text:
Dayak people

The Dayak (older spelling: Dajak) or Dyak or Dayuh are one of the native groups of Borneo. It is a loose term for over 200 riverine and hill-dwelling ethnic groups, located principally in the central and southern interior of Borneo, each with its own dialect, customs, laws, territory, and culture, although common distinguishing traits are readily identifiable. The Dayak were animist (Kaharingan and Folk Hindus) in belief; however, since the 19th century there has been mass conversion to Christianity as well as Islam due to the spreading of Abrahamic religions.

Etymology
It is commonly assumed that the name originates from the Bruneian and Melanau word for "interior people", without any reference to an exact ethnic group. The term was adopted by Dutch and German authors as an umbrella term for any non-Muslim natives of Borneo. Thus, historically, the difference between Dayaks and non-Dayaks natives could be understood as a religious distinction. English writers disapproved the classification made by the Dutch and Germans, with James Brooke preferring to use the term Dayak for only two distinct groups, the Land (Bidayuh) and Sea Dayaks (Iban).

The Dutch classification from the 19th century has since continued in Indonesia as a catch-all term for indigenous, often non-Muslim tribes on the island until today. The term gained traction in the early 1900s among rising middle class and intellectual figures (such as Hausman Baboe) from those tribes and being used as a unifying term for Dayaks in Kalimantan. In Malaysia, the term Dayak generally reserves as an almost exclusively reference to the Iban (previously referred as Sea Dayaks) and Bidayuh (known as Land Dayak in the past).

Ethnicity and languages
Dayaks do not speak just one language. Their indigenous languages belong to different subgroups of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, such as Land Dayak, Malayic, Sabahan, and Barito languages. Nowadays most Dayaks are bilingual, in addition to their native language, are well-versed in Indonesian and Malay, depending on their country of origin. Many of Borneo's languages are endemic (which means they are spoken nowhere else). This cultural and linguistic diversity parallels the high biodiversity and related traditional knowledge of Borneo.

It is estimated that around 170 languages and dialects are spoken on the island and some by just a few hundred people, thus posing a serious risk to the future of those languages and related heritage.

In 1954, Tjilik Riwut classified the various Dayak groups into 18 tribes throughout the island of Borneo, with 403 sub-tribes according to their respective native languages, customs, and cultures. However, he did not specify the name of the sub-tribes in his publication:

Religion
The existence of this kingdom was based on several carved tombstones and the Dayak folk song Usak Jawa which is thought to refer to the Majapahit conquest of Nan Sarunai in the 13th to 14th centuries. It was suspected by archeologists from radiocarbon dating to exist since as early as 200 BC, several centuries earlier than the verified oldest kingdom in the archipelago, Kutai Kingdom. This is however disputed by historians, citing another result which yields date in the 8th century and that Candi Agung, one of the archeological sites where Nan Sarunai's age was derived, was not built by Nan Sarunai according to Hikayat Banjar and was instead built by the polity established by the invader, (Negara Dipa) in the 14th century. If the radiocarbon results are correct, the ownership of the older site of which Candi Agung was built by Nan Sarunai is also debatable as they did not leave written records.

Kaharingan
In Indonesia, the Dayak indigenous religion has been given the name Kaharingan and may be said to be a form of animism. In 1945, during the Japanese occupation, the Japanese referred to Kaharingan as the religion of the Dayak people. During the New Order in the Suharto regime in 1980, the Kaharingan is registered as a form of Hinduism in Indonesia, as the Indonesian state only recognises 6 forms of religion i.e. Islam, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism respectively. The integration of Kaharingan with Hinduism is not due to the similarities in the theological system, but because Kaharingan is the oldest belief in Kalimantan. Unlike the development in Indonesian Kalimantan, Kaharingan is not used as a religious designation in Malaysia and Brunei, thus the traditional Dayak belief system is categorized as a form of folk animism or paganism outside of the Indonesian border.

The practice of Kaharingan differs from group to group, but shamans, specialists in ecstatic flight to other spheres, are central to Dayak religion and serve to bring together the various realms of Heaven (Upper-world) and earth, and even Under-world, for example healing the sick by retrieving their souls which are journeying on their way to the Upper-world land of the dead, accompanying and protecting the soul of a dead person on the way to their proper place in the Upper-world, presiding over annual renewal and agricultural regeneration festivals, etc. Death rituals are most elaborate when a noble (kamang) dies. Due to the institutionalization of Kaharingan beliefs in Indonesia, Kaharingan practices in Kalimantan have been recently codified and remolded into more organized religion, such as with codification of Panaturan as scripture of Kaharingan in 1971, creation of official Kaharingan body Hindu Kaharingan Religion Council (Majelis Agama Hindu Kaharingan) in 1980, and standarization of its house of worship buildings called Balai Basarah.

Christianity
Over the last two centuries, many Dayaks have converted to Christianity, making them the majority of Christians in Borneo, abandoning certain cultural rites and traditional practices in the process. Christianity was introduced by European missionaries in Borneo by Rheinische Missionsgesellschaft (later followed up by the Basler Mission). Religious differences between Muslim and Christian natives of Borneo have led, at various times, to communal tensions. Relations, however between all religious groups are generally good.

Islam
Traditionally, in many parts of Borneo, embracing the Muslim faith is equated with Malayisation (Indonesian/Malay: masuk Melayu), i.e. assimilation into the broader Malay ethnicity. There are, however, several Dayak sub-ethnicities (mainly in Central Kalimantan) that predominantly adhere to Islam, but self-identify as Dayaks. These include e.g. the Bakumpai people, who converted to Islam in the 19th century, but still have strong linguistic and cultural ties to the Ngaju people. They have adopted a positive attitude towards the label "Dayak" and self-identify as Muslim Dayaks.

Economic activities
Historically, most of the Dayak people are swidden cultivators who supplement their incomes by seeking forest products, both for subsistence (ferns, medicinal plants, fibers, and timber) and for sale; by fishing and hunting and by periodic wage labor. Presently, many modern-day Dayaks are also actively engaged in many contemporary economic activities, especially in the urban areas of Borneo.

Toplessness
In the Indonesian archipelago, toplessness was the norm among the Dayak people, Javanese, and Balinese people of Indonesia before the introduction of Islam and contact with Western cultures. In Javanese and Balinese societies, women worked or rested comfortably topless. Among the Dayak, only big-breasted women or married women with sagging breasts covered their breasts because they interfered with their work. With the availability of shirts, toplessness was abandoned.

Tattoo
In many Dayak societies, a tattoo is regarded as a sacred creation that consolidates together the images of humans, flora, and fauna into a single body art. The tattoo is used as a spiritual expression of life, to unify the living, the spiritual powers, and the universe.

Traditionally, there are various reasons why a Dayak man or woman would choose body art. For some, it was used to mark a person's ethnic origin and rank the society. For others, the tattoo served as an act of devotion, as a demonstration of skills, to commemorate a special occasion in life, or as a symbol for the rite of passage.

Elongated earlobes
Amongst several Dayak groups in the past, long female earlobes are regarded as a symbol of beauty. The elongation process usually begins when the child is about 4 years old. During the initial stage, her ears will be pierced by an earring, so that the hisang (a special heavy silver or bronze earring) can be worn on her ears.

A new hisang will gradually added with age. After a woman is married, her hisang potentially be up to 20 pieces per-ear. As the hisang was sourced from precious and expansive metals like silver and bronze, it can signify her status, wealth, and social standing within the society. Thus, the longer her earlobes, the more important she is to the community. Presently, the practice of having stretched earlobes is almost limited to the elderly, as the practice of applying hisang amongst newborn babies has been rare since the 1960s.

Longhouses
In the traditional Dayak society, the long house or Lamin House, is regarded as the heart of the community, it functions as the village, as well as the societal architectural expression. This large building, sometimes exceeding 200 meters in length, may be divided into independent household apartments. The building is also equipped with communal areas for cooking, ceremonies, socializing, and blacksmithing.

The superstructure is not solely about architecture and design. It is a part of the Dayak traditional political entity and administrative system. Thus, culturally the people residing in the longhouse are governed by the customs and traditions of the longhouse.

Beadworks
Based on the archeological records in Borneo, it was discovered that the early inhabitants of the island had used organic materials to make simple beads. The beads were originally sourced from stones, bones, teeth, and shells. When the foreign traders arrived between the 8th-9th century, they further enhanced the ancient bead cultures of Borneo with the introduction of colourful glass beads. These early beads are usually small, in basic colours of red, yellow, white, turquoise, and black. These were followed by multicolored beads around the 1500s-1600s.

Traditional beadworks have occupied a pivotal status in various Dayak communities. In many Dayak cultures, beads are not solely regarded as ornamental objects, but they are a major cultural influence. Some of the beads only being used for ritualistic practices and are worn during such ceremonies. While heirloom beads (known as pesaka) are regarded as an important family heirloom and oftentimes being inherited from one generation to another.

Metal-working
Metalworking is elaborately developed in making (machetes –  in Malay and Indonesian). The blade is made of softer iron, to prevent breakage, with a narrow strip of a harder iron wedged into a slot in the cutting edge for sharpness in a process called (iron-smithing).

In headhunting, it was necessary to be able to draw the quickly. For this purpose, the is fairly short, which also better serves the purpose of trail cutting in dense forests. It is holstered with the cutting edge facing upwards and at that side, there is an upward protrusion on the handle, so it can be drawn very quickly with the side of the hand without having to reach over and grasp the handle first. The hand can then grasp the handle while it is being drawn. The combination of these three factors (short, cutting edge up, and protrusion) makes for an extremely fast drawing-action.

Headhunting and peacemaking
In the past, the Dayaks were feared for their ancient tradition of headhunting practices (the ritual is also known as Ngayau by the Dayaks).

Among the most prominent legacies during the colonial rule in the Dutch Borneo (present-day Kalimantan) is the Tumbang Anoi Agreement held in 1894 in Damang Batu, Central Kalimantan (the seat of the Kahayan Dayaks). It is a formal meeting that gathered all the Dayak tribes in Kalimantan for a peace resolution. In the meeting that is reputed to take several months, the Dayak people throughout the Kalimantan agreed to end the headhunting tradition as it believed the tradition caused conflict and tension between various Dayak groups. The meeting ended with a peace resolution by the Dayak people.

Subsequently, the headhunting began to surface again in the mid-1940s, when the Allied powers encouraged the practice against the Japanese occupation of Borneo. It also slightly surged in the late 1960s when the Indonesian government encouraged Dayaks to purge the Chinese from interior Kalimantan who were suspected of supporting communism in mainland China, and in a period of high tension between Madurese emigrants and Dayak during the Sambas and Sampit conflicts around the turn of the century.

Military
The Dayak soldiers or trackers are regarded as equivalent in bravery to the Royal Scots or the Gurkha soldiers. The Sarawak Rangers were absorbed into the British Army as the Far East Land Forces which could be deployed anywhere in the world but upon the formation of Malaysia in 1963, it formed the basis of the present-day Royal Ranger Regiment.

While in Indonesia, Tjilik Riwut was remembered as he led the first airborne operation by the Indonesian National Armed Forces on 17 October 1947. The team was known as MN 1001, with 17 October celebrated annually as the anniversary date for the Indonesian Air Force Paskhas, which traces its origins to that pioneer paratroop operation in Borneo.

title: Dayak people


text:
El Vocero

El Vocero de Puerto Rico is a Puerto Rican free newspaper that is published in San Juan. Published since 1974, El Vocero was at first the third of the four largest Puerto Rico newspapers, trailing El Mundo and El Nuevo Día and leading El Reportero and The San Juan Star in sales. With the temporary demise in the late 1980s of El Mundo, El Vocero became even more popular, becoming the island's largest newspaper by 1994. From 1985 to 2013 it was owned by Caribbean International News Corp. The owners of Caribbean International News Corp, and therefore owners of El Vocero, were Elliot Stein, I. Martin Pompadur and The Henry Crown Co.

In the beginning, El Vocero was known as a sensationalist tabloid that dramatized all the violent news, including graphic cover photos of murders. Writers included Tomas De Jesus Mangual, Julio Víctor Ramírez Torres, José A. Purcell, Miguel Rivera Puig, Maggie Bobb and others. However, in the early 2000s, the newspaper changed its direction, becoming a mainstream newspaper, adding a much broader coverage of entertainment as well as business related news, and carrying more political news, as in the situation in Vieques.

In addition to its regular news section, El Vocero also has business, entertainment, sports, and travel sections.

On April 8, 2007, Gaspar Roca, the paper's founding publisher and editor in chief, died due to a respiratory arrest. He was replaced by his son Miguel Roca. Miguel Roca was no longer working at the newspaper, and was replaced by a San Juan-based construction lawyer named Peter Miller. Due to financial difficulties, in December 2013 El Vocero went bankrupt (Chapter 7). The new owner and publisher is Publi-Inversiones, formed by a group of local entrepreneurs.

First free newspaper
On July 31, 2012, El Vocero changed its format, becoming the first free daily circulation newspaper in Puerto Rico. Later on other free daily newspapers were introduced, including the Swedish-owned Metro newspaper as well as the GFR Media-owned Indice. Vocero was well received by its readers, and its circulation grew.

As soon as Vocero went free, a newspaper war ensued. First, the San Juan Star, which is distributed by Vocero’s competitors, GFR Media, accused Vocero of being financed by the government. At the same time, another GFR Media paper, Primera Hora, launched a media campaign squarely directed at Vocero, titled “El Que No Tiene La Voz del Pueblo No Vale Na’”. A couple of months later, however, GFR Media launched its own free paper, Indice. In October 2012, GFR's flagship newspaper, El Nuevo Dia, published an investigation in which it claimed that El Vocero was financed by the government. At the same time, El Vocero published its own series of articles demonstrating how the Ferre family had used the government to obtain financing for its own enterprises.

Controversial financing by the government
The newspaper has been characterized as propaganda for the New Progressive Party since El Vocero allegedly received funds from the 2009 to 2013 NPP-controlled central government. According to an investigation by El Vocero's main competitor, the newspaper El Nuevo Día, the company has received more than $24.9 million, even when it had a debt of $21,141,200 in taxes. El Voceros editor-in-chief responded by stating that neither the newspaper nor its parent company have received government funds through any means, and dismissed El Nuevo Días allegations as part of a series of attacks driven by the newspaper's new-found success as a free publication.

A new EL VOCERO since 2013
In 2013, a group of businessmen from Puerto Rico acquired the rights to the name of the publication EL VOCERO and took it upon themselves to keep the publication alive. On the first of December of that same year, the newspaper was re-launched with a new editorial philosophy and a new design. The daily newspaper EL VOCERO was originally founded in 1974 and, due to it being part of a foreign investment fund, was managed under a different structure.

It is published in San Juan, Monday through Friday, and it is distributed completely free across 4,500 establishments and 100 traffic light intersections in the 78 municipalities. Apart from the printed version being available five days a week, there is a digital daily newspaper published every day, including Saturdays and Sundays.

According to Gaither International, a market research firm, and its MBP analysis of 18+ readership, EL VOCERO is the most read newspaper in Puerto Rico, Mondays through Fridays. EL VOCERO of Puerto Rico has maintained its domain in the news industry by being the newspaper with the biggest circulation on the island, with more than 154 thousand printed copies audited by the Certified Audit Circulation (CAC). On Thursdays, the number of copies increases to 215 thousand. In addition to the printed copies, there are 100,000 digital subscribers who receive the newspaper through their email every morning.

Since 2013, EL VOCERO and its employees have been managed by Publi-Inversiones Puerto Rico, Inc. Under the direction of experienced managers, EL VOCERO has solidified its honest and responsible editorial policy, and it has strengthened its compromise with the well-being of Puerto Rican families. Through its journalistic investigations that have uncovered improper actions and schemes of fraud, the publication is characterized by its role as an oversight body of the Government and public finances. Its investigation of the “Petroleum Cartel," for example, revealed how members of The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority had been taking advantage of the fuel business and enriching themselves through commissions and bribes for over a decade.

The newspaper is staffed with a robust team of journalists experts in politics, law and order, government, economics, sports, entertainment, gastronomy, travel and more, making EL VOCERO a publication with complete and objective coverage of the news on the island.

It is available to readers for free through its printed copy and digital replica, its webpage elvocero.com, its mobile app, and its social media pages. Aside from the daily newspaper, the publication also produces three magazines. Zona, which is marketed for men, and Mírame Siempre, which covers social events, fashion, and philanthropy, are sold monthly at a cost of $2.50. Bienestar Total, dedicated to health and lifestyle, is distributed for free on a quarterly basis in medical offices, hospitals, gymnasiums, and in other points of interests.

El VOCERO's central offices are located on 1064, Avenida Ponce de León, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: El Vocero


text:
Miramichi, New Brunswick

Miramichi is the largest city in northern New Brunswick, Canada. It is situated at the mouth of the Miramichi River where it enters Miramichi Bay. The Miramichi Valley is the second longest valley in New Brunswick, after the Saint John River Valley.

On 1 January 2023, Miramichi annexed parts of two local service districts on its northern border; revised census information has not been released.

Neighbourhoods
The city of Miramichi was formed in 1995 through the forced amalgamation of two towns, Newcastle and Chatham, and several smaller communities, including Douglastown, Loggieville, and Nelson. Also the local service districts of Nordin, Moorefield, Chatham Head, and Douglasfield. The amalgamation also included portions of the former local service district of Ferry Road-Russellville (the remnant later renamed Lower Newcastle-Russellville), Chatham Parish, Glenelg Parish and Nelson Parish.

Mi'kmaq and French communities (before 1765)
Long prior to European settlement, the Miramichi region was home to members of the Mi'kmaq first nation. For the Mi'kmaq, Beaubears Island, at the junction of the Northwest and Main Southwest branches of the Miramichi River was a natural meeting point.

Following the European discovery of the Americas, the Miramichi became part of the French colony of Acadia. About 1648, Nicolas Denys, Sieur de Fronsac, established a fort and trading post, Fort Fronsac, on the Miramichi. This establishment was apparently constructed "on the North side of the Miramichi, at the forks of the river". According to W.F.Ganong, a Recollet Mission was established in 1686 on the Miramichi "in Nelson", "probably near Beaubear's Island".

Nicolas Denys' son, Richard Denys, was placed in charge of the fort and trading post, and in 1688 Richard states, "Miramichi is the principal place of my residence", and describes his establishment as including about a dozen French and more than 500 indigenous inhabitants. In 1691 Richard died at sea; the post declined.

The following account from the Dictionary of Miramichi Biography describes in greater detail the extent of the Denys' Miramichi base:"'The domain of Nicholas Denys, governor of Acadia, extended along the southerly side of the Gulf of St Lawrence, from Miscou Island to Cape Breton. It may have included a trading post at Miramichi in the 1640s, but the first extensive French establishment on the river was that of Denys's son Richard Denys. He began to cultivate land along the Miramichi in 1684. In 1688 he had a fort with gun emplacements, a house built of freestone, and a storehouse. There were three French families at the fort, and he had men employed catching fish. Nearby there were approximately eighty Micmac wigwams.""'The site of Denys's establishment, which is considered to have been on the north side of the Miramichi opposite the Point - that is, near the former pulp mill site in Newcastle - was abandoned by 1691. In August of that year, when he was thirty-seven years old, Denys set sail for Quebec in the ship Saint-François-Xavier, which was never heard of again. His estate passed to his widow in 1694 and was still owned by members of the family in Quebec in the 1750s.'"By about 1740 French villages were well established on Miramichi Bay at Bay du Vin and Neguac. In the current city of Miramichi, a larger village existed at Canadian Point, and a town comprising 200 houses, a chapel, and provision stores occupied "Beaubear's Point". The French maintained batteries of guns at the east end of Beaubears Island and at French Fort Cove.

French and Indian War
The French and Indian War erupted in 1754. During the war many Acadian homes were destroyed by the British, and their residents were deported (see the Expulsion of the Acadians).

In 1757, the French general, Charles Deschamps de Boishébert et de Raffetot attempted to evade British troops in the Saint John River Valley and the Bay of Fundy, by leading 900 French refugees up the northeast coast of New Brunswick to Miramichi, establishing a camp, "Camp de l’Espérance", on Beaubears Island. After the Siege of Louisbourg (1758), Boishebert led a group of Acadians from St. Peter's, Nova Scotia to Miramichi. Over 200 of the refugees died at the camp.

On 13 August 1758 French officer Boishebert left Miramichi with 400 soldiers, including Acadians from Port Toulouse, for Fort St George (Thomaston, Maine). His detachment reached there on 9 September but was caught in an ambush and had to withdraw. They then went on to raid Friendship, Maine, where British settlers were killed and others taken prisoner. This was Boishébert’s last Acadian expedition. From there, Boishebert and the Acadians went to Quebec and fought in the Battle of Quebec (1759).

In September 1758 Colonel James Murray reported spending two days in Miramichi Bay during the Gulf of St. Lawrence Campaign looking unsuccessfully for Acadians, but destroying anything he found. This included burning the first stone church built in New Brunswick (at the site of the present-day community of Burnt Church). Murray did not sail as far west as Beaubear's Island.

Most of the surviving Beaubear's Island refugees soon left the Miramichi, seeking refuge in Quebec. Some Acadians, however, remained and escaped British attempts at deportation. They eventually established (or re-established) a host of small Acadian communities along the northern and eastern coasts of present-day New Brunswick.

Scottish and Loyalist immigration (1765–1800)
The French were defeated at Quebec (1759) and Montreal (1760), and the remaining Miramichi settlement was subsequently burned to the ground by British Commodore John Byron (Foul-Weather Jack) in 1760. The French North American colonies (apart from Saint Pierre and Miquelon) were ceded to the British in the 1763 Treaty of Paris. The Miramichi thus became a part of the British colony of Nova Scotia, and later New Brunswick. Benjamin Marston, a surveyor and the first sheriff, reported in 1785 that "a considerable French Village" had existed on Wilson's Point (adjacent to Beaubear's Island, the present-day site of the Enclosure).

Although they were clearly preceded by the Mi'kmaq and Acadian peoples, credit for the first permanent white settlement at Miramichi is often granted to Scottish settlers, led by William Davidson. William Davidson (a.k.a. John Godsman) and John Cort had obtained a large grant encompassing much of the Miramichi region in 1765, and promoted the area in both Scotland and New England as a new home to potential settlers.

American Revolution and Battle at Miramichi (1779)
At the beginning of the American Revolution the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet were supportive of the Americans against the British. They participated in the Maugerville Rebellion and the Battle of Fort Cumberland in 1776. Three years later, in June 1779, Mi’kmaq in the Miramichi attacked and plundered some of the British in the area. The following month, British Captain Augustus Harvey, in command of HMS Viper (1756), arrived in the area and battled with the Mi’kmaq. One Mi’kmaq was killed and 16 were taken prisoner to Quebec. The prisoners were eventually brought to Halifax, where they were later released upon signing an oath of allegiance to the British Crown on 28 July 1779.

After the battle, Davidson temporarily found refuge along the Saint John River. A subsequent treaty signed 22 September 1779 ensured a more peaceful coexistence. Following the American Revolution some loyalist families moved to Miramichi. Davidson's original grant was revoked, and competition for the best lands escalated tensions between the early Scottish and new loyalist settlers.

Great Miramichi Fire of 1825
In 1825, a large forest fire, among the worst in recorded history of North America, devastated a number of communities in northern New Brunswick.

Irish immigration (1815–1850)
The Irish began arriving in Miramichi in numbers after 1815 at the end of the Napoleonic War and with a few exceptions ceased coming to the area before the Great Irish Famine of 1847. They came to the area voluntarily to better their lives. Contrary to prevailing belief, not all of them were Catholic though very few Protestants among them identified openly as Irish and most of their descendants in Miramichi do not do so even to this day. Most arrived from the ports of Belfast and Cork each of which had strong commercial ties with Miramichi. Like the Scots, they came on timber ships as individuals or, in small family groups. The average age upon arrival was twenty-four. There was some chain emigration whereby additional family members joined the emigrant later but this was minimal. The Miramichi River valley was not settled by large transplantations of Scottish clans or large scale movements of starving and evicted Irish. Though there are one or two interesting exceptions. In 1815 after trade had developed with Newfoundland, Miramichi was surprised and shaken by the arrival of the so-called "Two Boaters", perhaps as many as 2000. These were the Irish who had taken advantage of cheap fares to St. John's in the spring and summer of 1815. They were mostly poor laborers and farmers and it seems that initially they settled mainly in the Chatham/Douglastown area. With no prospect of obtaining a land grant, jobs in the woods or in the mills were the only means of getting established. Most of them were able to get at least temporary employment upon arrival, but it was short lived. In 1819, a sharp decline in timber prices resulted in massive layoffs in Miramichi including most of the "Two Boat" Irish of the Chatham area. Following their grueling experience in St. John's and now unemployed, they became disenchanted by their newfound misery so many miles from home. They began to create disturbances in the village of Chatham. Violent outrages were committed in broad daylight, property was stolen and in the worst cases houses and barns were burned to the ground. The people of the area soon dubbed them "those uncivilized immigrants from Ireland", whom local magistrates were powerless to control. But the Irish were not the only troublemakers along the river at that time. They were often mistakenly blamed for outrageous disturbances caused by unruly sailors idling about the port during the spring and summer months. These idle sailors whooped it up at Miramichi particularly on Sundays when the taverns were closed but often the Irish got the blame. In 1822, a detachment of the 78th regiment stationed in Fredericton was temporarily sent to Chatham to keep the peace. But it was not the soldiers of 78th regiment who quieted the Irish. It took an improved economy, jobs and newfound opportunity to do the trick.

Immigration from Ireland influences the Miramichi region's accent. It differs from other Atlantic Canadian English dialects and with terminology.

The Looshtauk Tragedy (1847)
Unlike the ports of Quebec, Saint John, St Andrews, Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Charleston and New Orleans, Miramichi did not receive large numbers of destitute and starving Irish during the famine years. Fewer than four so-called coffin ships made it to Miramichi between 1844 and 1849 with less than three hundred people on board. They were ships plying to Quebec with sick and dying passengers, stricken with cholera and other diseases. They diverted to 'Miramichi in desperation and on arrival were quarantined at Middle Island where they were treated in appalling conditions. There was great fear of them and some Miramichers including the Irish referred to them as yellow mealers believing all they had had to eat was corn. The arrival of the famine ship Looshtauk on June 2, 1847, was a major tragedy at Miramichi. She left Liverpool for Quebec with 462 passengers on board. During the first two weeks at sea more than 100 died of sickness and the majority of the crew contracted severe fever and were unfit for duty. With only a few able seamen available to man the ship and few other options, the captain headed to the nearest port - Miramichi. When news of the dire conditions on board became known she was forbidden by the port authorities to dock even at Middle Island. The captain could not get permission to land the sick and dying or to bury the dead for over six days in which further severe anguish and the loss of forty more lives occurred. The arrival of two more famine ships the Richard White and the Bolivar further exacerbated the problem. The authorities finally but reluctantly constructed temporary shelters on the island and allowed the sick passengers and crew to land. A further fifty or so people died in the makeshift facilities provided, including the young Chatham doctor John Vondy who volunteered to stay full-time to administer to the sick and dying and within a few days succumbed to the fever himself.

The Irish in the 1870s and 1880s
By the 1870s the Irish were well established in Miramichi and by this decade less than 20% of them were recent immigrants. In total they represented forty percent of the population of the region spread fairly evenly over the entire Miramichi watershed. Eighty percent were Catholic and only the upriver parish of Ludlow had a Protestant Irish majority. By the 1880s they controlled 15% of businesses and professions in the town of Chatham and probably the same number in Newcastle. However the majority were still listed as skilled and unskilled workers.

Industry and politics (1765–1850)

Although subsistence farming constituted one part of the new settlement's economy, the thin, acid soils of the Miramichi were not conducive to agriculture; thus, the lumber industry and Atlantic salmon fishery were the mainstays. A shipbuilding industry was established by Davidson in 1773, largely to facilitate overseas lumber exports, including masts for the British navy, and to provide winter employment for the men. Davidson's first ship, "Miramichi", was lost with her cargo off the Spanish coast.

Miramichi benefited greatly from the Napoleonic wars and American independence, as Britain became dependent on its remaining North American colonies, including New Brunswick, for lumber. However, the 1825 Miramichi fire, the advent of steel-hulled ships, and perhaps over-cutting of eastern white pine, would eventually contribute to a long-term decline in the area's economy. The Miramichi Fire burnt almost 1/4 of New Brunswick's forest, and consumed most of the buildings along the northern side of the river. Only 12 buildings remained in Newcastle.

The towns of Newcastle and Chatham developed a long history of rivalry, including a small "war" fought between the communities ("the fighting election of 1843"). The 1843 election was fought on a political level between John T. Williston of Chatham (supported by local entrepreneur Joseph Cunard of Chatham, brother of Samuel Cunard) and John Ambrose Street of Newcastle (backed by the prominent lumber baron, Alexander Rankin of Douglastown). The Rankin and Cunard factions literally fought the election in the streets of Newcastle and Chatham with sticks, stones, coal and other missiles.

Railway (1875–1950)
In 1875, the region's largest construction project in history was completed when the federal government's Intercolonial Railway (ICR) opened between Moncton and Campbellton. The following year it would link Halifax with Rivière-du-Loup and the Canadian railway network. One of the biggest geographic obstacles presented in the project was the crossing of the Miramichi River. Surveyors deemed the ideal location for bridging to be at the upper reaches of tidewater between Nelson and Newcastle, crossing the Southwest Miramichi, then a short section of land at Derby, followed by the Northwest Miramichi. The combined length of these bridges would be among the largest constructed to date in Canada (surpassed only by the Victoria Bridge in Montreal) and were the first bridges over the Miramichi River, revolutionizing transport in the region.

The ICR bypassed Chatham by running through Newcastle and then on to the north and west. Within a decade, the Canada Eastern Railway was built to link Chatham with Fredericton, along the length of the Southwest Miramichi River valley. In 1904, the Canada Eastern was purchased by the ICR. In 1915, the ICR became part of Canadian Government Railways and 3 years later in 1918 it became part of the Canadian National Railway (CNR).

CNR operated express passenger trains along the main line from Halifax to Montreal via Newcastle, most notably the Ocean Limited, along with various local trains to Fredericton, Moncton and Campbellton. The Dungarvon Whooper provided passenger service along the Canada Eastern Railway from Newcastle to Fredericton. The ports and railways serving Newcastle and Chatham burgeoned with activity as the 19th century lumber industry gave way to the 20th century developments in pulp and paper, and mining.

20th century industry and politics

As the shipbuilding, masting and lumber industries waned, pulp and paper production eventually replaced lumber exports as the mainstay of the area's economy. A valuable sports fishery developed, attracting "sports" initially from adjacent New England, and subsequently from all parts of the world. In the mid 20th century, an air force base, CFB Chatham, became the cornerstone of Chatham's economy. The discovery of base metal deposits (lead, zinc, copper, silver, and traces of gold).) and the development of Heath Steele Mines, 60 km to the northwest, allowed Newcastle's economy to diversify and strengthen through the 1960s. The mine and air force base had both closed by 1999 as the mine's ore body was depleted, and with the collapse of the Cold War. The forest industry reemerged as the dominant player in the city's economy today.

In the 20th century the rivalry between Newcastle and Chatham continued, expressed chiefly through sports, politics, and in competition for businesses and government largesse. In 1994 then Premier Frank McKenna (the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Chatham) developed and implemented a plan for merging the communities. The amalgamation of the former towns and villages to form the City of Miramichi was controversial at the time, and remains so today, due in part to the strong identities that each of the communities possessed. The 1995 amalgamation of the communities served to limit local rivalries, giving the region a larger and more united voice in promoting the region. In addition to this, many smaller communities in the Miramichi Valley felt that the name of the newly formed city was a threat to their tourism industry, and to their identity as "Miramichiers."

Economy
The Miramichi area’s economy is primarily focused on mining, fishing and forestry. Other sectors include tourism, customer contact centres, manufacturing, and the provincial and federal government. The service sector is the city's largest employer. The two best known call centres are the Canadian Firearms Program, and the Phoenix pay system. The region has recently experienced the closure of several wood mills causing many residents to migrate west. Since the oilsands boom in Alberta, many Miramichi residents split their time between the oil fields and Miramichi.

The Repap paper mill (between the Anderson and Miramichi Bridges) was purchased by UPM in 2000, and was later closed in 2007 because of economic pressures in the North American forest industry and subsequently demolished. A closed Weyerhauser OSB mill at Morrison Cove was subsequently purchased by Arbec, a Quebec-based company and the mill re-opened in 2013 producing OSB products.

Roads

Miramichi has good highway connections to other major centres in New Brunswick offered via Highways 8 (west to Fredericton; north to Bathurst and Campbellton) and 11 (south to Moncton, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia). The Plaster Rock – Renous highway (Route 108) offers the quickest connection to major centres in Quebec, Ontario, and points west.

For many years, the only bridge at Miramichi was a narrow, historic crossing called the Morrissy Bridge, at Newcastle. Ferry service facilitated crossings at Chatham and Loggieville. In the late 1960s the Centennial Bridge was completed at Chatham, greatly improving north–south transit across the river. The Miramichi Bridge at Newcastle opened in the late 1990s.

Bus
Miramichi Transit also operates local bus service within the city.

Water
The towns of Chatham and Newcastle were formerly important ports for northeastern New Brunswick. Dredging, however, was necessary to maintain a deep enough channel for most ships to cross between the barrier dune islands at the mouth of Miramichi Bay. Ocean-going ships entering the port must have a shallow draft, and must navigate the ancient, meandering course of the drowned Miramichi River channel through the inner Bay.

HTI / High Tech Industries owns and operates the marine terminal situated close below the Morrisey Bridge in Miramichi West (the former town of Newcastle). The site contains approximately 21,625 m2 (5.34 acres) of property, with a berthage length of 313 m and a depth of 9 m. Two unheated storage sheds are located on the property containing 10,300 m2 and 2325 m2 of enclosed storage area. There is an open storage area of 9000 square metres.

Rail
The Canadian National Railway (CN) northern line between Moncton and Campbellton passes through Miramichi. Miramichi was served by the New Brunswick East Coast Railway (NBECR) until it was purchased by CN in 2008. Via Rail offers passenger service on this line at the Miramichi railway station via the Ocean train to Montreal and Halifax.

Air
Miramichi is located within a 90-minute drive of two international airports (Fredericton International Airport, Greater Moncton International Airport) with scheduled domestic and international flights. In addition the Miramichi Airport Commission operates the Miramichi Airport (YCH) on the former site of CFB Chatham.

Roots
As in other regions of the Maritimes, Miramichi culture is firmly grounded in the Mi'kmaq, Acadian, English, Scottish, and Irish traditions of the region's founding population, particularly in the fishing, sailing and lumbering industries. Every bend in the rivers, from Push and Be Damned Rapids to the Turnip Patch has a distinctive name. These roots and the lives of their ancestors provided inspiration for the novels of local author David Adams Richards, the tales and folklore of Herb Curtis, and the fiction and non-fiction books of Chatham writer Raymond Fraser. Local young adult author Valerie Sherrard's first historical novel, Three Million Acres of Flame, deals with the 1825 Miramichi Fire, one of the largest recorded land fires in North American history.

Festivals
Local festivals which celebrate Miramichi culture, and the ancestral roots of the original settlers include:
 * Miramichi Folksong Festival
 * Annual Pow-wows hosted on the nearby Eel Ground First Nation, Burnt Church First Nation, and Metepenagiag Mi'kmaq Nation
 * La Fête Nationale des Acadiens—Acadian Day
 * Miramichi Scottish Festival
 * Canada's Irish Festival on the Miramichi
 * Miramichi Fiddle Festival

Other local festivals include:
 * Canada Days Festival
 * Miramichi Rock 'n Roll Festival
 * Miramichi Salmon Classic
 * Miramichi Exhibition

Newspapers

 * The Miramichi Leader
 * The Telegraph-Journal

Radio

 * CJFY-FM 96.5 & 107.7 LIFE Radio, FM
 * CFAN-FM 99.3 The River, FM
 * CHHI-FM Rewind 95.9, FM
 * CKMA-FM 93.9 Radio Miracadie, FM

Recreation
The city offers a full range of summer and winter sports programs and facilities, including recreation centres, swimming pools, a golf course, and rinks for skating, curling and ice hockey. The city, however, is best known as a haven for outdoor sport enthusiasts. The river offers whitewater opportunities for canoe and kayak, and angling for Atlantic salmon and brook trout. About one-half of the sport catch of Atlantic salmon in North America are landed on the Miramichi River and its tributaries. The warm waters of Miramichi Bay offer an ideal setting for sailing enthusiasts during summer. The snowy winters are welcomed by cross-country skiers and snowmobilers. An extensive network of trails is available for hiking, cycling, birding, skiing, and snowmobiling.

Team sports
Miramichi has several sports teams, including two ice hockey teams. The home rink of the Miramichi Timberwolves of the Maritime Junior Hockey League is the Miramichi Civic Centre.

The city's baseball team, the Chatham Ironmen, winner of the 1995 Canadian Senior Baseball Nationals, plays in the New Brunswick Senior Baseball League at Ironmen Field.

Education
Miramichi is served by 11 public schools operated by the New Brunswick Department of Education. Post-secondary education, including a distance education component from the University of New Brunswick, is offered primarily through the Miramichi campus of New Brunswick Community College.

Public schools

Francophone Sud School District:
 * École Carrefour Beausoleil (K-12)

New Brunswick Anglophone North School District (English):
 * High schools:
 * James M. Hill Memorial High School
 * Miramichi Valley High School
 * North & South Esk Regional High School
 * Middle schools:
 * Dr. Losier Middle School
 * Max Aitken Academy
 * Millerton Elementary & Junior High School
 * Elementary schools:
 * Gretna Green Elementary School
 * King Street Elementary School
 * Nelson Rural School
 * Napan Elementary School
 * Millerton Elementary & Junior High School
 * Max Aitken Academy
 * North & South Esk Elementary School

Private schools
 * Karasek School Of Dance
 * L.F.M. Memorial Academy
 * Miramichi Taekwondo Academy

Post-secondary
 * Public:
 * New Brunswick Community College, Miramichi Campus
 * Private:
 * Academy of Learning Career and Business College

Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Miramichi had a population of $17,692$ living in $7,990$ of its $8,484$ total private dwellings, a change of NaN% from its 2016 population of $17,537$. With a land area of 178.98 km2, it had a population density of in 2021.

In the 2001 Census of Canada, 48.1 percent of Miramichi's population was male and 51.9 percent was female.

Children under five accounted for approximately 5.0% of the resident population. This compares with 5.6% for Canada overall. In mid-2001, 15.5% of the resident population of Miramichi were of retirement age (65 and over for males and females) compared with 13.2% in Canada. The median age was 39.9 years of age, comparing to 37.6 years of age nationally.

In 2001, 97.6% of the population were born in Canada; 89.4% claimed "English only" as the "language(s) first learned and still understood", whereas 8.8% indicated French, and 0.7% indicated "both English and French". The population was 61.8% Roman Catholic, and 33.3% Protestant. 3.8% reported no religious affiliation.
 *  Source: Statistics Canada 2001 Census

Population trend

Ethnicity
Miramichi bills itself as "Canada's Irish Capital", and is home to an annual Irish festival. It is one of the most Irish cities in Canada.

Language
Mother tongue language (2006)

Visitor attractions
The Miramichi River is the centre of all activity. The communities that compose the city line its banks.

Beaubears Island, located in the middle of the Miramichi River between Newcastle and Nelson-Miramichi, is home to two National Historic Sites, Boishébert National Historic Site of Canada and Beaubears Island Shipbuilding National Historic Site of Canada, J. Leonard O'Brien Memorial. The island is recognized for its role in the Acadian Expulsion, and as the former home of a major shipbuilding industry.

French Fort Cove is a nature park located between Newcastle and Nordin. It is the former site of a gristmill, lumber mill and shipyard. It is also the former location of a rock quarry which was used to build many local buildings and the Langevin Block of the Parliament Hill, among others. It is the setting for the local legend of the Headless Nun.

Middle Island was used as a quarantine station when, in 1847, typhus and scarlet fever spread throughout the ship Looshtauk as it crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Of the 462 passengers on board, at least 146 people died en route and 96 died while in quarantine. Initially those who died on the island were buried in caskets, but as the death toll continued to rise personal resting places could no longer be an option. This resulted in large mass graves being placed on the island. Some of these graves were discovered as recently as 1996.

Many people are able to trace their family roots back to the journey taken by the Looshtauk. The island now serves as a tourist location and memorial.

Alexander Rankin and James Gilmour came to the area in 1812 to establish a lumber and shipbuilding enterprise (Gilmour, Rankin & Co.) at Douglastown (then known as Gretna Green). Rankin House was constructed in 1837 as the home of Alexander Rankin and is now a museum containing a collection of objects relating to early life in New Brunswick. It is located in Douglastown on the King George Highway.

The Miramichi Natural History Museum (c. 1908 to 1909) is designated as a Local Historic Place.

Ritchie Wharf is a park located on the waterfront of Newcastle-Miramichi. It is the location of many events that take place on the river.

The Marine Hospital was built in 1830–1831, and was used to provide care to members of the shipping community involved in the lumber trade. It is the oldest surviving marine hospital in Canada, and now serves as a hall for a local church and the general public. It last opened its door to patients in 1921, and was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in September 2000.

Twin city
Monaghan, Ireland. In 1999 Miramichi was twinned with the County Monaghan in Ireland. Monaghan, a county of some 55,000 people, is located in the north-east of the Republic of Ireland on the border with Northern Ireland. This link denotes the strong ancestral bonds between Ireland and New Brunswick and Canada generally. Each year delegations from Monaghan and Miramichi exchange visits.

Climate
Miramichi enjoys a cool, moist climate with a mean annual temperature of 5.3 C. The January mean temperature is -9.8 C, and the mean July temperature is 19.6 C. Proximity to the Gulf of St. Lawrence tends to moderate the winter climate, but Arctic air sometimes penetrates into the area during winter. The city averages 1083.3 mm of precipitation per year, with 291.4 cm falling as snow. Miramichi winters are sunnier than almost anywhere else in Canada, averaging 120 hours of bright sunshine in January. Miramichi averages 251.2 hours of bright sunshine in July.

The highest temperature ever recorded in Miramichi was 38.9 C on 18 & 19 August 1935. The coldest temperature ever recorded was -41.7 C on 19 January 1925.

title: Miramichi, New Brunswick


text:
Talk:Foobar

Informal
I'd like to see something to the effect: "foo" and "bar" are generally not used in formal documentation. They are something of an "in joke", and mark text as being meant for fellow coders, as not having been (or intended to be) formally reviewed - certainly not by persons outside the hacker culture. They may indicate that code is to do with a subject that is technical with respect to computer science itself - one might see them in comments on code relating to compilers or operating systems, but not in code relating to end user interfaces or business-level logic.

Oh really? Maybe you should have a look at the current C++ ISO standard. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.91.172.42 (talk) 18:09, 13 January 2010 (UTC)

 * That's just sad. "Foobar" is just silly hacker jargon. 83.255.36.203 (talk) 17:59, 12 July 2010 (UTC)
 * But that also supports one of the parent's assertions - that it's a CS-specific nomenclature - by being used in a programming language spec. I agree that it's not about formality, but more about being CS-specific. I'd also like to note that ISO standards, by virtue of being largely written by industry insiders, vary wildly in terms of style of language (let alone vocabulary) used, and hence "foobar"'s use in a very specific ISO standard doesn't strongly imply its widespread use, nor its suitability thereof. C xong (talk) 02:08, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

I'd like to clarify that 'foobar', 'foo', 'bar' and 'baz' are psuedocode terms and should never be used in real code. Generally psuedocode involves simplistic examples for reference only by other programmers and the use of the words such as 'foo' and 'bar' help to identify the code as such. It is not a hacker culture thing. Use of these naming conventions in real code is highly frowned upon and those who do are 'hacks', not 'hackers'. I agree with the above poster that just because the terms are referenced in an ISO standard has no bearing whatsoever. It is extremely bad practice to use such words in genuine code. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.243.44.2 (talk) 18:06, 17 November 2013 (UTC)

I recall a systems programmer working on Digital Equipment Machines (DEC) VAXes in the early 1980s, grinning that Digital had an acronym -- FUBAR -- for "Failed Unibus Address Register" -- and it accurately described the state of the entire system once such a catastrophic fault had happened. Someone with access to Unibus architecture/programming manual(s) may be able to verify this -- in which case, the "citation needed" marker on the Digital Equipment Machines reference could be resolved. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 14.2.61.58 (talk) 02:42, 24 December 2014 (UTC)

Oddly enough I can provide a citation for this. In DEC's VaxBI options handbook, Published 1986 by Digital Equipment Corporation, Chapter 12, page 10 the FUBAR register is defined as:

Failed Unibus Address Register (FUBAR): When a VAXBI to Unibus transaction results in a SSYN timeout, the FUBAR holds the failed Unibus address sent by the VAXBI master. The FUBAR address is bb+728

And yes, when that is set, the computer is totally FUBAR. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.193.143.46 (talk) 01:57, 6 January 2020 (UTC)

Scram switch, etc.
Was FOO displayed or F00. Because if you're working with something with 12 bits, loading a psw or register with F00 might be meaningful (or just funny if you know what "foo" is). Sort of a corollary to the mythic trouble report "Equipment doesn't work when selector knob is in the zero fox fox position". If so, the Foo in data processing may be a chicken and egg with F00.

"Suppose we have two objects, foo and bar." listed at Redirects for discussion
An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect Suppose we have two objects, foo and bar.. Please participate in the redirect discussion if you wish to do so. Pam D  16:58, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

Examples in language
The "Examples in language" section is a bit silly. The examples are not uses of foobar in language as a placeholder. This article is about the placeholder so the section is irrelevant to this article. Some of them could be on the disambiguation page though. SpinningSpark 10:46, 19 December 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:Foobar


text:
Edmundston

Edmundston is a city in Madawaska County, New Brunswick, Canada. Established in 1850, it had a population of 16,437 as of 2021.

On January 1, 2023, Edmundston amalgamated with the village of Rivière-Verte and parts of two local service districts; revised census figures have not been released.

History
During the early colonial period, the area was a camping and meeting place of the 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 merges into the 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. Originally a small logging settlement, Edmundston's growth is mostly attributed to the city's strategic location.

Aroostook War and the "Republic of Madawaska"
The area was at the centre of the Aroostook War of 1839, a skirmish over boundary lines between the 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 the Americans, 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, Saint-Jacques and Verret merged to form the City of Edmundston. In 2023 Edmundston expanded again to include Rivière-Verte and parts of adjacent local service districts.

Geography
Edmundston is located at the edge of the New Brunswick "panhandle," in the northeastern section of the Appalachian Mountains at the junction of the Saint John and Madawaska Rivers in the northwestern part of the province.

Edmundston is strategically situated only a few kilometres from the border with Quebec and on the border with the United States, opposite the town of Madawaska, Maine, to which it is connected by the Edmundston–Madawaska Bridge.

Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Edmundston had a population of $16,437$ living in $7,707$ of its $8,117$ total private dwellings, a change of NaN% from its 2016 population of $16,580$. With a land area of 106.84 km2, it had a population density of in 2021.

The median household income in 2005 for Edmundston was $42,551, which is below the New Brunswick provincial average of $45,194.

Language
The city is 95 per cent francophone, the highest such proportion of all cities in the province. Edmundston is the third-largest predominantly francophone city in North America outside of Quebec and the Caribbean, behind Clarence-Rockland, Ontario, which has a population exceeding 20,000 and is 68 per cent francophone, and Dieppe, which has a population of 25,384 (2016 Census) and is roughly 80 percent francophone. Outside of Quebec, the cities of Ottawa (122,665), Sudbury (45,420), Toronto (34,900), Winnipeg (26,855), Moncton (20,425), Timmins (17,390) and Edmonton (15,715) have greater total numbers of francophones, but they are a minority group in those cities.

Mother tongue language (2006)

Ethnicity
Unlike most other francophones living in the Maritimes, most people living in the Edmundston area do not consider themselves Acadians other than for statistical purposes. Most of them descend from French-Canadians who originally came from Lower Canada (now Quebec) along with a few Irish immigrants to settle the area in the century between 1820 and 1920, and absorbed the small group of Acadians who had arrived earlier. Nor do they consider themselves Québécois despite their heritage, mainly due to the politicization of Quebec-specific issues they do not feel concerned with. Residents speak with a distinctive local accent, colloquially called "l'accent brayon".

Religion
Christianity is the dominant religion of the city's inhabitants, with most residents being Roman Catholics. Moreover, Edmundston gives its name to the episcopal see of the region. Edmundston covers four Catholic parishes. Protestant denominations established in city include the Anglican Church of Canada, the United Church of Canada, the United Pentecostal Church International and a French Christian church called Église de l'Espoir d'Edmundston. A small number of Muslims live in Edmundston and the surrounding area, practicing in their own community centre.

Religious make-up (2001)

Climate
Edmundston experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb). The highest temperature ever recorded in Edmundston was 37.2 C on 3 June 1919. The coldest temperature ever recorded was -43.6 C on 16 January 2009.

Economy
Edmundston is a rural town whose economy centres on the Saint John River paper industry. The river historically provided water power for the mills and was the route of log drives bringing pulpwood from upstream forests. The river still provides the water supply for paper manufacture, but environmental concerns encourage pulpwood delivery by highway and rail.

Forestry is one of the city's major industries, with several sawmills and paper plants in the vicinity, the largest being the Twin Rivers pulp mill, formerly owned by Fraser Papers, now owned by Norbord, by way of Noranda Forest (1998) and Nexfor (2004). The Edmundston pulp mill is paired with a Twin Rivers paper mill directly across the Saint John River in Madawaska, Maine, through which liquified pulp slurry is piped. The pulp is shipped across the border through a mile-long high pressure pipeline running between both facilities, and is made into paper in Madawaska. The Madawaska mill specializes in fine-grade papers. The town's economy is highly dependent upon cross-border trade, to the extent that Edmundston and its smaller sister city of Madawaska are considered by residents under many aspects, a single economic entity.

An illuminated sign and plastics manufacture owned by Pattison Sign is also important to the city's economy. IPL, a company that manufactures plastic eating utensils, has a facility in Edmundston.

The city is the site of the regional hospital for the area. There is a campus of the French language University of Moncton in Edmundston. The New Brunswick Community college system has a campus in Edmundston.

Arts and culture
Every June, Edmundston plays host to the Festival Jazz et Blues d'Edmundston (The Edmundston Jazz and Blues Festival).

Every year in August, there is a large cultural festival in Edmundston called the Foire Brayonne. The festival is one of the biggest French themed festivals held in Canada east of the province of Quebec.

The three manual Casavant neo-baroque mechanical action pipe organ of the Church of Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs, situated in a hall with a superb live acoustic, is one of the finest pipe organs in Canada.

Attractions
Edmundston hosts two provincial historical sites:
 * Cathedral of Immaculate Conception: Built in 1924, the cathedral's architecture is said to be a synthesis of Roman and Gothic styles. Its granite facade has been recently restored, and can accommodate more than 1,200 people.
 * Fortin du Petit-Sault: Erected at the culmination of the boundary disputes between the United States of America and British North America (an international conflict known as Aroostook War) in 1841 prior to the signing of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty. This small fort was rebuilt in 2000.

Other tourist attractions include de la République Provincial Park, an 18-hole golf course, a pedestrian downtown with a number of retail stores, restaurants, a hotel and a convention centre. You can also visit the Antique Automobile Museum, the Madawaska Historic Museum, and many other museums.

The New Brunswick Botanical Garden is in suburban Saint-Jacques, on seven hectares with more than 80,000 plants, making it the largest arboretum east of Montreal.

Edmundston has a downhill skiing facility in the city at Mont Farlagne. This facility has 3 lifts, a t-bar, a double chair, and a quad chair. It has 14 trails and an elevation of 690 feet. Snowmaking is available. Five trails are lit for night skiing.

Sports
Since 2017, Edmundston has been home to the Edmundston Blizzard of the Maritime Junior A Hockey League, playing their home games at the Centre Jean Daigle.

Government
The offices of the Member of Parliament for the federal riding of Madawaska—Restigouche René Arseneault and the Member of the Legislative Assembly for the provincial riding of Edmundston-Madawaska Centre (Jean-Claude D'Amours) are located in downtown Edmundston and for the provincial riding of Madawaska Les Lacs-Edmundston (Francine Landry) are located in Edmundston.

Transportation infrastructure
Edmundston is served by New Brunswick Route 2, a four-lane all weather divided highway and, on the other side of the Saint John River, by U.S. Route 1. There is a municipal airport 17 kilometres north of Edmundston which serves general aviation traffic. The Trans Canada Trail passes through Edmundston, having been converted for pedestrian and bicycling use after abandonment of the New Brunswick Railway.

Education
The city has two francophone K-8 schools, an anglophone K-12 school, a francophone high school, a community college campus affiliated with the Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick, and a university campus affiliated with the Université de Moncton.

Media

Edmundston is served by five newspapers: Le Madawaska, L'Étoile — Édition La République, L'Acadie Nouvelle, The Telegraph Journal and Info Weekend), two local radio stations (CJEM-FM, CFAI-FM), two television rebroadcasters (CFTF-DT-1, CIMT-DT-1) and a regional bureau of Radio-Canada.

The area also receives the Quebec City-based newspapers Le Journal de Québec and Le Soleil which will cover notable events in the region.

 * Notable people

title: Edmundston


text:
1897 in music

Events in the year 1897 in music.

Specific locations

 * 1897 in Norwegian music

Events

 * January 13 – At a memorial concert in Paris for composer Emmanuel Chabrier (died 1894), the first act of his uncompleted work, Briséïs, is performed for the first time.
 * March 27 – The première of Sergei Rachmaninoff's First Symphony is a complete disaster, leaving many wondering whether Alexander Glazunov, the conductor for the event, was drunk or just disliked the music so much that he did not care about a good performance. It would be three years before Rachmaninoff would compose a major piece of music again.
 * September 8 – October 8 – Gustav Mahler becomes director of the Vienna Court Opera, and is obliged to convert from Judaism to Roman Catholicism.
 * The Cakewalk matures into Ragtime music.
 * John Philip Sousa's band makes phonograph recordings of Cakewalks and early Ragtime.
 * Early publications by Scott Joplin.
 * André Messager becomes musical director of the Opéra-Comique.
 * Ralph Vaughan Williams studies with Max Bruch in Berlin.
 * Teatro Nuovo in Bergamo changes its name to Teatro Donizetti.
 * The pan-African anthem "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" ("God Bless Africa") is composed as a Xhosa hymn by South African teacher Enoch Sontonga; versions become the national anthem of 5 countries including Tanzania's "Mungu ibariki Afrika".
 * Composer Alexander Scriabin marries pianist Vera Ivanovna.

Publications

 * Ben Harney – Ben Harney's Rag Time Instructor

Published popular music

 * "Asleep In The Deep"    w. Arthur J. Lamb m. Henry W. Petrie
 * "At A Georgia Camp Meeting"    w.m. Kerry Mills
 * "Badinage"    m. Victor Herbert
 * "Beautiful Isle of Somewhere"    w. Mrs Jessie Brown Pounds m. John S. Fearis
 * "Break The News To Mother"    w.m. Charles K. Harris
 * "Danny Deever"    w. Rudyard Kipling m. Walter Damrosch
 * "Harlem Rag"    m. Tom Turpin
 * "Let 'em All Come"    w.m. T. W. Connor
 * "Louisiana Rag" m. Theodore H. Northrup
 * "On The Banks Of The Wabash Far Away"    w.m. Paul Dresser
 * "Our Lodger's Such A Nice Young Man"    w.m. Fred Murray & Laurence  Barclay
 * "Roustabout Rag"    m. Paul Sarebresole
 * "The Shuffling Coon" by J. R. Todd
 * "Song Of India"    m. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
 * "The Stars and Stripes Forever"    m. John Philip Sousa (Recorded on Berliner Records)
 * "Syncopated Sandy" by Ned Wayburn & Stanley Whiting
 * "Take Back Your Gold"    w.m. Monroe H. Rosenfeld
 * "There's A Little Star Shining For You"    w.m. James Thornton
 * "Ye Boston Tea Party" by Arthur Pryor

Recorded popular music
– Dan W. Quinn on Berliner Records – Edison Concert Band on Edison Records brown wax cylinder No. 155 – Dan W. Quinn – Dan W. Quinn on Edison Records – Yvette Guilbert
 * "A Hot Time in the Old Town"
 * "Little Kinkies" (w.m. M. Tobias)
 * "My Mother Was a Lady"
 * "There's a Little Star Shining for You"
 * "Je suis pocharde!"

Classical music

 * Hugo Alfvén – Symphony No. 1
 * Ferruccio Busoni – Violin Concerto
 * Ernest Chausson
 * Chant funèbre, for four female voices (1897)
 * Piano Quartet in A, Op. 30
 * Vêpres pour le commun des vierges, for organ, Op. 31
 * String Quartet, Op. 35
 * Piece for cello or viola, and piano, Op. 39
 * Frederick Delius – Piano Concerto
 * Felix Draeseke – String Quintet in A "Stelzner"-Quintet
 * Paul Dukas – The Sorcerer's Apprentice
 * George Enescu –
 * Piano Suite No. 1 in G minor, "Dans le style ancien" Op. 3
 * Poème roumain, Op. 1
 * Sonata no. 1 for violin and piano in D major, Op. 2
 * Trio in G minor for piano, violin, and cello
 * August Enna – Concerto for violin and orchestra in D major
 * Asger Hamerik – Symphony no. 6 ("Spirituelle") for string orchestra
 * Alexander Mackenzie – Piano Concerto
 * Carl Nielsen – Hymnus amoris
 * Dora Pejačević – Berceuse, Op. 2, for solo piano
 * Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – Symphony No. 2 "Antar" (final version)
 * Arnold Schoenberg – String Quartet in D major
 * Alexander Scriabin – Piano Sonata No. 2
 * Richard Strauss – Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche
 * Alexander von Zemlinsky – Symphony No. 2

Opera

 * Frederick Delius – Koanga
 * August Enna – The Little Match Girl
 * Zdeněk Fibich – Šárka
 * Eduard Holst – Our Flats, premiered in New York
 * Wilhelm Kienzl – Don Quixote
 * Luigi Mancinelli – Ero e Leandro
 * Jules Massenet – Sapho
 * Johann Strauss II – Die Göttin der Vernunft
 * Alexander Zemlinsky – Sarema

Musical theater

 * The Belle of New York     Broadway production
 * The Charlatan    Broadway production
 * The Circus Girl    Broadway production
 * The Glad Hand    Broadway production
 * Pousse Café    Broadway production
 * The Yashmak – Adaptation of an Armenian operetta, Leblébidji Horhor, with music by Napoleon Lambelet and libretto by Cecil Raleigh and Seymour Hicks, runs from 31 March 1897 to 31 July 1897 (121 performances) at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London.

Births

 * January 2 – Jane Green, US singer (died 1931)
 * January 9 – Luis Gianneo, Argentine composer, pianist, and conductor (died 1968)
 * January 10 – Sam Chatmon, blues musician (died 1983)
 * January 22
 * Rosa Ponselle, soprano (died 1981)
 * Leslie Sarony, English singer, comedian and songwriter (died 1985)
 * February 12 – Břetislav Bakala, conductor and pianist (died 1958)
 * February 27 – Marian Anderson, contralto (died 1993)
 * March 3 – Ingrid Lang-Fagerström, harpist (died 1990)
 * March 6 – Sandy MacPherson, theatre organist (died 1975)
 * March 9 – Pedro Flores, composer (died 1979)
 * March 11 – Henry Cowell, composer (died 1965)
 * March 13 – Maria Nemeth, Hungarian operatic soprano (died 1967)
 * March 21 – Sim Gokkes, Dutch-Jewish composer (died 1943)
 * March 26 – David McCallum, Sr., violinist and father of David McCallum (died 1972)
 * April 1 – Lucille Bogan, blues singer (died 1979)
 * April 8 – John Frederick Coots, US composer (died 1985)
 * April 17 – Harald Sæverud, composer (died 1992)
 * April 19 – Vivienne Segal, US actress and singer (died 1992)
 * April 23 – Pixinguinha, choro composer and woodwind player (died 1973)
 * May 14 – Sidney Bechet, jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer (died 1959)
 * May 29 – Erich Wolfgang Korngold, composer (died 1957)
 * June 3
 * Memphis Minnie, blues singer (died 1973)
 * Boris Kroyt, classical violinist and violist, member of the Budapest String Quartet from 1936 to 1967 (died 1969)
 * June 12 – Alexandre Tansman, pianist and composer (died 1986)
 * June 15 – Mary Ellis, actress and singer (died 2003)
 * June 22 – Bulbul, opera and folk singer (died 1961)
 * June 27 – Maceo Pinkard, composer, lyricist and music publisher (died 1962)
 * August 10 — Jack Haley, American actor (d. 1979)
 * August 4 – Abe Lyman, US bandleader, composer and drummer (died 1957)
 * August 29 – Helge Rosvaenge, operatic tenor (died 1972)
 * September 3 – Francisco Mignone, composer (died 1986)
 * September 8 – Jimmie Rodgers, country singer (died 1933)
 * September 18
 * Pablo Sorozábal, composer (died 1988)
 * Sam H. Stept, Russian-born US composer, pianist and conductor (died 1964)
 * October 11 – Leo Reisman, violinist and bandleader (died 1961)
 * October 26 – Tiana Lemnitz, operatic soprano (died 1994)
 * November 2 – Dennis King, British singer and actor (died 1971)
 * November 12 – Karl Marx, conductor and composer (died 1985)
 * November 20 – Margaret Sutherland, composer (died 1984)
 * December 9 – Hermione Gingold, actress and singer (died 1987)
 * December 18 – Fletcher Henderson, jazz musician (died 1952)
 * December 26 — Wilhelmina Schmidt, singer and composer; stage name Willy Corsari (died 1998)
 * December 30 – Alfredo Bracchi, Italian lyricist (died 1976)

Deaths

 * January 24 – Sarah Edith Wynne, operatic soprano and concert singer, 54
 * February 10 – Antonio Bazzini, violinist, composer and music, 78
 * February 23 – Woldemar Bargiel, composer and teacher, 68
 * February 25 – Cornélie Falcon, opera singer, 83
 * March 7 – Leonard Labatt, operatic tenor, 58
 * April 3 – Johannes Brahms, composer, 63
 * April 8 – George Garrett, composer, 62
 * April 23 – Clement Harris, pianist and composer, 25 (killed in the Greco-Turkish war)
 * May 21 – Carl Mikuli, pianist and composer, 77
 * June 9
 * Ignace Gibsone, pianist and composer, 70
 * Pavel Pabst, pianist and composer, 43
 * June 18 – Franz Krenn, composer and music teacher, 81
 * August 1 – Gaetano Antoniazzi, violin-maker, 71
 * September 16 – Edward Edwards, choirmaster and composer, 81
 * September 20
 * Karel Bendl, composer, 59
 * Grenville Dean Wilson, pianist and composer, 64
 * October 11 – Léon Boëllmann, organist and composer, 35
 * November 6 – Edouard Deldevez, conductor, composer and violinist, 80
 * November 14 – Giuseppina Strepponi, operatic soprano, 82
 * December – Slavka Atanasijević, Serbian pianist and composer, 47
 * December 4 – Adolf Neuendorff, German-American composer, conductor, pianist and violinist, 54

title: 1897 in music