Amqui
| Amqui | ||
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| City | ||
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 Location within La Matapédia RCM. |
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 Amqui
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| Coordinates: 48°28′N 67°26′W / 48.467°N 67.433°WCoordinates: 48°28′N 67°26′W / 48.467°N 67.433°W | ||
| Country |
 Canada
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| Province |
 Quebec
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| Region | Bas-Saint-Laurent | |
| RCM | La Matapédia | |
| Settled | 1870s | |
| Constituted | January 16, 1991 | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor | Gaëtan Ruest | |
| • Federal riding | Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia | |
| • Prov. riding | Matane-Matapédia | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 126.80 km2 (48.96 sq mi) | |
| • Land | 120.81 km2 (46.65 sq mi) | |
| Population (2011) | ||
| • Total | 6,322 | |
| • Density | 52.3/km2 (135/sq mi) | |
| • Pop 2006-2011 |
 1.0% |
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| • Dwellings | 2,925 | |
| Time zone | EST (UTC−5) | |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC−4) | |
| Postal code(s) | G5J | |
| Area code(s) | 418 and 581 | |
| Highways |
 Route 132 Route 195
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| Website | www |
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Amqui (/ɒmkwiː/) is a town in eastern Quebec, Canada, at the base of the Gaspé peninsula in Bas-Saint-Laurent. Located at the confluence of the Humqui and Matapédia Rivers, it is the seat of La Matapédia Regional County Municipality. The main access road is Quebec Route 132.
The Mi'kmaq word amgoig, also written humqui, unkoui and ankwi, means "the place to have fun", "half wall" or "place of amusement and pleasure." Another Mi'kmaq name for the area is Amkooĭk or Mkooögwĭk which aptly describes the area as "boggy." One source postulates that its name comes from the swirling water at the junction of the Humqui and Matapédia rivers. However, the most plausible explanation appears to be more pragmatic: Amqui was formerly a place where Amerindians gathered for pow wows.
Originally Mi'kmaq territory, the area was granted as a seignory by Louis de Buade de Frontenac to Charles-Nicolas-Joseph D’Amours in 1694. D'Amours died in 1728 and none of his descendants claimed the rights to the seignory. So it remained a remote and undeveloped land until the 19th century. In 1830 construction began on the Kempt Road, a strategic military road between Quebec and the Maritimes, completed in 1833, that opened the area to colonization. But it was the construction of the Intercolonial Railway in the 1870s that brought real development.
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