MICMAK INDIANS

THESE INDIANS ARE A FIRST NATION INDIGENOUS TO NORTHEASTERN NEW ENGLAND AND CANADA. THEY HAVE A POPULATION OF ABOUT 40,000 OF WHEN NEARLY 11,000 SPEAK ALGONQUIN LANGUAGE MORE THAN MICMAK. APPARENTLY THEIR NAME MEANSTHE FAMILY OR RED EARTH. THEIR TERRITORY WAS DIVIDED INTO SEVEN TRADITIONAL DISTRICTS. EACH DISTRICT HAD IT'S OWN GOVERNMENT AND BOUNDARIES.

THE COUNCIL MEMBERS WERE BAND CHIEF ELDERS AND OTHER WORTHY COMMUNITY LEADERS. IN ADDITION TO THE DISTRICT COUNCILS THEIR WAS THE GRAND COUNCIL WITH CAPTAINS. THERE WERE ELDERS WHO DEALT WITH THE TREATIES WITH THE NON-NATIVE TRIBES. THERE WAS A GRAND CHIEF GIVEN TO ONE OF THE DISTRICT CHIEFS. THIS WAS A HEREDITY TITLE. THE GRAND COUNCIL MET ON AN ISLAND IN MNIKU AND TODAY IT STILL MEETS THERE.

THE MICMAK WERE MEMBERS OF AN ALLIANCE WITH FOUR OTHER NATIONS. THIS TRIBAL ALLIANCE STILL EXISTS TODAY. BY 1610 THEIR GRAND CHIEF WAS CONVERTED TO CATHOLICISM. AND BAPTIZED. HE ALLIED WITH FRENCH JESUITS AND THE MICMAK COULD CHOOSE CATHOLICISM. OR MICMAK TRADITION. AFTER 1710 THE MICMAK USED THE MILITARY FORCE AGAINST THE BRITISH. THE MILITARY RESISTANCE ENDED WITH THE FRENCH DEFEAT AT THE SIEGE OF LOUISBORG. AFTER THE WAR, THEY FELT OVERWHELMED BY THE BRITISH WHO SEIZED THEIR LAND WITHOUT PAYMENT.

BETWEEN 1720 TO 1779 THE MICMAK SIGNED A SERIES OF PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP TREATIES. WITH GREAT BRITAIN. BUT THEY DID NOT GET LAND BACK. LATER THEY SETTLED ALSO IN NEWFOUNDLAND WHICH HAD BEEN WHERE THE BEOTHUK TRIBE ONCE LIVED. HOWEVER, THEY BECAME EXTINCT. THE MICMAK HAD THERE FIRST INTERNATIONAL TREATY OF WATERTOWN AFTER OUR U.S. GAINED INDEPENDENCE IN 1776. SOME OF THE THE MICMAK JOINED THE CONTINENTAL ARMY. IN 2010 CANADA AND NOVA SCOTIA SIGNED AGREEMENTS WITH THE MICMAK COUNCIL. THIS WAS THE FIRST COLLABORATION IN CANADIAN HISTORY.

PRECONTACT POPULATION IS ESTIMATED AT 50 TO 100,000. IN 1616 THE MICMAK POPULATION DROPPED TO 3000 DUE TO EUROPEAN DISEASES. AND ALCOHOLISM LED FURTHER TO THE DECLINE OF THEIR POPULATION. AFTER 1750 THEIR POPULATION INCREASED AND BECAME STABLE DURING THE 1800'S. THEIR POPULATION CELEBRATES TREATY DAY ANNUALLY ON OCTOBER 1ST. 1752 WAS
THE FIRST SIGNIFIED YEAR WITH THE PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP TREATY. AS LONG AS THEY CONTINUED IN PEACE THEY WOULD BE GIVEN GIFTS.

IN MICMAK MYTHOLOGY EVILNESS AMONG MEN CAUSED THEM TO KILL EACH OTHER CAUSING GREAT SADNESS TO THE SUN GOD. THIS CAUSED A GREAT FLOOD. THE PEOPLE TRY TO SURVIVE USING THEIR CANOES, BUT ONLY AN OLD MAN AND AN OLD WOMAN SURVIVE TO POPULATE THE WORLD.

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