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Administratively, they make up the Īles-de-la-Madeleine county regional municipality.
Jacques Cartier was the first European to visit the islands, in 1534.In 1755, the islands were inhabited by French-speaking Acadians. When the British expelled the Acadians from the rest of what is now the Maritime Provinces of Canada, they did not come as far as the Magdalen Islands. To this day, many inhabitants of the Magdalen Islands (Madelinots) fly the Acadian flag and think of themselves as distinct from the Quebecois.
Another segment of the population comes from survivors of the over 400 shipwreckA shipwreck is the remains of a ship after it has sunk or been beached as a result of a crisis at sea. Causes Ships are lost for many reasons, including: failure of the ship's equipment instability navigation errors bad weather warfare and piracy Equipmens on the islands. The islands are the location of some of Quebec's oldest EnglishEngland is the largest, the most populous, and the most densely populated of the four " Home Nations" which make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK). Occupying the south-eastern portion of the island of Great Britain, England settlements, and although the majority of anglophones have since been assimilated with the francophone population or migrated elsewhere, there are still English settlements, many located on Entry Island.
LighthouseAn aid for navigation and pilotage at sea, a lighthouse is a tower building or framework sending out light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire. More primitive navigational aids were once used such as a fire on top of a hill os were eventually set up, and this reduced the number of shipwrecks, but there are still many old hulks on the beaches and under the waters.The archipelago now supports a population of 13,991 (1991) whose main occupations include fishingFishing is both the recreation and sport of catching fish (for food or as a trophy), and the commercial fishing industry of catching or harvesting seafood (either fish or other aquatic life-forms, such as shellfish). Fishing is done in a river, canal, lak and sealing.
Until the 20th century, the islands were completely isolated during the winter, since the pack ice made the trip to the mainland impassable by boat. The inhabitants of the island could not even communicate with the mainland. In the winter of 1910, they sent an urgent request for help to the mainland by writing many letters and sealing them up inside a molasses barrel (or puncheon), which they set adrift. When this reached the shore, on Cape Breton Island, the government sent out an icebreaker to bring aid. Within a few years, the Magdalens got one of the new wireless telegraph stations so that the inhabitants could at least have some communication in the winter. The puncheon is now famous, and every tourist shop sells replicas.