Aboriginal Micmac Population: A Review of the Evidence

Abstract

Twentieth century anthropologists have almost uniformly estimated the aboriginal population of the Micmac Indians of Eastern Canada at about 3,500. Evidence on population taken from the earliest historical accounts of the seventeenth century shows that this figure is unrealistically low and results from accepting as aboriginal an estimate of Micmac population made in 1616, when a significant decline in Micmac numbers had already taken place. This decline was the result of endemic diseases brought on by dietary changes following sixteenth century contact and trade with Europeans. The paper concludes that aboriginal Micmac population probably exceeded 35,000. Anthropologists who have studied the Micmac Indians of the Maritime Provinces of Eastern Canada in the twentieth century have almost uniformly estimated the Micmacs' aboriginal population at a maximum of 3,500 Indians. The source of these estimates is most likely James Mooney's 1928 paper on aboriginal North American populations. There Mooney cited a figure of 3,500 for the Micmac in the year A. D. 1600, basing his estimate on the Jesuit priest Pierre Biard's figure set down in 1616. Thus, Diamond