page_title: Cornwallis River
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Cornwallis River / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Text of the Annapolis Valley First Nation Band Council's resolution to revert the name of the river to Jijuktu'kwejk: Annapolis Valley First Nation Do Hereby Resolve: Whereas, British Governor Edward Cornwallis made known his hatred and contempt for our Mi’kmaq ancestors by deciding on October 1, 1749 to try to exterminate them by offering bounties for their scalps, a barbarous endeavour that is witnessed by the fact that the monetary reward he offered included to be paid for the scalps of women and children. And, when he reported his actions his [sic] supervisors in London he used the words “It would be better to root the Micmac out of the peninsula decisively and forever.” Further, he had three British militias in the business of harvesting Mi’kmaq scalps. Two were disbanded in 1751, because many of the scalps that they were presenting to officials to collect bounties were deemed to be of Caucasian origin. Gorham’s Rangers continued to function. Therefore, we the Chief and Councillors of the Annapolis Valley Mi’kmaq Band, finding it an insult to the dignity of our people to have a river flowing by our Indian Reserve, which was named the Cornwallis River by colonial English officials to honour Governor Edward Cornwallis, demand that the name of the river be reverted back to Jijuktu’kwejk (Narrow River), the name it carried for close to 9,000 years before the White man invaded our homeland.
context_page_description: The Cornwallis River is in Kings County, Nova Scotia, Canada. It has a meander length of approximately 48 kilometres through eastern Kings County, from its source on the North Mountain at Grafton to its mouth near Wolfville on the Minas Basin. The lower portion of the river beginning at Kentville is tidal and there are extensive tidal marshes in the lower reaches. In its upper watershed at Berwick, the river draws on the Caribou Bog while a longer branch continues to the official source, a stream on the North Mountain at Grafton.
context_section_description: The original peoples of the area, the Mi'kmaq, knew it as The Narrow River, or Chijekwtook There are also references to the Mi'kmaq calling the river Jijuktu'kwejk (pronounced, "Gee-gee-wok-tuk").
  The river was named Riviere St. Antoine by Samuel de Champlain after his arrival in the New World in the early 17th Century. Later it was called the Riviere des Habitants by the Acadians, who built a series of settlements around its mouth including the village of Grand-Pré and a smaller settlement further up the river at New Minas.  The Acadians also built extensive dykelands in the area, although there is no clear evidence that the running dykes beside the river were built by them.
  Following the Expulsion of the Acadians in 1755, the area was settled by New England Planters in 1760 who named the river after the townships established along its banks. The river became known as the Horton River. after Horton Township, the major Planter settlement at the mouth of the river, named after the ancestral home of George Montagu-Dunk, the official in charge of English settlement in Nova Scotia. However, in the 19th century, settlement and commercial growth moved upriver to the Kentville area in Cornwallis Township, named after Edward Cornwallis, first governor of Nova Scotia. As a result, the river assumed the name Cornwallis River by 1829.
  The Mi'kmaq of Annapolis Valley First Nation in Cambridge, Nova Scotia, voted unanimously in 2011 to have the name revert to what they consider to be the original, historical Mi'kmaw name for the river, the Jijuktu'kwejk. Annapolis Valley First Nations Chief Brian Toney wants the name of the Cornwallis River changed. He said band members have to cross it every day and are reminded of Gov. Edward Cornwallis. Cornwallis put a bounty on the scalps of natives, including women and children in 1749 during the frontier warfare that followed the founding of Halifax. The proposal has led to a debate about renaming and the portrayal of history.
caption: AVFN Band Council Resolution, May 3, 2011, regarding reverting river name to Jijuktu'kwejk
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