or Mi'kmaq
North American Indian people living in Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, Can.
; and in Aroostook, Maine, and near Boston, Mass., U.S. The Micmac comprise the largest of the Indian tribes of Canada's eastern Maritime Provinces. Early chronicles describe them as fierce and warlike, but they were among the first Indians to accept Jesuit teachings and intermarry with the settlers of New France. The Micmac formed a confederacy of several clan s. In winter they hunted caribou, moose, and small game; in summer they fished, gathered shellfish, and hunted seals. They were expert canoeists. In the 17th–18th centuries they were allies of the French against the English. Estimates of the current population vary. The total population of Micmac in the U.S. and Canada is probably about 20,000.