Editing Edmundston (section)

==History==
{{See also|History of New Brunswick|List of historic places in Madawaska County, New Brunswick}}
[[Image:Edmund Walker Head.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=Sir Edmund Walker Head.|[[Edmund Walker Head|Sir Edmund Walker Head]], on behalf of whom the city of Edmundston was named]]
During the early colonial period, the area was a camping and meeting place of the [[Maliseet people|Maliseet]] (Wolastoqiyik) Nation during seasonal migrations. From the mid to late eighteenth century, one of the largest Maliseet villages had been established at Madawaska and had become a refuge site for other Wabanaki peoples. The Maliseet village was originally located near the falls at the confluence of the Madawaska and Saint John Rivers. Currently, the City of Edmundston surrounds a federal Indian Reserve (St. Basile 10/Madawaska Maliseet First Nation). Originally named ''Petit-Sault'' (Little Falls) in reference to the waterfalls located where the [[Madawaska River (Saint John River)|Madawaska River]] merges into the [[Saint John River (Bay of Fundy)|Saint John River]], the settlement was renamed ''Edmundston'' in 1851 after Sir [[Edmund Walker Head]], who was Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick from 1848 to 1854 and Governor-General of Canada from 1854 to 1861.<ref>Denis Michaud, "La ville de Sir Edmund: l'histoire d'un nom et d'un personnage politique", ''Onomastica Canadiana'', vol 85, no 1, June 2003.</ref> Originally a small [[logging]] settlement, Edmundston's growth is mostly attributed to the city's strategic location.

===Aroostook War and the "Republic of Madawaska"===
[[File:Edmunston_1872.png|thumb|left|alt=Edmundston in 1872.|Edmundston in 1872]]
The area was at the centre of the [[Aroostook War]] of 1839,{{r|joneshoward1975}} a skirmish over boundary lines between the [[United States|U.S.A.]] and what was then [[British North America]]. Originally confined to a disagreement between the State of [[Maine]] and the Colony of [[New Brunswick]], the dispute eventually spread to involve the Government of the United States in [[Washington, D.C.]] and the British Colonial Administration in [[Quebec City]], seat of the Governor General of Canada, who had supreme authority over all of British North America, including New Brunswick. In the wake of this international conflict, a small [[fortification]] (Fortin du Petit-Sault) was built in anticipation of a possible attack by Americans,<ref name="joneshoward1975">Jones. Howard "Anglophobia and the Aroostook War," New England Quarterly, Vol. 48, No. 4 (Dec., 1975)</ref> to complement the much larger fortification located at Fort Ingall (now [[Cabano]]) in nearby Canada (now [[Quebec]]). One of the central figures at the origin of the conflict was American-born industrialist "Colonel" John Baker, who had established sawmills and other lumber-related industries on the eastern shores of the Saint John river, an area claimed by the British that Baker wanted to be declared part of Maine as he was a fiercely nationalist American.

When the terms of the treaty that was signed following the conflict left Baker's properties firmly planted on British soil, and with the lack of support from the US Government to oppose the decision, Baker was facing the dilemma of either moving his facilities across the river on the American side, or to accept British sovereignty. Unwilling to do either, he declared the area an independent state called the "Republic of Madawaska," declaring himself head of state with the overwhelming support of the local, mostly French-speaking but independent-minded population. The "Republic" was never recognized and never had legal existence, but nevertheless the concept has remained so popular with the francophone [[Brayon]] residents on both the Canadian and American sides of the border that they refer to the region as the [[Republic of Madawaska]] to this day, and each mayor of Edmundston still receives the title of "President of the Republic of Madawaska." Baker's wife, Sophie Rice, designed the Republic's "eagle" flag that is still in use and a common sight in the area.

===Amalgamation===
In 1998, Edmundston, [[Saint-Basile, New Brunswick|Saint-Basile]], [[Saint-Jacques, New Brunswick|Saint-Jacques]] and [[Verret, New Brunswick|Verret]] merged to form the City of Edmundston.{{cn|date=January 2023}} In 2023 Edmundston expanded again to include [[Rivière-Verte, New Brunswick|Rivière-Verte]] and parts of adjacent local service districts.<ref name="GovRefMapRSC1" />