| Language of origin | Haida language |
| Feature Type: | Point - Land area jutting into a water feature; also used for a convex change in direction of a shoreline. |
| Status: | Official |
| Name Authority: | BC Geographical Names Office |
| Relative Location: | E entrance of Louscoone Inlet, at S end Moresby Island, Queen Charlotte Land District |
| Tags: | Indigenous |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 52°07'59"N, 131°12'26"W at the approximate centre of this feature. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 103B/3 |
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Origin Notes and History:
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Adopted 22 May 1962 on C.3857 as recommended by Hydrographic Service. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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Named by Hydrographic Service, for the former Indian Village of Ninstints, mentioned by Chittenden in 1884 as being "on an island opposite west coast entrance to Houston Stewart Channel." [ie. Anthony Island, about 3 miles southwest of this point] Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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The Haida called this village and the island it sits on S'Gaang Gwaii, meaning "Red-Cod-Island (Town)". Early European traders named the village Nan Sdins [spelled Ninstints in early documents] after the head chief of the village. S'Gaang Gwaii was the main village of the Kunghit Haida, the most southerly of the Haida, who lived along the shores of this island until smallpox wiped out 90% of the more than 300 inhabitants. Although the island is exposed to the open Pacific, the village is protected by a sheltered bay and a rocky islet on the east side of the island. In 1957 eleven of the best preserved poles of S'Gaang Gwaii were removed and shipped to museums in the south. Despite this, the village is considered to provide the most magnificent display of standing Haida Mortuary poles in the world and in 1981 was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. In 1995 a number of the poles were straightened to prolong the period before they returned naturally to the earth. Wandering amidst the fragments of the old longhouses and over two dozen remaining totem poles, many of them toppled or tilted, one feels the presence of the past. One cannot help but be touched by the beauty and dignity of these weathered poles lining the shore, as they look out over the small crescent shaped beach beyond the shoreline to the sea. At low tide canoe runs are still visible on the beach in front of the village." (Information from Parks Canada website, 1999). See also Parks Canada brochure for interpretive history. Source: included with note |