The Mi’kmaq used the island to make stone tools before the Europeans arrived. Samuel de Champlain gave the island its present name which in French means ‘High Island’, due to its 320-foot high cliffs. In 1604. The steep basalt cliffs of the island result from volcanic eruptions in the Jurassic period and may have been connected to the North Mountain volcanic ridge on the mainland 200 million years ago – before the Bay of Fundy was formed.