Before the Acadian Arrival
Highest Tides, Fertile Environment, and the Mi’kmaq
The Highest Tides in the World
Following the retreat of the glaciers after the last Ice Age about 14 000 years ago, sea levels around the planet rose. Rivers draining from the newly deglaciated land began to wash away sediment. In Eastern Canada, these sediments came to line the bottom of the Bay of Fundy. At this time, the Minas Basin was a shallow freshwater or brackish lake, and Georges and Browns Banks at the entrance to the Bay of Fundy were dry land. As sea levels continued to rise, and Georges Bank became submerged, more sea water entered the Bay. By 4000 years ago, the tidal range in the Minas Basin was only about 1 to 1.5 metres (3.2–4.9 feet), but this range has steadily increased over time to an average of 12 metres (39 feet) in the Minas Basin, 11.61 metres (38 feet) at Grand Pré and a maximum in excess of 16 metres (52.5 feet) – the highest recorded tides in the world.
The greatest ranges and the greatest extent of an intertidal zone occur today in the Minas Basin. As part of the tidal cycle – two high tides and two low tides daily–100 billion tonnes of sea water flow in and out of the Minas Basin twice each day. That is more water than the combined daily flow of all the world’s rivers.
Following the retreat of the glaciers after the last Ice Age about 14 000 years ago, sea levels around the planet rose. Rivers draining from the newly deglaciated land began to wash away sediment. In Eastern Canada, these sediments came to line the bottom of the Bay of Fundy. At this time, the Minas Basin was a shallow freshwater or brackish lake, and Georges and Browns Banks at the entrance to the Bay of Fundy were dry land. As sea levels continued to rise, and Georges Bank became submerged, more sea water entered the Bay. By 4000 years ago, the tidal range in the Minas Basin was only about 1 to 1.5 metres (3.2–4.9 feet), but this range has steadily increased over time to an average of 12 metres (39 feet) in the Minas Basin, 11.61 metres (38 feet) at Grand Pré and a maximum in excess of 16 metres (52.5 feet) – the highest recorded tides in the world.
The greatest ranges and the greatest extent of an intertidal zone occur today in the Minas Basin. As part of the tidal cycle – two high tides and two low tides daily–100 billion tonnes of sea water flow in and out of the Minas Basin twice each day. That is more water than the combined daily flow of all the world’s rivers.
A Natural Fertility
By any measure, the Bay of Fundy is an extraordinary, complex and highly productive ecosystem. All coastal waters and estuaries tend to be biologically rich because they are adjacent to land that provides a steady supply of nutrients, are generally shallow so that light and nutrients are available to support plant growth, and provide a diverse array of habitats for different species. In the Bay of Fundy, these natural attributes are enhanced by the dramatic tides. Tides create major upwelling areas at the mouth of the Bay in which cold, nutrient-rich water is brought to the surface where light is available to support growth of phytoplankton. This is the foundation for a highly productive food chain that sustains vast numbers of animals from plankton to whales. This is also one of the major reasons that numerous species of fish, birds and mammals migrate to the Bay of Fundy to feed each year.
At the head of the Bay, in the Minas Basin, the larger tides drive a totally different ecosystem, one in which the waters are cloudy because of silts and clays kept in suspension by the tides. There is little biological production in the water, but at the same time large areas of intertidal zone are exposed where phytoplankton and salt marshes flourish. Sustained both by the constant provision of sediment and by the continuous supply of nutrients brought in on the rising tide, salt marshes are more extensive in the Minas Basin, allowing the marsh to grow as sea level rises. As a result, the Fundy marshes are naturally among the richest in the Northern Hemisphere. Together, the marshes and mudflats provide a major feeding ground that attracts millions of fish and birds.
For much of the 4000 years that the Minas Basin has been tidal, salt marshes have been present, building up continuously to keep pace with sea level rise. This vertical increase results from the trapping of sediments, together with absorbed nutrients, by salt marsh plants as the tide rises twice each day. Thus a Fundy salt marsh represents thousands of years of biological production: the plant roots, sediments and nutrients have been stored in the marsh over a geological timespan, producing an accumulation of fertile soil. With the coming of the Acadians, and the dyking of some of these marshes, that fertility became available for agriculture. Indeed, topsoil is on average four and a half metres deep. Although the low permeability of the sediment makes it difficult for salt to be washed out of the soil, farmers were still able to grow shallow-rooted crops. Prior to the Acadian settlement, human use of the Bay of Fundy was mainly through the capture of animal life – shellfish, fish, birds and mammals.
In the period just before the first Acadians came to settle at Grand Pré, the lower-lying parts of what is today the Grand Pré dykelands were covered twice a day by sea water. The higher areas were covered less frequently, just during extreme high tides. When the tide fell, it revealed an extensive salt marsh, consisting of over 1000 hectares of marsh grasses and tidal drainage creeks. This luxuriant marsh was home to a wide range of marine and estuarine life.
By any measure, the Bay of Fundy is an extraordinary, complex and highly productive ecosystem. All coastal waters and estuaries tend to be biologically rich because they are adjacent to land that provides a steady supply of nutrients, are generally shallow so that light and nutrients are available to support plant growth, and provide a diverse array of habitats for different species. In the Bay of Fundy, these natural attributes are enhanced by the dramatic tides. Tides create major upwelling areas at the mouth of the Bay in which cold, nutrient-rich water is brought to the surface where light is available to support growth of phytoplankton. This is the foundation for a highly productive food chain that sustains vast numbers of animals from plankton to whales. This is also one of the major reasons that numerous species of fish, birds and mammals migrate to the Bay of Fundy to feed each year.
At the head of the Bay, in the Minas Basin, the larger tides drive a totally different ecosystem, one in which the waters are cloudy because of silts and clays kept in suspension by the tides. There is little biological production in the water, but at the same time large areas of intertidal zone are exposed where phytoplankton and salt marshes flourish. Sustained both by the constant provision of sediment and by the continuous supply of nutrients brought in on the rising tide, salt marshes are more extensive in the Minas Basin, allowing the marsh to grow as sea level rises. As a result, the Fundy marshes are naturally among the richest in the Northern Hemisphere. Together, the marshes and mudflats provide a major feeding ground that attracts millions of fish and birds.
For much of the 4000 years that the Minas Basin has been tidal, salt marshes have been present, building up continuously to keep pace with sea level rise. This vertical increase results from the trapping of sediments, together with absorbed nutrients, by salt marsh plants as the tide rises twice each day. Thus a Fundy salt marsh represents thousands of years of biological production: the plant roots, sediments and nutrients have been stored in the marsh over a geological timespan, producing an accumulation of fertile soil. With the coming of the Acadians, and the dyking of some of these marshes, that fertility became available for agriculture. Indeed, topsoil is on average four and a half metres deep. Although the low permeability of the sediment makes it difficult for salt to be washed out of the soil, farmers were still able to grow shallow-rooted crops. Prior to the Acadian settlement, human use of the Bay of Fundy was mainly through the capture of animal life – shellfish, fish, birds and mammals.
In the period just before the first Acadians came to settle at Grand Pré, the lower-lying parts of what is today the Grand Pré dykelands were covered twice a day by sea water. The higher areas were covered less frequently, just during extreme high tides. When the tide fell, it revealed an extensive salt marsh, consisting of over 1000 hectares of marsh grasses and tidal drainage creeks. This luxuriant marsh was home to a wide range of marine and estuarine life.
The First People, the Mi'kmaq
For thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans in northeastern North America, the Mi’kmaq, the indigenous people of Nova Scotia, lived, hunted, and fished throughout parts of the maritime provinces and Gaspé peninsula in Québec, in a region that came to be known collectively as Mi’kma’ki. The particular district in which the shores of the Minas Basin and Grand Pré are located was called Sipekni’katik, the name by which today’s Mi’kmaq still know it.
Their presence in the broader landscape is confirmed from traditional, archaeological, and ethnographic sources. The archaeo-logical discovery in 2009 of a 4000 year old stone gouge at Horton Landing provides the earliest date of use of the area by the ancestors of the Mi’kmaq. The Minas Basin figures prominently in the history, legends, and spirituality of the Mi’kmaq, especially Cape Blomidon, which has been for centuries the dominant feature on the landscape in the overall Grand Pré area. This is the setting for the stories of Glooscap – the most important Mi’kmaq hero – including Glooscap and the Whale, Glooscap’s battle with the Beaver, and Glooscap and Lazy Rabbit. These stories and more confirm the importance of the Minas Basin and the lands surrounding it for the Mi’kmaq.
Archaeological and ethnographic evidence shows that the Mi’kmaq had settlements in the area, particularly on nearby Oak Island (see Map 2 for location), at Melanson along the Gaspereau River, and at Horton Landing, confirming their presence in the area over several thousand years. Among the many important Mi’kmaq sites in the Grand Pré area is a burial ground on Oak Island. The Minas Basin falls within range of a regional trading network that brought chert mineral, a stone similar to flint and used to make tools, and traded stones and products from the sea.
The Mi’kmaq typically harvested a wide range of resources in estuarine environments like the one that existed at Grand Pré: water-fowl, fish, shellfish, sea mammals, and medicinal plants. It is almost certain that the Mi’kmaq took the resources they needed from the area on a seasonal basis, such as when certain fish species were abundant in adjacent waters and when the huge flocks of migratory birds came to the area to rest and fatten up.
For thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans in northeastern North America, the Mi’kmaq, the indigenous people of Nova Scotia, lived, hunted, and fished throughout parts of the maritime provinces and Gaspé peninsula in Québec, in a region that came to be known collectively as Mi’kma’ki. The particular district in which the shores of the Minas Basin and Grand Pré are located was called Sipekni’katik, the name by which today’s Mi’kmaq still know it.
Their presence in the broader landscape is confirmed from traditional, archaeological, and ethnographic sources. The archaeo-logical discovery in 2009 of a 4000 year old stone gouge at Horton Landing provides the earliest date of use of the area by the ancestors of the Mi’kmaq. The Minas Basin figures prominently in the history, legends, and spirituality of the Mi’kmaq, especially Cape Blomidon, which has been for centuries the dominant feature on the landscape in the overall Grand Pré area. This is the setting for the stories of Glooscap – the most important Mi’kmaq hero – including Glooscap and the Whale, Glooscap’s battle with the Beaver, and Glooscap and Lazy Rabbit. These stories and more confirm the importance of the Minas Basin and the lands surrounding it for the Mi’kmaq.
Archaeological and ethnographic evidence shows that the Mi’kmaq had settlements in the area, particularly on nearby Oak Island (see Map 2 for location), at Melanson along the Gaspereau River, and at Horton Landing, confirming their presence in the area over several thousand years. Among the many important Mi’kmaq sites in the Grand Pré area is a burial ground on Oak Island. The Minas Basin falls within range of a regional trading network that brought chert mineral, a stone similar to flint and used to make tools, and traded stones and products from the sea.
The Mi’kmaq typically harvested a wide range of resources in estuarine environments like the one that existed at Grand Pré: water-fowl, fish, shellfish, sea mammals, and medicinal plants. It is almost certain that the Mi’kmaq took the resources they needed from the area on a seasonal basis, such as when certain fish species were abundant in adjacent waters and when the huge flocks of migratory birds came to the area to rest and fatten up.
