Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine () is a municipality located in Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine region, in

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada. It is located on the islands of the Magdalen Islands archipelago, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, from Gaspé, from

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

, from

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...

, and from

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

History

The Mi'kmaq were among the original occupants of

Atlantic Canada Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (), is the list of regions of Canada, region of Eastern Canada comprising four provinces: New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. As of 2021, the landma ...

, inhabiting the coastal regions of the Gaspé Peninsula and The Maritimes east of the Saint John River. This traditional territory is called Mi'gma'gi (Mi'kma'ki). According to Mi'kmaq oral history and archaeological evidence collected to date, there has been a seasonal

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

presence on the Magdalen Islands for 6,000 to 10,000 years. This occupation was mainly for summer fishing and hunting of

marine mammal Marine mammals are mammals that rely on marine ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as cetaceans, pinnipeds, sirenians, sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their reliance on marine enviro ...

s or other game. The explorer

Jacques Cartier Jacques Cartier (; 31 December 14911 September 1557) was a French maritime explorer from Brittany. Jacques Cartier was the first Europeans, European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, wh ...

was the first known European to visit the islands in 1534. The first concerted settlement attempt was made by English Brownist (a group of

English Dissenters English Dissenters or English Separatists were Protestants who separated from the Church of England in the 17th and 18th centuries. English Dissenters opposed state interference in religious matters and founded their own churches, educationa ...

or separatists) Francis Johnson in 1597, which failed.Peterson, Mark. The Rise and Fall of an Atlantic Power, 1630–1865, The City-State of Boston. Princeton University Press, 2019, page 16. François Doublet de Honfleur received the concession of the archipelago from the Company of One Hundred Associates (''Compagnie des Cent-Associés''), in 1663, he gave it its current name, in honour of his wife Madeleine Fontaine. The first real settlers to settle on the islands came after the fall of Louisbourg and the dispersal of the

Acadians The Acadians (; , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French colonial empire, French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, most descendants of Acadians live in either the Northern Americ ...

from the Grand-Pré region of

Acadia Acadia (; ) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. The population of Acadia included the various ...

. In 1765, the islands were inhabited by 22 French-speaking Acadians and their families. They were working and hunting walruses for a British trader, Richard Gridley. Many inhabitants of Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine still fly the Acadian flag and identify as both Acadian and Québécois. The islands were administered as part of the British

Colony of Newfoundland Newfoundland was an English overseas possessions, English, and later British, colony established in 1610 on the Newfoundland (island), island of Newfoundland. That followed decades of sporadic English settlement on the island, which was at first ...

from 1763 to 1774, when they became part of the

Province of Quebec (1763–1791) The Province of Quebec () was a colony in British North America which comprised the former French colony of Canada. It was established by the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1763, following the conquest of New France by British forces during the ...

by the Quebec Act passed by the

Parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union 1707, Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a ...

. Some of the islanders are descendants of survivors of the more than 400

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. It results from the event of ''shipwrecking'', which may be intentional or unintentional. There were approximately thre ...

s on the islands. Some of the historic houses were built using wood salvaged from the shipwrecks. The islands have some of Quebec's oldest English-speaking settlements. Although most anglophones have long either assimilated with the

francophone The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...

population or migrated elsewhere, English-speaking settlements are found at Old Harry, a hamlet in Grosse-Île, and Entry Island. To improve the safety of ships, the government constructed

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

s on the islands. They indicate navigable channels and have reduced the number of shipwrecks, but many old hulks are found on the beaches and under the waters. Until the 20th century, the islands were completely isolated during the winter since the sea ice made the trip to the mainland impassable by boat. In August 1880, the Canadian Government's

telegraphy Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...

service installed the first submarine cable that connected the islands with the mainland. On January 6, 1910, this cable connecting the village of Old Harry, Magdalen Islands, to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Nova Scotia, broke. On February 2, 1910, Magdalen Islanders, cut off from the rest of the world, threw into the sea a ponchon, that is to say, a barrel containing the original molasses, the wooden barrel, equipped with a rudder and a sheet metal sail on which they had painted the inscription ''"Winter Magdalen Mail''". In the ponchon, were placed letters in sealed tin cans. These letters are addressed to families on the continent, except one written for the person who would find the makeshift boat and another addressed to Rodolphe Lemieux, Member of Parliament for Gaspé and Postmaster General. The ponchon reached Halifax around February 14, 1910. A year later, the

Government of Canada The Government of Canada (), formally His Majesty's Government (), is the body responsible for the federation, federal administration of Canada. The term ''Government of Canada'' refers specifically to the executive, which includes Minister of t ...

responded to the Magdalen Islanders' grievances and installed a

wireless telegraphy Wireless telegraphy or radiotelegraphy is the transmission of text messages by radio waves, analogous to electrical telegraphy using electrical cable, cables. Before about 1910, the term ''wireless telegraphy'' was also used for other experimenta ...

system in the Islands.

Geography

Created in 2002, the municipality of Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine is the result of the merger of multiple municipalities within the archipelago. As part of a municipal reorganization across Quebec, the seven communities of the Magdalen Islands amalgamated to form the municipality of Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine on January 1, 2002. Grosse-Île has since regained its status as a separate municipality; the list below presents the six hamlets of Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine.

L'Étang-du-Nord

L'Étang-du-Nord is the main fishing centre of the Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine, the place received its first inhabitants around 1830 and was officially erected as a municipality in 1875. The community hosts a campus of Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles, the Magdalen Islands' only post-secondary institution.

Fatima

Located on the island of Cap-aux-Meules, Fatima was settled between 1820 and 1845. It is named after Fátima in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, a

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

site highly visited after three young shepherds claimed the Holy Virgin appeared to them. Its population, as of 2006, was 2,809.

L’Île-du-Havre-Aubert

The hamlet of L’Île-du-Havre-Aubert is made up of the island of Havre-Aubert and the island of L’ Île-d’Entrée.

Havre-aux-Maisons

Havre-aux-Maisons, located on the island of Havre aux Maisons, was first settled in 1765 from

. Îles-de-la-Madeleine Airport, Magdalen Islands' only port of entry by air, is located on Havre-aux-Maisons.

Cap-aux-Meules

Cap-aux-Meules, is the largest commercial and fishing port in the archipelago as well as maritime links to the outside world Coopérative de Transport Maritime et Aérien (CTMA),

Grande-Entrée

Grande-Entrée is located on Grande Entrée Island, the hamlet is made up of two points of land facing each other which, between their arms, form a bay where boats can enter as if in a natural harbour, hence the name Grande-Entrée.

Demography

Population

Language

960624 21 JB Havre Aubert Cafe Grave 2395 3560

The language of the Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine is made up of the language of France and

, the language of the sea and the coasts, the influences of English, the additions made, from the beginning of the 19th century by sailors and traders of

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

in the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

, and there are also the contributions of the Mi'kmaq language and

Quebec French Quebec French ( ), also known as Québécois French, is the predominant variety (linguistics), variety of the French language spoken in Canada. It is the dominant language of the province of Quebec, used in everyday communication, in education, ...

. In its maritime and island environment, Madelinian culture draws the colours of its language from multiple crucibles of identity, the sea, the dunes, the wind, the mist where the roots of Acadia, Quebec, the Jersey islands, the distant echoes of the First Nations, and others, where a unique culture mixes and knits together. Over the years and as a result of the numerous

s, the population of the municipality increases on both sides of the linguistic and religious barrier, but the proportion of Anglophones never exceed 3%.

Attractions

''La Grave heritage site'' includes buildings with a variety of functions:

general store A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...

, salt works, tinsmith's shop, fishing tackle store, fish sales counter, small

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the rural–urban fringe, out ...

s and scaffolds.

Infrastructure

Transport

Sea

The Coopérative de Transport Maritime et Aérien (Groupe C.T.M.A.) operates a ferry service between terminals in Souris, Prince Edward Island, and Cap-aux-Meules. The Société des traversiers du Québec (STQ), under an agreement with Coopérative de Transport Maritime et Aérien (Groupe C.T.M.A.), transports goods year-round. In summer the STQ offers an 8-day round-trip cruise from Port of Montreal to the Port of Cap-aux-Meules. This service has been on hold between 2020 and 2023.

Road

Quebec Route 199 is an essential link for the municipality of Îles-de-la-Madeleine. In April 2023, Geneviève Guilbault, Quebec's Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility (

Transports Québec Le Ministère des Transports et de la Mobilité Durable du Québec (), known by its short form name Transports Québec or alternatively by the acronym MTQ, is a Quebec government ministry (government department), ministry responsible for transpor ...

) announced the start of work to protect Highway 199, which will protect the road from coastal hazards and limit the consequences of coastal erosion and submersion on road network infrastructure. According to the Minister, the work demonstrates the government's willingness to innovate in the context of climate change.

Air

Îles-de-la-Madeleine Airport is located at Havre-aux-Maisons. The airport operates flights across the archipelago as well as to

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

and Gaspé and seasonally, to the French

overseas collectivity The French overseas collectivities ( abbreviated as COM) are first-order administrative divisions of France, like the French regions, but have a semi-autonomous status. The COMs include some former French overseas colonies and other French ...

of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.

Photos

File:Havre-Aubert (Ch des Fumoirs).jpg, Havre-Aubert File:Église Saint-François-Xavier de Bassin 2.jpg, Saint-François-Xavier Church in Bassin File:Pano Havre-aux-Maisons.jpg, Havre-aux-Maisons File:Phare du Borgot 3.jpg, Borgot lighthouse in L'Étang-du-Nord File:Cap-aux-Meules, Magdalen Islands, QC (30295715068).jpg, Grindstone ( Cap-aux-Meules)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Iles-De-La-Madeleine, Les Incorporated places in Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine Municipalities in Quebec Magdalen Islands