Mi'kmaq
The oldest evidence of humans in Nova Scotia indicates the Paleo-Indians were the first, approximately 11,000 years ago. Natives are believed to have been present in the area between 11,000 and 5,000 years ago. Mi'kmaq, the First Nations of the province and region, are their direct descendants.
The Mi'kmaq (previously spelled Micmac in English texts) are a First Nations people, indigenous to the Maritime Provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula Quebec and northeastern New England. Míkmaw is the singular form of Mí'kmaq.
In 1616 Father Biard believed the Mi'kmaq population to be in excess of 3,000. However, he remarked that, because of European diseases, including smallpox and alcoholism, there had been large population losses in the previous century.
The Mi'kmaq were originally allies with other nearby Algonquian nations including the Abenaki, forming the seven nation Wabanaki Confederacy, pronounced ; this was later expanded to eight with the ceremonial addition of Great Britain at the time of the 1749 treaty. At the time of contact with the French (late 16th century) they were expanding from their Maritime base westward along the Gaspé Peninsula /St. Lawrence River at the expense of Iroquioian Mohawk tribes, hence the Mi'kmaq name for this peninsula, Gespedeg ("last-acquired"). They were amenable to limited French settlement in their midst. Between the loss of control of Acadia by France in the early 18th century and the deportation of the Acadians in the mid-eighteenth century an uneasy stalemate existed between the Mi’kmaq and English. With the complete loss by France during the Seven Years' War of its North American territories, the Mi’kmaq lost their primary ally. The Mi’kmaq continued to suffer a population collapse and with the influx of Planters in the 1760s and Loyalists in the 1780s, soon found themselves overwhelmed. Later on the Mi'kmaq also settled Newfoundland as the unrelated Beothuk tribe became extinct.
Read more about this topic: History Of Nova Scotia