Île aux Basques is a Canadian island located in the lower estuary of the St. Lawrence River, about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) north of Trois-Pistoles, in Les Basques Regional County Municipality of the Bas-Saint-Laurent region of Quebec.

A series of wars and invasions led seafarers to explore further inland from the Atlantic Ocean for seals, porpoises and whales.

[3] Shore camps not only gave fishermen and whalers a chance to replenish their supplies of firewood and fresh water, but they also provided space to dry their catch of fish.

[3] In the oven at la Baleine, archaeologists discovered evidence of charred blubber and combustion, as well as pieces of terra cotta roof tiles and fragments of European crockery.

I took pleasure in visiting the large ovens they had built to make their oil, about which we can still see the great ribs of Whales they killed.