page_title: Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec
section_title: Amherst
hierarchical_section_title: Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec / Communities / Amherst
caption_attribution_description: Maison construite par Gaston Gaudet avec le bois restant des ruines des Fumoirs abandonnés. Chemin des Fumoirs, Havre-aubert, Îles-de-la-Madeleine]]
context_page_description: Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine is one of two municipalities forming the urban agglomeration of Magdalen Islands in Quebec, Canada. It is part of the Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine region and its population was 12,010 as of the 2016 Census.
  As part of a municipal reorganization across Quebec, the seven communities of the Magdalen Islands amalgamated to form the municipality of Magdalen Islands on January 1, 2002. However, after a referendum in 2004 the community of Grosse-Île decided to split from the municipality, effective January 1, 2006. Although Grindstone likewise voted to split in the same referendum, it did not actually do so.
context_section_description: Amherst is composed of three distinct hamlets, Havre-Aubert and Bassin (both on Amherst Island, Île du Havre Aubert in French) and L'Île-d'Entrée, on Entry Island (Île d'Entrée in French). Population as of 2006, 2,238.
  Amherst Island's first settlers arrived in 1762 from Acadia, Prince Edward Island and the Chaleur Bay. A municipality, Havre-Aubert, was constituted in 1875 and changed its name to Bassin in 1959. Another municipality, Havre-Aubert-Est, was constituted in 1951 and changed its name to Havre-Aubert in 1964. Both amalgamated in 1971 and took the name of L'Île-du-Havre-Aubert. The island is a member of the Most Beautiful Villages of Quebec.
  Historians do not agree on the origin of the name "Havre-Aubert." Some suggested the name of an obscure friend of Jacques Cartier, while others brought up Thomas Aubert, a sailor from Dieppe and one of the Americas' first explorers, or François Aubert de La Chesnaye, who would have supported the colonization efforts of New France, as likely explications. Some have mentioned a family of sailors named "Auber" and other hypotheses include French explorer Jean-François Roberval, who would have stayed on the island in 1542, to name it "Havre au Ber," "ber" meaning in this case "berceau" (cradle in English, while "havre" is French for harbour). Roberval's child was still a baby at the time. However "ber" is also a marine term designating the wood structure on which a boat lies during construction or reparation. Meanwhile, an anonymous British map of the area in 1756 named it Harbour Ober and the post office, opened in 1899, bore the name "Amherst Island" until 1907.
  In 2000, a new municipality named L'Île-du-Havre-Aubert was constituted following the amalgamation of L'Île-du-Havre-Aubert and the village of L'Île-d'Entrée. Entry Island is the only inhabited island part of the Magdalen Islands unconnected to the rest of the archipelago by land. It is located five kilometres east of Amherst Island and it is one of the three English-speaking centres of the archipelago. It saw its first inhabitants in the early 19th century: Scottish people from Grosse-Île and Nova Scotia settlers.
  Entry Island owes its name to the fact that it is located at the southeast entrance of the archipelago. A ferry service exists between Entry Island and the village of Grindstone.
caption: Havre-Aubert.
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