The population of Antigonish is made up of a variety of different peoples. The first people to live in the area were the Mi'kmaq. Many other residents can trace their ancestry back to France, Holland, Africa, and Ireland. The majority of residents have their roots in Scotland. MacDonald, MacIsaac, MacPherson, MacDougall, MacGillivray, Chisholm, Fraser, Campbell, Stewart, and Gillis are but a few of the more common surnames in the area.

Native people have lived in Antigonish County for about 9000 years, spanning the Archaic (9000-3000 years ago) and Woodland (3000-500 years ago) Periods. The Woodland Peoples are directly ancestral to the Mi' kmaq of today.

These early peoples settled around the harbours, where hunting, fishing and collecting shellfish were especially profitable. Hunting centered on land mammals such as moose, caribou, deer, beaver, black bear and seals. Other dietary items included sea birds, oysters, clams and plant foods.

In the 1770s, thousands of Scots were forced to flee the oppressive Highland Clearance in West Scotland. Many settled along the Northeastern coast of Nova Scotia, particularly in Pictou County. Soon these original settlers moved east, to Arisaig in Antigonish County, and south to establish farms throughout the region.

In 1784, Irish Loyalists, led by Captain Timothy Hierlihy, took up a large land grant surrounding Antigonish Harbour and founded what they first called Georgetown, then Dorchester, and finally Antigonish. The establishment of the first permanent settlement in the area is attributed to Hierlihy and his shipful of hopefuls.

Acadian French settled in Antigonish County beginning in 1755 in the area known today as Tracadie. Pomquet, just west of Tracadie, was settled at about the same time.

Immigrants from Quebec and other French settlements soon joined them and these industrious people built ships, fished, and farmed to support themselves.

The first Black citizens to settle in Antigonish County took up land in Tracadie. They were Loyalists who came up from South Carolina soon after the American Revolution, and at first settled in Guysborough County.

A community was developed behind the present-day village of Guysborough. The leader in the community was the well-respected Thomas Brownspriggs. By 1787 some of those in the community became dissatisfied with life in Guysborough County. Led by Brownspriggs, 73 families petitioned Lieutenant-Governor Parr for farmland. On September 28, 1787 Parr ordered the surveyor-general to "lay out under Thomas Brownspriggs and seventy-three others at Tracadie...3000 acres."

One hundred and seventy-two black citizens were expected to leave for Tracadie but not all left Guysborough, where some had found employment. In Tracadie, Brownspriggs, and later Dempsey Jordan, were both the religious and secular leaders.