Eastmain, Quebec
Encyclopedia
Eastmain is a Cree
Cree
The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...

 community located on James Bay
James Bay
James Bay is a large body of water on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean. James Bay borders the provinces of Quebec and Ontario; islands within the bay are part of Nunavut...

 at the mouth of the Eastmain River
Eastmain River
The Eastmain River is a river in northwestern Quebec which rises in north central Quebec and flows 800 km west to drain into James Bay. 'East Main' is an old name for the east side of James Bay. This river drains an area of 46,400 km²...

, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It is the smallest of the coastal Cree villages with a population of 606 people (2001 Canada census). Its alternate Cree name is "Wapanoutauw", meaning Lands east of James Bay.

Like the other coastal villages on Hudson and James Bay, Eastmain also started out as a Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

 trading post, originally called East Main House.

Eastmain is accessible by air (Eastmain River Airport
Eastmain River Airport
Eastmain River Airport, , is located southwest of Eastmain, Quebec, Canada.-External links:* on COPA's Places to Fly airport directory...

) and by car over a gravel road linking it to the James Bay Road.

The Eastmain community was greatly affected by the James Bay Hydroelectric Project, which saw 90% of the Eastmain River diverted to the La Grande River in 1980.

External links

  • http://www.eastmain.ca/
  • http://www.ottertooth.com/Native_K/eastmain.htm
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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