Saint-Paul River
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Saint-Paul River Rivière Saint-Paul | |
|---|---|
  | |
 | |
| Native name | Aiahtshimeu Hipu (Innu) |
| Location | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Quebec |
| Region | Côte-Nord |
| RCM | Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Mouth | Gulf of Saint Lawrence |
• coordinates | 51°28′10″N 57°42′05″W / 51.4694444°N 57.7013889°W |
• elevation | 0 metres (0 ft) |
| Length | 246 km (153 mi) |
| Basin size | 7,158 km2 (2,764 sq mi) |
The Saint-Paul River (French: Rivière Saint-Paul, pronounced [ʁivjɛʁ sɛ̃ pɔl]) is a river on the Labrador Peninsula of eastern Canada. Its source is located in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador and it empties into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec. The Saint-Paul River is a salmon river that flows in a southerly direction.
The river rises on the height of land between the Atlantic and Saint Lawrence. The main channel is about 246 kilometres (153 mi), of which about 146 kilometres (91 mi) is in Labrador. The river has a Strahler number of 7.[1] It flows in a southerly direction, and empties into Esquimaux Bay in the Vieux Fort archipelago, about 35 kilometres (22 mi) west of the municipality of Blanc-Sablon. The last fifteen kilometers of its course define the boundary between the cantons of Chevalier and Bonne-Esperance.[2] The mouth of the river is in the municipality of Bonne-Espérance in Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent Regional County Municipality.[3] The village of Rivière-Saint-Paul is located on the west side of its mouth.[2]
Name
The Inuit who once lived at the river mouth called the river the Quitzezaqui River, meaning "Great River". The Naskapi call it Aisimeu Shipu, meaning "Eskimo River", while the Innu use Aiahtshimeu Hipu, also meaning "Eskimo River". Louis Jolliet arrived at the river on 7 July 1694, and called it Rivière des Esquimaux. It was also called Grande Rivière.[2]
In March 1706 Jean-Amador Godefroy de Saint-Paul (1649-1730) was granted a trading concession at the river mouth. This post and a village that grew around it came to be called Village Saint-Paul. The community name Rivière-Saint-Paul was adapted officially in 1956.[4]
Basin
The river basin covers 7,158 square kilometres (2,764 sq mi). It lies between the basins of the Napetipi River to the west and the Belles Amours River to the east.[5] About 69.5% of the basin is in Labrador, north of the provincial boundary.[1] The Quebec portion is partly in the unorganized territory of Petit-Mécatina and partly in the municipality of Bonne-Espérance.[6] The river basin include part of the proposed Basses Collines du Lac Guernesé Biodiversity Reserve.[7] A map of the ecological regions of Quebec shows the river in sub-regions 6o-T, 6n-T and 6m-S of the east spruce/moss subdomain.[8]
Basque presence
Between July and August 2019 a team of underwater archaeologists discovered and examined four fishing sites on the Saint-Paul River that dated to the 16th century. The camps were full of objects such as cauldrons, ceramics, roofing tiles and ships nails that the Inuit probably bought from Basques. This showed that the Inuit were settled rather than nomadic, and also that the Basques had closer ties with the local people than had been thought. The objects were found in the river and on the shore.[9]
