Sydney (Nova Scotia)

Sydney (Nova Scotia), former city in Cape Breton County, northeastern Nova Scotia, Canada, on the eastern coast of Cape Breton Island. In 1995 the county was reorganized as a regional government incorporating Sydney (the former county seat), the city of Glace Bay, and four towns. The former area of Sydney is now designated districts 9 through 13 of Cape Breton Regional Municipality.

Located in a major coal-producing region and with a seaport on Sydney Harbour, the Sydney area has long been a commercial and manufacturing center, producing goods such as iron and steel, wood items, ships, chemicals, building materials, and processed food. The area comprising the former Sydney, the former Glace Bay, and the former towns of North Sydney and Sydney Mines forms the province’s second-largest industrial complex (Halifax is the largest). However, the coal and steel industries have declined since the end of World War II in 1945. The University College of Cape Breton (1974) is located here.

The community, settled in the early 1780s by United Empire Loyalists, was named in honor of the British statesman Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney. It served as the capital of the colony of Cape Breton Island from 1784 to 1820, when the colony was reunited administratively with Nova Scotia. Sydney was incorporated in 1904.