The Mi'kmaq
The Mi'kmaq are the founding people of Nova Scotia and remain the predominant Aboriginal group within the provinces. The Mi'kmaq presence can be traced as far back as 10,000 years. They were hunters and traders and, because of their proximity to the ocean, skilled saltwater fisherman. When the first Europeans arrived in the 16th and 17th centuries, Mi'kmaq territory stretched across all of today's Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, most of New Brunswick and westward into the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec; an area known as Mi'kma'ki. For ten thousand years, this rugged peninsula has been home to the Mi'kmaq people. Mi'kmaq and First Nations people have enriched this province with their legends, art, music, spirituality, history, and language (Go to Page: Culture). Before the arrival of the Europeans in the 1500s, Mi’kma’ki was divided into seven districts, each named for the geographical characteristics of that area, and each led by a District Chief. One of those districts was in Nova Scotia and it is called Bear River First Nation, also known as Lsetkuk.
The Acadians
The Acadians are the descendants of the French settlers, and sometimes the Indigenous peoples. They settled in parts of Acadia in the northeastern region of North America what is now the Canadian maritime provinces. This includes New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Before Acadie was founded in 1604, European traders and fishermen had already been visitors to these shores. A French existence was finally established in the new land in 1604, when in the early spring season, a contingent of explorers like Samuel de Champlain, Sieur de Poutrincourt, and Du Pont left Le Havre, France to declare their kings claim to Acadie. By the end of the summer season, they had explored what is today peninsular Nova Scotia, and charting the coast of what is today New Brunswick and Maine. By 1750 there were about 10,000 Acadians in Nova Scotia. At the beginning of the French and Indian war, the British government demanded that Acadians take an oath of allegiance to the Crown that included fighting against the French. Most of them refused. As a consequence, the British Governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council decided to deport the Acadians (Go to Page: Important events)