2024-2025 Official Tourist Guide of the Îles de la Madeleine

Îles de la Madeleine Overview – Profile of the Region

A bit of history

The discovery of the Islands

(the Exile) and the Acadian population was deported all across the continent. Between 1761 and 1765, some who managed to escape the deportation came to the Îles de la Madeleine, where all commerce was controlled by Richard Gridley, including the walrus hunt and the Islands’ fisheries. In 1792, following the French Revolution, other families came from Miquelon under the leadership of their priest, Jean-Batiste Allain. Together they began the true colonisation of the Islands. Under British control in 1763, the Islands were annexed to Newfoundland, until 1774 when the Québec Act annexed them to Québec. Isaac Coffin was granted the Îles de la Madeleine in 1798, and he forced the Madelinots to pay rent on lands that they had cleared with their own hands and occupied for more than 25 years. This feudal domination, along with the merchants’ exploitation of the fishermen, created a climate of misery and injustice, which explains the Islanders’ continued emigration to new lands. Emi grating Madelinots founded several villages on Qué bec’s North Shore: Blanc-Sablon (1854), Havre-Saint-Pierre, Natashquan (1855), and Sept-Îles (1872). Only in 1895 did a Québec law allow the Madelinots to buy back their lands from the grant holder. Freed from colonial oppression, they began to overcome their difficulties and work towards self- sufficiency.

Micmac Indians poetically named the archipelago “Menagoesenog”, a word that means “islands brushed by the waves”. Well before the arrival of the first Euro peans, Indians were coming to the Islands to fish and to hunt for seals and walruses. In June 1534, Jacques Cartier entered in his diary the first written report about the Islands, “Les Araynes” (from Latin “arena”, meaning “sand”). He named the first islands he came upon “Isles de Margaulx“ (today Rocher aux Oiseaux) and Île Brion. In 1629, Samuel de Champlain wrote on a map, “La Magdeleine”, near the area of Île du Havre Aubert. However, it is said that the archipelago’s present name, Îles de la Madeleine, was given in 1663 in honour of Madeleine Fontaine, wife of François Doublet de Honfleur, concessionaire of the Islands. Under the French Regime, the Islands were passed from hand to hand without lasting colo nisation or exploitation. The land of the Acadians… In 1755, the destiny of the Acadian people took a tragic turn. It was the beginning of the “Grand Dérangement”

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