An Introduction to the Ports of St. Georges
Bay
To view Fishing Port Histories in the St.
Georges Bay area, just click on the button specific to
the port you are interested in, on the map below.
Historically, different
cultures have sustained the people around St. Georges
Bay, Nova Scotia. Place names used today include
derivations from Mi'kmaq, Gaelic and French names such as
the Mi'kmaq Mabou, Pomquet, Tracadie, Antigonish, Pictou,
and Merigomish; the Gaelic Arisaig, Creignish, Lismore,
and the French Harve Boucher, Tracadie, Pomquet and
Judique, as well as the spelling of St. Georges itself
(note there is no apostrophe) There is archaeological
evidence of a few thousand years of settlement around St.
Georges Bay by pre European aboriginal people.
European exploration and
settlement, beginning in the late eighteenth century,
changed significantly the patterns of activity in the St.
Georges Bay area. Prior to this time, most commercial
resource development took place on the Atlantic side of
what is today the province of Nova Scotia. Several
European nations had established variously over a period
of three hundred years seasonal fishing camps and short
term settlements for Basque, Portuguese, Spanish and
French fishermen . The rich fishery on the banks of the
Atlantic would continue to be the focus for European
resource exploitation but after 1800 this was matched by
the land based developments carried out by recently
arriving European settlers. Added to this were Acadians
returning to L'Acadie from the exile imposed in 1755.
These Acadians appear to have had little contact with St.
Georges Bay prior to the deportation but after the 1780's
settled in Pomquet, Tracadie and Harve Boucher.
The largest number of settlers
around St. Georges Bay came from the clearances (1770s to
1830s) of the Scottish Highlands. Pre-loyalist
"Americans" and United Empire Loyalists pre-dated the
Scots forming the basis for a local merchant and
political class for several decades. However, it was the
culture of the Gaels (Highland Scots) that was ascendant.
In comparison, all other distinctive cultures, Mi'kmaq,
Acadians, Irish, Black and Loyalist, claim minority
status while the Highland Scots communities came to
dominate the human geography of the Bay from the late
1790s to the present.
The co-op movement expanded in
the fisheries area through the work of the extension
Department of St. Francis Xavier University and the
initial organisation of the United Maritime Fishermen
(U.M.F).
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