Editing Naskapi (section)

===Post-European contact===
[[File:Nascaupee Native American 1921 Frank Weston Benson.jpg|thumb|left|"Nascaupee" native American by [[Frank Weston Benson]] (1921)]]

The earliest written reference to Naskapi appears around 1643, when the Jesuit [[André Richard (jesuit)|André Richard]] referred to the "Ounackkapiouek", but little is known about the group to which Richard was referring, other than that they were one of many "small nations" situated somewhere north of [[Tadoussac]]. The word "Naskapi" appeared for the first time in 1733, at which time the group so described was said to number approximately forty families and to have an important camp at [[Ashuanipi Lake]]. At approximately the same time, in 1740, [[Joseph Isbister]], the manager of the [[Hudson's Bay Company]]'s post at Eastmain, reported being told that there were Indians, whom he called "Annes-carps" to the northeast of [[Richmond Gulf]]. In later years those Indians came to be called variously "[[Nascopie]]" and "[[Nascappe]]". Not many years later, in 1790, the Periodical Accounts of the [[Moravian Missionaries]] described a group of Indians living west of Okak as "[[Nascopies]]". The Naskapi came under the influence of Protestant missionaries, and remain Protestant to this day. In addition to their native tongue, they speak English, in contrast to their Montagnais cousins who are for the most part Roman Catholic, speaking the native language and French. The Montagnais are far more numerous than the Naskapi.

[[File:Naskapi women, wearing woolen ad deerskin clothing.jpg|thumb|Naskapi women, wearing woolen and deerskin clothing, 1908]]
The years 1831 onwards were characterized by the first regular contacts between the Naskapi and western society, when the Hudson's Bay Company established its first trading post at Old [[Fort Chimo]].

The relationship between the Naskapi and the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] was not an easy one. It was difficult for the Naskapi to integrate commercial trapping, especially of [[marten]] in Winter, into their seasonal round of subsistence activities, for the simple reason that the distribution of marten was in large measure different from the distribution of essential sources of food at that season. In consequence, the Naskapi did not prove to be the regular and diligent trappers that the traders must have hoped to find, and the traders seem to have attributed this fact to laziness or intransigence on the part of Naskapi.

In the 1945 census (in the [[Dominion of Newfoundland]]) the total Innu population in Labrador (consisting of both Montagnais and Naskapi) was 100 in Davis Inlet,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ngb.chebucto.org/C1945/45-davis-ind-lab.shtml|title=1945 Census - DAVIS INLET (Indian) - LABRADOR DISTRICT|website=ngb.chebucto.org|access-date=Jun 5, 2019}}</ref> 33 in [[Nain, Newfoundland and Labrador|Nain]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ngb.chebucto.org/C1945/45-nain-ind-lab.shtml|title=1945 Census - NAIN (Indian) - LABRADOR DISTRICT|website=ngb.chebucto.org|access-date=Jun 5, 2019}}</ref> and 137 in [[North West River]]/[[Sheshatshiu]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ngb.chebucto.org/C1945/45-nw-river-lab.shtml|title=1945 Census - NORTH WEST RIVER - LABRADOR DISTRICT|website=ngb.chebucto.org|access-date=Jun 5, 2019}}</ref> (270 in total, it has since increased to over 2,000). The previous census in 1935 only counted Innu in David Inlet. Some surnames listed in the census including Rich, Michimagaua, Mishimapu and Pokue.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ngb.chebucto.org/C1935/35-davis-inlet-lab.shtml|title=1935 CENSUS - DAVIS INLET to TUNUNGAJOAKUK - LABRADOR DISTRICT|website=ngb.chebucto.org|access-date=Jun 5, 2019}}</ref> Most Innu in Labrador did not have surnames until after confederation in 1949. None of the Innu lived in modern houses but instead camped in tents near North West River, Nain and Davis Inlet (all Inuit settlements) during the summer.

After a 1948 visit to [[Kuujjuaq|Fort Chimo]] to measure local [[American Black Duck|duck]] populations, a Canadian biologist reported that the Naskapi at that location: 
{{Blockquote
|text=...are very few in number and spend the summer at the posts on the Atlantic coast, at Fort McKenzie on the [[Kaniapiskau|Caniapiscau River]], or at Fort Chimo where that river changes its name to the Eskimo word 'Kohsoak'. The Fort Chimo band numbered only about 25 tents at the time of our visit in 1948. The men spend their time lying around the post, and the women and children pick berries on the barrens within a three-mile radius. As the vicinity of Fort Chimo is not duck nesting habitat, they do no damage to waterfowl.
<ref name="auto">{{cite book |last=Wright |first=Bruce S. |date=1954|title=High Tide and an East Wind: The Story of the Black Duck |location=Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA |publisher=The Stackpole Company |page=42 }}</ref>
|author=Bruce S. Wright|title="The Forest Duck"  |source=''High Tide and an East Wind: The Story of the Black Duck'' (1954)
}}