Антокости аралы: ЮНЕСКО мұрасы және ежелгі қазбалар мекені

Island at the junction of the Estuary and the Gulf of St. Lawrence River, Quebec, Canada

Anticosti is an island, in L'Île d'Anticosti (Municipality), Minganie Regional County Municipality, administrative region of Côte Nord, Quebec province, Canada. The island is located at the junction of the Estuary of St. Lawrence estuary and its gulf which opens into the Atlantic Ocean.

On September 19, 2023, Anticosti was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List. It is recognized for its exceptional fossil assemblage representing the first global mass extinction of animal life on Earth. Located within protected areas free from any industrial activity, the site is endowed with exceptionally well preserved, abundant and diverse fossil fauna, this Anticosti fauna represents the first mass extinction of animal life on a global scale, 447 – 437 million years ago, at the end of the Ordovician period.

Anticosti has had several First Nations names: Natigôsteg, “advanced land” in Micmacs; Natashquan, “where we catch bears”, in Innu. In 1535, Jacques Cartier wrote: "the said island which we have named the island of Assumption", after having written Antiscoti (1612) and Antiscoty (1613), Samuel de Champlain spelled the name of this island Enticosty (1625) and Antycosty (1632). The name in French is Île d’Anticosti.

This island is located at the outlet of the St. Lawrence River into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, between 49° and 50° N., and between 61° 40' and 64° 30' W. At in size, it is the 90th largest island in the world and 20th largest island in Canada. Anticosti Island is separated on the north from the Côte Nord region of Quebec (the Labrador Peninsula) by the Jacques Cartier Strait, and on the south from the Gaspé Peninsula by the Honguedo Strait. Anticosti Island is larger than Prince Edward Island but sparsely populated (218 people in 2016), with most of the permanent population in the village of Port Menier on the western tip of the island; this population once consisted chiefly of the keepers of the lighthouses erected by the Canadian government. The entire island constitutes one municipality known as L'Île d'Anticosti. Due to more than 400 shipwrecks off its coasts, Anticosti Island is sometimes called the "Cemetery of the Gulf". Anticosti Island is part of the eastern Saint Lawrence lowlands. It is long and has a maximum breadth of — 1 1/2 times as large as the province of Prince Edward Island. Its coastline is long, and is rocky and dangerous, offering little shelter for ships except in Gamache, Ellis, and Fox Bays. There are large shoals to the south. Topographically, Anticosti Island can be divided into three distinct regions: two lowland areas, rarely exceeding in elevation, in the eastern and western thirds of the island linked along the coast; and a central highland forming a plateau that rises to just over This plateau is an unidirectional structure slightly tilted to the south, and is characterized by rolling cuestas. The rocks exposed on the island form a continuous sedimentary stratum more than thick. These are the most complete strata in eastern North America of the Ordovician and Silurian periods.

For thousands of years, Anticosti Island was the territory of the indigenous peoples who lived on the mainland and used it as a hunting ground. The Innu called it Notiskuan, translated as "where bears are hunted" and the Mi'kmaq called it Natigôsteg, meaning "forward land". In 1874, it was bought by the Anticosti Island Company and they founded the villages at English Bay and Fox Bay. Most of the inhabitants, however, continued to be the few keepers of the island's many lighthouses. Because of the number of shipwrecks around the island, stores of provisions were also maintained around the island for sailors who might be washed ashore. In 1882, the Parish of Notre Dame de l'Assomption was founded, a term referring to Cartier's name for the island. In 1884, the island became property of the Stockwell brothers who formed a forestry company two years later. But they were unsuccessful and the company lasted only five years. Henri Menier died in 1913 and his brother Gaston became the owner of Anticosti Island. He used and maintained it for a time but eventually decided it was not an economically viable operation and sold it to the Wayagamack Pulp and Paper Company in 1926 for $6,000,000. For the next five decades, the island was used almost exclusively by forestry companies which harvested timber and built some infrastructure, mainly roads, but abandoned the villages at English Bay and Fox Bay. In 1974, the government of Quebec purchased the island from the forestry company Consolidated Bathurst Ltd. for $23,780,000. Anticosti was placed under management by the Ministry of Recreation, Hunting and Fishing (ministère du Loisir de la Chasse et de la Pêche) and in 1983 the process began to set up a working municipal structure. The World Heritage Site includes the entire coastline of the island (except for the region around the village of Port Menier), and the banks of the Jupiter and Vauréal rivers. A one kilometer buffer zone extends inland from the coasts and riverbanks.

Access to the island is either by boat or plane. From April to mid January, the commercial shipping company Relais Nordik services Port Menier twice weekly with a passenger and cargo vessel. The Port Menier Airport is serviced by Air Liaison which provides regular scheduled flights to Sept Îles and Havre St Pierre. There are two other aerodromes on the island, both towards the eastern end. Rivière aux Saumons (CTH7) is located on the northern side of the island and was paved in July 2010; Rivière Bell (CRB5) is gravel and is located on the southern side. These are used by outfitters and charter companies that provide private air services during the tourist season. The Henri Menier Road or Transanticostienne Road, the island's unpaved main road, stretches from Port Menier to the eastern tip, with numerous forest roads branching off to provide access to various tourist locations and logging concessions. Car rental is available in Port Menier.

The forests of Anticosti Island are typical boreal forest, with common species such as white spruce, balsam fir, and black spruce. It is distinguished by some minor stands of American white birch and trembling aspen. Balsam fir is slowly being replaced with white spruce because of intensive grazing done by deer and by periodic outbreaks of hemlock looper and spruce budworm. About a quarter of the island is covered by peat lands. Anticosti Island is home to the rare lady's slipper orchid. While populations are declining elsewhere in eastern North America, the orchid flourishes here abundantly, making Anticosti a refuge for this plant. In order to make Anticosti Island a hunter's "paradise", several animal species have been introduced; starting in 1896, the island became an unprecedented biological experiment. In all, sixteen introduced species have been attempted, with six proving to be unsuccessful, namely bison, caribou, elk, mink and fisher. However, for ten species, it has been a beneficial introduction; six species of terrestrial mammals (white tailed deer, moose, beaver, snowshoe hare and muskrat), two species of frogs, and two species of non migratory birds (ruffed grouse and the spruce grouse). Of all these species introduced, the success of white tailed deer is particularly noteworthy. From an initial group of about 200 (introduced in 1896 and 1897), the number of white tailed deer has grown to an estimated 160,000 animals today, representing a density of 20 deer/km2. The brook trout, Atlantic salmon and American eel visit the island's shores and swim up several rivers of the island. Some 221 bird species, distributed among 21 avian families, have been observed on Anticosti Island. It is home to nearly 60% of the known breeding sites of the bald eagle in the province of Quebec. underlies the Anticosti Islands and extends to surrounding areas in Quebec, Ontario and much of northeastern United States. On February 8, 2011, the citizen group "Non au Pétrole et au Gaz au Québec" released one of the biggest petitions in Quebec history against fracking in the province of Quebec with 128,000 signatures thinking it would prevent the oil and gas exploration on Anticosti. In June 2011, the Quebec firm Pétrolia claimed to have discovered about 30 billion barrels of oil on the island of Anticosti, which is the first time that significant reserves have been found in the province. In February 2014, Premier of Quebec Pauline Marois announced that the provincial government would help finance two exploratory shale gas operations as a prelude to hydraulic fracturing on the island, with the province pledging $115 million to finance drilling for two separate joint ventures in exchange for rights to 50% of the licences and 60% of any commercial profit. It was the first oil and gas deal of any size for the province. With the change in government that occurred in April 2014, the Liberals of Philippe Couillard could change that decision. Petrolia Inc., Corridor Resources and Maurel & Prom formed one joint venture, while Junex Inc. was still seeking a private partner. On June 4, 2013, the citizen group "Non au Pétrole et au Gaz au Québec", realizing that fracking continued to be a viable method of oil extraction on Anticosti, released another petition that garnered 26,000 signatures against fracking, exploration and exploitation of oil and gas on Anticosti Island and asked for a moratorium and an environmental evaluation. Geological engineer Marc Durand gave a presentation at a conference explaining that a minimum of 12,000 wells would be necessary for this exploitation and would put Quebec in debt, considering the 12 million dollar cost of one of these wells. A year later, when Pauline Marois announced an investment of 115 million dollars for Petrolia to continue the exploration, the same petition increased up to 36,000 signatures. The government started a BAPE (environmental evaluation) specific for Anticosti and the report, published on October 3, is in favour of creating a protected area on the island.