Chic-Chocs

The Chic-Chocs are a range of steep, forested mountains running across the Gaspé Peninsula, where the Appalachians meet the Gulf of St Lawrence. Mi'kmaq families hunted, fished and gathered here, moving between the coast and the interior rivers through the seasons. In 1534 Jacques Cartier sailed along this coast and entered Gaspé Bay, where he met local Mi'kmaq and claimed the land for France. Fishing crews and fur traders followed in later decades, but the mountain country stayed thinly settled, its villages clustered at river mouths and sheltered bays.