Longue-Pointe-de-Mingan is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the

Côte-Nord Côte-Nord (, ; ; land area ) is the second-largest administrative region by land area in Quebec, Canada, after Nord-du-Québec. It covers much of the northern shore of the Saint Lawrence River estuary and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence past Tadous ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

of the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The descriptive name Longue-Pointe (French for "Long Point") refers to a long spit of sand west of the village that has had various names through the centuries: first called Longue Pointe on a map of 1735, followed by the English form of Long Point in the late 17th and early 18th century, then Mingan Point on the map of Captain Carver (1776).

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

and Placide Vigneau called it Pointe de Mingan (1784) and Longue-Pointe-de-Mingan (1857) respectively.

History

Around 1880, the first settlers arrived, mostly from

Paspébiac Paspébiac is a city on Baie des Chaleurs in the Gaspésie region of eastern Quebec, Canada. The population was 3,033 as of the Canada 2021 Census. The town is noted for the ''Banc de Pêche de Paspébiac'', a large sandbar jutting out into the b ...

, themselves descendants of Acadians. In 1885, the post office opened. The municipality was officially created in 1966 as Longue-Pointe, but renamed to Longue-Pointe-de-Mingan on April 5, 1997.

Demographics

Population

Language

Tourism

In the region, there is a statue of a Giant

Puffin Puffins are any of three species of small alcids (auks) in the bird genus ''Fratercula''. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crev ...

. It is a tribute to the seabirds that live in colonies around the town's shores. On July 5, 2010, Canada Post made a commemorative stamp of the giant Atlantic Puffin as part of its Roadside Attractions collection. The town is also the location of the Mingan Island Cetacean Study (MICS), a research station that studies marine animals. MICS gives tourists the opportunity to support the organization by allowing visitors to ride on a boat with the research team. While on this boat, visitors can expect to come within meters of whales and other marine animals.

References