View source for Nitassinan

{{Short description|Ancestral homeland of the Innu, Canada}}
{{About|the ancestral homeland of the Innu|the 1991 book by Marie Wadden|Nitassinan: The Innu Struggle to Reclaim Their Homeland}}
{{Infobox country
|conventional_long_name = Nitassinan
|native_name = '''ᓂᑕᔅᓯᓇᓐ'''
|status = [[List of states with limited recognition|Unrecognized]] / [[former country]]
|status_text = 
|government_type = 
|image_map = File:Innu map.jpg
|map_caption = Map of Nitassinan and St'aschinuw, [[Naskapi]] Country, in [[Canada]] ([[Quebec]] and [[Labrador]])
| map_width              = 250px
|event_pre = 
|date_pre = 
|year_start = [[Time immemorial]]
|year_end = 1763 (as a [[State (polity)|State]])
|event1 = 
|date_event1 = 
|event2 = 
|date_event2 = 
|event3 = [[Indian Act]]
|date_event3 = 1876
|event4 = 
|date_event4 = 
|date_post = 
|event_post = 
|capital = 
|common_languages = [[Canadian French|French]], [[Innu-aimun]], [[English language|English]], [[Quebec Sign Language|LSQ]], [[American Sign Language|ASL]]
|demonym = [[Innu]]
|legislature = 
|title_representative = 
|year_representative1 = 
|representative1 = 
|leader_name1 = 
|leader_title1 = 
|leader_name2 = 
|leader_title2 = 
|stat_year1 = Pre-invasion
|stat_pop1 = 
|stat_area1 = 
|stat_year2 = 
|stat_pop2 = 
|stat_area2 = 
|stat_year3 = 
|stat_pop3 = 
|stat_area3 = 
|stat_year4 = 
|stat_pop4 = 
|stat_year5 = 
|stat_pop5 = 
|today = [[Quebec]] & [[Labrador]], [[Canada]]
}}
{{Infobox ethnonym|root=[[Innu]], Ilnu / assi<br/>"person" / "land"|person= [[Innu|Innu / Ilnu]]|people= [[Innu|Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh]]|language= [[Innu-aimun]]|country= Nitassinan}}
{{Contains special characters|Canadian}}
'''Nitassinan''' ({{langx|moe-Cans|ᓂᑕᔅᓯᓇᓐ}}) is the ancestral homeland, or [[country]], of the [[Innu]], an [[Indigenous people]] of Eastern [[Quebec]] and [[Newfoundland and Labrador|Labrador]], Canada. Nitassinan means "our land" in the [[Innu language]]. The territory covers the eastern portion of the [[Labrador peninsula]].<ref>''[[Nitassinan: The Innu Struggle to Reclaim Their Homeland]]'', [[Douglas & McIntyre]], December 1991, 240pp, by [[Marie Wadden]], {{ISBN|978-1-55365-731-6}}, [http://www.dmpibooks.com/book/nitassinan (book link)] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130121161501/http://www.dmpibooks.com/book/nitassinan |date=2013-01-21 }}, (retrieved 11/19/2012)</ref> In the northern reaches of Nitassinan lies St'aschinuw ({{langx|nsk|ᒋᑦ ᐊᔅᒋᓄᐤ}}), the [[Naskapi]] homeland.

The first interactions with Europeans were with the [[Vikings]] who referred to the Innu as the ''[[Skræling]]''. Alongside [[Helluland]] (probably eastern [[Inuit Nunangat]]) and [[Vinland]] (probably [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]]), the [[Greenlandic Norse]] called the Labrador region of Innu Country ''[[Markland]]''.

==Etymology==
'''''Nitassinan''''' and, the more restrained term '''''Innu Assi''''', mean "our land" and "Innu Country," respectively, in [[Innu-aimun]]. Both centre the root ''assi'' ("land"), originating from [[Proto-Algonquian language|Proto-Algonquian]] *axskiy,<ref>{{cite web |title=axkyi |url=https://protoalgonquian.atlas-ling.ca/#!/results |website=Proto-Algonquian Online Dictionary |publisher=Algonquian Dictionaries Project |access-date=26 May 2025}}</ref> relating it to the ''aski'' in [[Nitaskinan]], [[Ojibwe language|Ojibwemowin's]] ''aki'', and the ''Istchee'' in [[Eeyou Istchee]],{{NoteTag|({{IPA|/iːjoʊ̯ ɪst͡ʃi/}},<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-wJ5CzpVa8 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/R-wJ5CzpVa8 |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=Video |website=www.youtube.com |date=20 December 2010 |access-date=2020-09-30}}{{cbignore}}</ref> {{langx|crl|ᐄᔨᔨᐤ ᐊᔅᒌ}} {{lang|crl-Latn|Iiyiyiu Aschii}} {{IPA|/ijɪjɪu əstʃi/}}, {{langx|crj|ᐄᔨᔫ ᐊᔅᒌ}} {{lang|crj-Latn|Iiyiyuu Aschii}} {{IPA|/ijɪju əstʃi/}} <small>or</small> {{lang|crj|ᐄᓅ ᐊᔅᒌ}} {{lang|crj-Latn|Iinuu Aschii}} {{IPA|/inu əstʃi/}}, all meaning 'The People's Land';<ref>{{cite web | title=Eastern James Bay Cree Dictionary on the Web: Words | website=Eastern James Bay Cree Dictionary on the Web | date=2018-12-13 | url=http://dictionary.eastcree.org/Words/ | access-date=2020-09-30}}</ref> {{IPA|fr|iju istʃi|lang}})}} each meaning "land" as well.

''Nitassinan'' means "our ([[clusivity|excl.]]) land". It is formed by attaching the prefix ''ni-'' ("I; we") and the suffix ''-(i)nan'' ("us, but not yours") to the root ''aski'', forming the [[possessive]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Possessive |url=https://innu-aimun.ca/english/grammar/nouns/the-possessive/ |website=Innu Aimun Language Resources |publisher=Algonquian Dictionaries Project |access-date=23 October 2025}}</ref> This construction is seen in neighbouring [[Algonquian languages]] like [[Atikamekw language|Nehiromowin]], [[Anishinaabemowin]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Notes on Possessed Nouns |url=https://ojibwegrammar.langsci.wisc.edu/Grammar/pdfDocs/NounPossession.pdf |website=Ojibwe Grammar |access-date=26 May 2025}}</ref> and Plains Cree,.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Okimāsis |first1=Jean L. |title=Cree Language of the Plains - nehiyawewin paskwāwi-pīkiskwēwin |publisher=University of Regina Press |isbn=978-0- 88977-550-3 |page=250 |url=https://ctl.uregina.ca/assets/creelanguageoftheplainstextbook.pdf |access-date=26 May 2025}}</ref> Indeed, [[Atikamekw]] and [[Abenaki]] use similar constructions to refer to their homelands: [[Nitaskinan]] and Ndakinna, respectively.

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==

{{reflist}}

{{Coord missing|Newfoundland and Labrador}}

{{Indigenous countries of the Americas}}

{{coord|52|49|9.8|N|67|11|53.3|W|display=title}}

[[Category:Innu]]
[[Category:Geography of Newfoundland and Labrador]]
[[Category:Geography of Quebec]]
[[Category:Cultural regions of Canada]]

{{Quebec-geo-stub}}
{{Labrador-geo-stub}}
{{NorthAm-native-stub}}

[[gv:Nitassinan]]