Kujjuaq

Kuujjuaq lies on the Koksoak River, upstream from Ungava Bay. Inuit ancestors of the Kuujjuamiut travelled and used this country long before a permanent trading post appeared. The broad river joins inland waters to the bay, bringing together a coast of fishing and sea hunting with the caribou country farther south.

In 1830 Nicol Finlayson established a Hudson's Bay Company post on the eastern bank of the Koksoak. Known as Fort Chimo, it drew Inuit from the coast and Innu and Naskapi from the interior to trade. By 1833 its buildings formed a defensive square, where caribou skins and the pelts of white fox and marten were among the goods exchanged. The post became a new meeting place on an older northern route.