Pimachiowin Aki

World Heritages in Canada Part I

Northern America

Grand Pré cultural landscape (World Heritage)

The marshland on the Nova Scotia peninsula, inhabited by the Acadians, French settlers, until they were expelled by the British in 1755, has old settlement remains and dykes.

Grand Pré cultural landscape: facts

Official title: Grand Pré cultural landscape
Cultural monument: 13 km² area in the Canadian Nova Scotia with marshland and archaeological sites of the cities of Grand Pré and Hortonville; Characterized by the agricultural polder techniques used to this day for the extraction of arable land by the French settlers (Arcadians) in the 17th century; close relationship between the Arcadians and the local Mikmaq Indians; Buildings and monuments to commemorate the fate of the Arcadians and their deportation by the English; with twelve meters of tide area with one of the largest tidal differences in the world
Continent: America
Country: Canada
Location: Grand Pré, Nova Scotia, Northeast Canada
Appointment: 2012
Meaning: Outstanding evidence of land reclamation for agricultural use through traditional techniques in the 17th century; exceptional example of the utilization of the North Atlantic coast by the first European settlers; Memory of the culture and the fate of the French settlers in the 17th century.

Red Bay (World Heritage)

In the 16th century the village was founded by Basque sailors to hunt whales from there. The main reason for the hunt for whales was to extract oil that was sold to Europe. Red Bay thus represents the earliest and probably best-preserved evidence of European whaling. The historic whaling station shows the remains of the equipment used to produce the oil, living quarters, a cemetery, berths and a sunken whaling ship.

Red Bay: facts

Official title: Red Bay – Historic center of Basque whaling
Cultural monument: Station set up by Basque sailors for whaling in 1530 on the Belle Isle Strait on the north-east coast of Canada; Hunting bowhead and right whales to produce oil for the European market; Complex with temporarily used houses, cemetery, moorings and sunken whaling ship; Whaling was abandoned at the beginning of the 17th century, probably due to depleted stocks
Continent: North and Central America
Country: Canada, see  zipcodesexplorer
Location: Red Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northeast Canada
Appointment: 2013
Meaning: Earliest and best preserved evidence of the European whaling tradition

Mistaken Point Protected Area (World Heritage)

The sanctuary on the Avalon Peninsula in the southeast of the Canadian island of Newfoundland consists of a narrow, approximately 17-kilometer-long coastal strip. The rugged cliff with its impressive rocky cliffs was formed in the Ediacarium about 560-580 million years ago, when the land mass from the seabed was still pushing up.

Mistaken Point is one of the most important localities for Ediacaran fossils, the oldest known macrofossils. These were soft-bodied, mostly conspicuously flattened multicellular animals that only appeared in this geological age. They were the first large and biologically complex organisms after three billion years of evolution, in which microorganisms had dominated until then. These fossils thus illustrate a crucial milestone in the history of life on our planet.

Mistaken Point Conservation Area: Facts

Official title: Mistaken Point Conservation Area
Natural monument: Protected area on Newfoundland with important fossil finds from the Ediacarian period around 560-580 million years ago
Continent: America
Country: Canada
Location: Avalon Peninsula in the southeast of the Canadian island of Newfoundland
Appointment: 2016
Meaning: Fossils as evidence of an important stage in the history of life on earth

Pimachiowin Aki (World Heritage)

Pimachiowin Aki (World Heritage)

Pimachiowin Aki (“the land that gives life”) is a forest landscape crossed by rivers, lakes and marshland, which extends west of Lake Winnipeg over parts of the Canadian province of Ontario. The almost 30,000 square kilometer protected area belongs to the ancestral area of ​​the Anishinabe (Ojibwa), an indigenous people of fishermen, hunters and gatherers.

Living with and in nature: For thousands of years these communities have lived in a respectful way of dealing with the land and everything that is living. The tradition of Ji-ganawendamang Gidakiiminaan (“guarding the land”), which has remained alive for generations, is shown by a complex network of surfaces for subsistence farming, living areas, streets, ceremonial sites and holy places, which are connected by waterways.

Pimachiowin Aki: facts

Official title: Pimachiowin Aki
Natural and cultural monument: boreal ecosystem including elk, wolverine, wolf, leopard frog, Canada warbler, loons and sturgeon
Continent: America
Country: Canada
Location: in the border area of ​​the provinces of Ontario and Manitoba, on the upper reaches of the Berens, Bloodvein, Pigeon and Poplar rivers
Appointment: 2018
Meaning: outstanding example of the cultural tradition of the so-called Ji-ganawendamang Gidakiiminaan, a unique expression of the coexistence of people in and with nature

Pimachiowin Aki