reduction of the Glace S Hiver nales and of the Banquise which they cause. Destruction of the ices acted besides directly on the availability of the surfaces reproduction for the Seal S.

Water

Environnement Canada supervises bacteriological quality constantly shelly water ; sectors of Plage are thus closed with the gathering of Mollusque S because they are contaminated by the waste water surrounding houses. The quality of the sectors is determined by the presence, in the samples of water, Coliforme S fecal, which are caused by the Pollution S rédidentielle and agricultural. In 2007, 1700 Maison S of the islands would not be equipped yet adequately to manage their waste water; this pollution also threatens the Ground water. Water Potable is another resource which undergoes strong pressures on the small territory of the islands: the more it is drained of its natural tablecloth, plus the latter is vulnerable to the invasion of the salted Eau , which is final.

Accidental or voluntary discharges of Hydrocarbure S in the Golfe the St. Lawrence are another important source of pollution in the area. The Oiseau X are the main victims, the engluage often condemning them to died by Hypothermie. A large part of these discharges are due to the Navire S which get rid illegally of their oils spent in coastal water of the Canada. The area also underwent several accidental discharges, of which that, in March 1970, of the barge Irving Whale , which released 30 tons of Combustible of compartment between the Island-of-Prince-Edouard and the islands of the Madeleine, after one of its panels was detached during a storm. The tablecloth derived until in a surface from food from eider duck S, contaminating approximately 5.000 Oiseau X. This discharge did as many damage almost than that of the Arrow , of which it accounted for only 1% of the width. Still in 2006, one finds of them residues which were hidden in the Dune S of the Iles-de-la-Madeleine.

Energy sources

The Archipel is rather Polluant as for its production of electricity; the network is connected on the larger second Thermo plant of Hydro-Quebec, which subsidizes besides the purchase of oil with heating with the residents of the islands, in order to meet their needs for energy. Several wind S experimental is installed in the islands, but few projects were carried out in all: an attempt at introduction to the Île of Entry failed in 2006. The Vent is a considerable resource on the Archipel, but perhaps the territory does not offer it all the necessary assets to its exploitation.

History

The Iles-de-la-Madeleine were initially called by the people Micmac " Memquit" , then the " were renamed; Araynes" by Jacques Cartier, then the Madeleine Islands, and finally, Iles-de-la-Madeleine, by Honfleur, in the honor of its wife, Madeleine Fountain.

Chronology

  • Of 1534 with 1536, Jacques Cartier, baptizes Islands the “Araynes”, of Latin arena , meaning Sable. It approaches initially the Rocher with the Birds, which it names then “Isle in Margeaux” because of the many birds which are there, then the Île Brion, that it thus names in the honor of its guard, Philippe Chabot of Brion.
  • In 1544 , Sebastien Pooch, refers to the “Midsummer's Day Islands” to speak about the Iles-de-la-Madeleine.
  • In 1591 , the sailors of the Bonaventure of the French ship-owner “the Pre-Ravillon and the Large Court Pre one” discover the herds of Morse S with the accesses of the islands “Ramea”.
  • In 1593 , in the account of the Marigold , a ship English, one refers to the name indigenous Menquit , being used to indicate the islands.
  • In 1597 , Charles Leigh, a sailor English, will start the first battle between English and French (Bretons) along the coasts of the Araynes to obtain the supremacy of hunting for the Morse S. Aidés of the Micmac S, the French resisted.
  • In 1629 , Samuel de Champlain registers on a chart “Magdeleine” at the place of the island of Le Havre Aubert.
  • In 1653 , Nicolas Denys receives a concession which includes the Iles-de-la-Madeleine, for the sum of 15000 pounds which it must pay with the Company Hundred-Associates. He will neglect colonization however of it.
  • In 1663 , the Compagnie of the Hundred-Associates grants the concession of the Iles-de-la-Madeleine to François Doublet of Honfleur. It will install there men who will spend a first winter there; this company will be however considered a failure. The same year, the Company of the Hundred-Associates is abolished by Louis XIV and the territory of the Canada becomes again of this fact direct possession of the Crown of France. The waltz of the concessions will follow, without true projects of colonization however… at most, a guerilla between the various applicants with the exclusive right on the Chasse with the seals and the “marine cows”. Honfor would have allotted the name of the “Islands of the Madeleine” to the archipelago, while thus wanting to honor his wife Madeleine Fontaine.
It is said that between 1706 and 1754, from the citizens of the area of Quebec (Beauport and the Île of Orleans) will regularly come to spend the winter to the Islands to make there the Chasse with the Morse S and the Otaries.
  • In 1713 , the treaty of Utrecht grants the Acadie to England, except for the island Royale (the island of Cape-Breton the), the Midsummer's Day island (the island-of-Prince-Edouard) and of the Iles-de-la-Madeleine which remain French territories.
  • In 1755 , the destiny of the Acadie NS takes a tragic turning. It is the “Great Disturbance” and the population Acadie is not off-set through the continent. Some individuals escape this deportation and unload in the Islands of the Madeleine under the hard supervision of the merchant Richard Gridley for whom they drive out the Morse and exploit the fisheries of the Islands.
  • the October 7th 1763 the treated of Paris puts an end to the Guerre Seven Year old between the France and the England. By this treaty, the France preserves only Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon; the Islands are placed under the jurisdiction of Newfoundland. At the same period, Acadie NS of return of exile will take refuge with Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon.
  • In 1765 , Richard Gridley receives a temporary license of Chasse and fishing at the Iles-de-la-Madeleine. It will be the certified beginning of the settlement of the islands by Acadie NS come from the Island-of-Prince-Edouard.
  • In 1774 , with the Act of Quebec, the islands pass under the jurisdiction of the province of Quebec.
  • In 1783 , the Traité of Versailles puts an end to the Guerre of American Independence. The American , by this treaty, preserve the right to fish in water of the Islands and to come on the coasts to prepare their captures there. In the century which follows, the Madelinots will denounce already a form of “surpêche” of people equipped better than them.
  • the April 12th 1793 , following the French revolution, other families Acadie originating in Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon unite with them under the control surface of the abbot Jean-Cambric Allain with whom one owes the first preserved register. All the events will be initially listed with Harbor-Aubert, and thereafter there will be scission: Harbor-with-Houses, Lavernière, Basin, Large-Entry… and much later, Fatima and Cape-with-Grinding stones. It is with them which true the Colonisation begins Islands of the Madeleine.
  • the April 24th 1798 , Isaac Coffin becomes the official lord of the Iles-de-la-Madeleine. He was already semi-officially dealer since 1787. It had been born with Boston and had been useful with honesty and effectiveness as a British naval officer until in 1790. The inhabitants of the Islands will be maintained in the fright of oppression, Coffin having tried to off-set the “French, enemies of the king”.
  • In 1829 , the first Diocèse of the Seaboard provinces is set up, with its episcopal see with Charlottetown.
Of following various miseries and injustices to which they are then subjected, Madelinots start to emigrate continuously worms new grounds. They thus will found several Village S of low the Coast-North of which
  • Kégaska,
  • White-Fine sand (1854),
  • Harbor-Saint-Pierre,
  • Natashquan (1855) and
  • Seven-Islands (1872).
  • In 1875 , beginning of the fishing with the Lobster with racks. The following year, begins the first maritime connection with Souris, Island-of-Prince-Edouard.
  • In 1888 , the Mercier government makes make a study on the tenure of the grounds at the Iles-de-la-Madeleine; that will lead to a law on the repurchase of the grounds in 1898, but one will regulate the problem definitively only 70 years later, under the Duplessis mode, by repurchasing the seigneuriaux rights and while making carry out new a Cadastre.
In the decades which followed, the Propriété of the Islands changed hands several times.
  • In 1895 is formed the county of the Iles-de-la-Madeleine to provincial the provincial government makes it possible Madelinots to repurchase their grounds of the dealer. Removed from the annoyances colonialists, they will put their efforts consequently to overcome their difficulties and to aim at self-sufficiency.
  • In 1896 , a score of families will be established as colonists with Lake-with-Salmon, in the Matapédia. Ten years before, about thirty families originating in the Islands and alive on the Coast-North had gone to found St-Theophilus in Beauce.
  • In 1912 and 1913, of many Madelinots emigrate with Kénogami. In 1925, one counts 140 families originating in the Islands there.
  • In October 1946 , the Islands are attached to the Diocèse Gaspé.
  • In 1947 , the Canada grant to the Iles-de-la-Madeleine the statute of a federal electoral constituency; it will be however a transitory situation.
  • In 1970 , the barge Irving Whale makes an accident between the archipelago and the Island-of-Prince-Edouard and pours 300 tons of Hydrocarbures in water of the gulf.
  • on January 1st 2002 the municipalities of the Iles-de-la-Madeleine were amalgamated to create only one municipality.
  • In June 2004 , Currant and Cape-with-Grinding stones voted in favor of the “défusion”, restoring their old statute to them.
  • on January 1st 2006 following an other Referendum, the central municipality of Cape-with-Grinding stones reinstates the municipality of the Iles-de-la-Madeleine: the archipelago include/understand then the municipality of the Îles-de-la-Madeleine and that of Grosse-Île.
  • At the beginning of 2007 , during the winter, them major fires strike the factories of transformations of the marine products, close to the harbor installations: Madelipêche , with Cape-with-Grinding stones, and Madelimer , with Large-Entry.

Economy

For the majority of the descendants of the Acadian S, Madelinots especially lived Agriculture and fishing, and, especially, today, of that of the Homard. The decline of the fishing of the Poisson supported to make tourism such an important economic activity, which transformed the economic life of the Islands particularly quickly in the years 1990 and 2000. One finds some large companies engaged in the transformation: Large-Cape , Norpro 2000 , Madelipêche and Madelimer . The fires of the two last will have unquestionable consequences on the economy of the Islands during the season 2007.

The mining of the salt, with the mine Seleine and the Chasse for the seals are important source of revenue for Madelinots, the latter proceeding in March, benefitting from the low setting of the Phoque of Greenland and with cap on the ice-barrier.

Today, although the fishing industry (exploitation and transformation) remains the first economic activity of the archipelago, tourism industry as for it rose with the second rank with repercussions evaluated to a few 50 million $ per year.

Fish and mariculture

  • the Poisson S : the reduction in the fish resources obliged the Madelinot S to restrict these activities. The Maquereau X follow the cool water which neglected the Islands since 2005. The Hareng is rare in 2006. The rosefish was formerly transformed into great volume, which it is not almost today any more. The principal fished species are the Morue, the Flétan, the Maquereau, the Canadian Plie, the gray Plie, the rosefish, the Hareng and the turbot. Into less quantities, one fishes also the merluche, the wolf, the Aiguillat (Requin) the Loquette, the line, the angler, the éperlan, the Maraîche (Requin), the Goberge, the Anguille and the Aiglefin.

  • Crustacean S : fishings with the Lobster and the Crabe (Crab of snows) constitute a large share of the incomes related to fishing, their Marché S being extremely developed these last years and the populations being well maintained.

  • the Mollusc S : there is a good production of mould S and hull S of Culture, inter alia in the Lagune of Harbor-with-Houses. One sows and fishes the Pétoncle. One fishes also the Huître and a little Couteau of sea. The islands are also inhabited by the sea urchin S, which one makes the trade little.

Tourism

The islands are an exceptional space in the middle of the gulf, offering to the visitors Nature carved to them by the waves and the Vent and also them inheritance Culture L original:

  • the Beach and bathe,
  • the veil, Board with veil, Kite-surfing and Kite,
  • excursions in Boat, Zodiac, Plunged underwater,
  • the horsemanship,
  • the Gastronomy of the Islands,
  • the Cheese S, the Pork-butchery local S and its other products,
  • the Golf,
  • different the Museum S to be visited, the Museum of the Sea,
  • the Holiday;

the estival Season being the appointment of several Festival S :

  • Festival of the castles of sand and its famous Contest, being held since 1986,

  • Festival of Tale S Tales in islands ,
  • Festival of short films Images for .

Demography

One counts nearly 13.000 inhabitants in the islands, whose origin is Acadie to 85%, the remainder of the population is Québécois, Gaélique (Scottish, Irish) or English. 94% of the inhabitants have the French like native tongue and for approximately 6% it is the English. The members of the community of English language concentrate with Grosse-Île, Old Harry and the island of Entry. In a general way, the anglophone population started to decline after the Second world war, especially with the island of Entry. Having remained homogeneous and relatively isolated for a long time, the population was seen integrating more and more people of ethnic origins various, which remain nevertheless very few, and, this, especially since the tourist Bang , with the turning of the century.

Villages

The inhabitants of the Iles-de-la-Madeleine, gather in 11 localities or “around 11 bell-towers”:

  • Island of Entry (Anglophone)
  • On the island of the Harbor-Aubert
    • Harbor-Aubert
    • Basin
  • On the island of the Cape-with-Grinding stones
    • Pond-of-North
    • Cape-with-Grinding stones
    • Fatima
  • Harbor-with-Houses
  • Point-with-Wolves
  • Currant (Anglophone)
  • On the island of the Large-Entry
    • Old Harry (Anglophone)
    • Large-Entry

Personalities

  • pol. Chantraine, Belgian writer d´origine lived most of its life in the islands.

  • Eudore Labrie (1917 - 2006), commonly called “Doctor Labrie”, is a doctor, Pharmacie N, Dent politicking ist and , originating in Saint-Quentin, with the New Brunswick; having work in the Health islands of 1948 with 1992, one honoured it in 1993 by baptizing the medical Bibliothèque with the Hôpital on its behalf. A place with Cape-with-Grinding stones is called “the hillock of Doctor Labrie”.
  • Georges Langford, poet and Song to deny originating in Harbor-with-Houses, author of the famous song the refrigerator , popularized by Tex Lecor.
  • Denise Leblanc, Professor E, politicking director and , originating in the Pond-of-North; she was the Québécois Ministre of the Public office of 1981 with 1984 and also during some time the Minister responsible for the Female condition.
  • Sylvain River, poet, novelist and playwright, born with Carleton (Gaspésie) in 1955, it resides at the Iles-de-la-Madeleine since 1981. It founded there in 1989 the Théâtre of the parlure and in 2002 the Festival of Contes in islands .
  • Mario Saint-Amand, Actor Québécois born in 1968, he was cofounder, with Nathalie Bourgeois and Céline Lafrance, of the KinOcéan , the version madeleinienne of the Kino.

References

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