Republic of Madawaska
| Republic of Madawaska | ||||||||||||||||||
| Unrecognized state | ||||||||||||||||||
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 Municipalities of Madawaska County
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| Capital | Fort Kent, Maine | |||||||||||||||||
| Languages | English, French | |||||||||||||||||
| Government | Republic | |||||||||||||||||
| Head of State | John Baker | |||||||||||||||||
| History | ||||||||||||||||||
| • | Independence declared | August 10, 1827 | ||||||||||||||||
| • | Arrest of John Baker | September 25, 1827 | ||||||||||||||||
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The Republic of Madawaska (French: République du Madawaska) was an unrecognized state in the northwest corner of Madawaska County, New Brunswick (also known as the "New Brunswick Panhandle") and adjacent areas of Aroostook County in the US State of Maine and of Quebec. The word "Madawaska" comes from the Mi'kmaq words madawas (porcupine) and kak (place). Thus, the Madawaska is "the country of the porcupine". The Madawaska River which flows into the Saint John River at Edmundston, New Brunswick and Madawaska, Maine flows through the region.
The origins of the unorganized republic lie in the Treaty of Paris (1783), which established the border between the United States of America and the British North American colonies. The Madawaska region remained in dispute until 1842.
In 1817, a US settler, John Baker, arrived in the region. Baker petitioned the state of Maine for inclusion in the state in 1825. On 4 July 1827, Baker and his wife, Sophronia (aka Sophie) Rice, raised a "US" flag sewn by Sophie, on the west of the junction of the Meruimticook (now Baker Brook, after him) and Saint John Rivers. This area is now Baker Brook, New Brunswick.
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