Quaqtaq, Quebec
Encyclopedia
Quaqtaq is an Inuit
village in Nunavik
, northern Quebec
, Canada. The village is one of the northernmost inhabited places in Quebec, located on the eastern shore of Diana Bay (Tuvaaluk in the Inuktitut
language), on a peninsula which protrudes into the Hudson Strait
where it meets Ungava Bay
.
The name Quaqtaq signifies tapeworm. According to local folklore
, the name derives from a man who once came to the area to hunt beluga and found live parasites in his faeces. His hunting companions began to call the place Quaqtaq.
Inaccessible by road, Quaqtaq is served by a small airport
.
, the ancestors of today's Inuit, arrived around 1400 or 1500 AD.
In 1947, a Roman Catholic mission opened in Quaqtaq. The present-day settlement was established after a trading post first established in 1927 at Iggiajaaq, a few kilometres south-west, was finally closed in 1950. After a measles
epidemic
killed 11 adults in 1952, the Canadian government began delivering basic services to the community. A nursing station was built in 1963. In the 1960s, the Quebec government opened a store and a post office equipped with a radio-telephone. In 1974, the store became a co-operative and, in 1978, Quaqtaq was legally established as a Northern village.
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
village in Nunavik
Nunavik
Nunavik comprises the northern third of the province of Quebec, Canada. Covering a land area of 443,684.71 km² north of the 55th parallel, it is the homeland of the Inuit of Quebec...
, northern 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. The village is one of the northernmost inhabited places in Quebec, located on the eastern shore of Diana Bay (Tuvaaluk in the Inuktitut
Inuktitut
Inuktitut or Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, Eastern Canadian Inuit language is the name of some of the Inuit languages spoken in Canada...
language), on a peninsula which protrudes into the Hudson Strait
Hudson Strait
Hudson Strait links the Atlantic Ocean to Hudson Bay in Canada. It lies between Baffin Island and the northern coast of Quebec, its eastern entrance marked by Cape Chidley and Resolution Island. It is long...
where it meets Ungava Bay
Ungava Bay
Ungava Bay is a large bay in northeastern Canada separating Nunavik from Baffin Island. The bay is shaped like a rounded square with a side length of about and has an area of approximately...
.
The name Quaqtaq signifies tapeworm. According to local folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
, the name derives from a man who once came to the area to hunt beluga and found live parasites in his faeces. His hunting companions began to call the place Quaqtaq.
Inaccessible by road, Quaqtaq is served by a small airport
Quaqtaq Airport
Quaqtaq Airport, , is located near Quaqtaq, Quebec, Canada. Due to the landfill northeast of the runway birds and dogs may be encountered.-Airlines and destinations:*Air Inuit...
.
History
Archaeological evidence indicates that people have occupied the area around Quaqtaq for about 3500 years. Thule peopleThule people
The Thule or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Inuit. They developed in coastal Alaska by AD 1000 and expanded eastwards across Canada, reaching Greenland by the 13th century. In the process, they replaced people of the earlier Dorset culture that had previously inhabited the region...
, the ancestors of today's Inuit, arrived around 1400 or 1500 AD.
In 1947, a Roman Catholic mission opened in Quaqtaq. The present-day settlement was established after a trading post first established in 1927 at Iggiajaaq, a few kilometres south-west, was finally closed in 1950. After a measles
Measles
Measles, also known as rubeola or morbilli, is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses...
epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
killed 11 adults in 1952, the Canadian government began delivering basic services to the community. A nursing station was built in 1963. In the 1960s, the Quebec government opened a store and a post office equipped with a radio-telephone. In 1974, the store became a co-operative and, in 1978, Quaqtaq was legally established as a Northern village.