Mingan Islands, pearls of the St. Lawrence
Habitat of multiple fauna, breeding ground for unique flora, privileged refuge for hundreds of aquatic birds, the Mingan Islands are one of the most exotic places on the Middle North Shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. Today, the archipelago is no longer isolated and its bewitching treasures, once hidden, can now be discovered one by one. Given the exceptional interest that the archipelago represents for its geology, geomorphology, fauna and flora as well as for its prehistoric and historical archeology, the Government of Quebec designated the archipelago in 1978 as a protected natural district. More poetically, the Quebec naturalist Marie-Victorin named this set of islands: the Minganie and described it as follows: "the Minganie is the daughter of water, the North Shore is the daughter of fire".
Formed by the erosion of the wind and the tides, natural limestone sculptures are very present in the Mingan archipelago. The most beautiful erosion monoliths (flower pots) stand in the south-east of Quarry Island, in the east of Niapiskau Island, in the south of Grosse Île au Marteau and on Île Nue. The birth of flower pots results from a rapid abrasion of tender and cracked layers, leaving in place the most resistant and better consolidated nuclei. Among the main ones: the good woman from Niapiskau, the Montagnaise from Île Nue, the sugarloaf from Île à Bouleaux de Terre, Petit Percé, the cove with erosion, the pile from Île Quarry. These eroding monoliths remind us of the great geomorphological upheavals that the Côte-Nord had to undergo over the centuries.
For centuries, the Mingan archipelago was frequented as much by the Amerindians (ducks, salmon) and the Inuit (seals) followed by Norman fishermen (cod) and Basque hunters (whales). Some historians think that the Basques, after the Vikings would also have "discovered" America before Christopher Columbus and would have kept secret this discovery wanting to protect their monopoly of cod fishing and whaling. The Basque sailors were neither explorers in the service of the state, nor colonizers but fishermen engaged in a commercial activity hence the importance of keeping secret on prosperous shipping routes. Discover these pearls of the St. Lawrence with this richly illustrated document dealing with the traditional way of life of the Amerindians, the Inuit and the first sedentary French people For a free copy (PDF), click below and download.
http://pdfcast.org/pdf/les-les-mingan-p ... st-laurent
To discover the Mingan Islands
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