Matapédia

Matapédia takes its name from a Mi'kmaq word for the meeting of rivers, where the Matapédia joins the Restigouche. The valley was a route through the Gaspé interior: Mi'kmaq travellers could ascend the river and cross a short portage toward the St. Lawrence. Downstream, the Restigouche sheltered Mi'kmaq families and Acadian refugees during the Seven Years' War. In 1760 a French relief flotilla sought refuge there, only to be defeated by British ships in the river's estuary.