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).