The Míkmaq (pronounced [miːɡmax]), traditionally spelled Micmac in English, but Mi’kmaq (singular Mi’kmaw) by the Míkmaq of Nova Scotia, Miigmaq (Miigmao) by the Míkmaq of New Brunswick, Mi’gmaq by the Listuguj Council in Quebec, or Mìgmaq (Mìgmaw) in some native literature, are a First Nations (Native American) people, indigenous to northeastern New England, Canada's Atlantic Provinces, and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec. -------------- "Micmac" until the 1980s was the most common spelling in English, and is still used for example in Ethnologue, but has fallen out of favour in recent years, and been replaced by the native spelling Mi'kmaq in nearly all scholarly publications. The Míkmaq themselves prefer to use one of the three current Míkmaq orthographies when writing in English or French, and say that the English spelling is "perceived as being colonially tainted."------ The nation has a population of about 20,000 of whom nearly 11,000 speak the Algonquian language Lnuísimk, more commonly known as "Micmac". Lnuísimk was once written in Míkmaq hieroglyphic writing and is now written using most letters of the standard Latin alphabet. ---------------- In the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, October is celebrated as Míkmaq History Month and the entire Nation celebrates Treaty Day annually on October 1. This was first signified in the year, 1752, with the Peace and Friendship Treaty (also called the Treaty of 1752) signed by Chief Cope of Shubenacadie, representing all of the Míkmaq people, and the king's representative. It was stated that if the natives would be given gifts annually,"as long as they continued in Peace"