Dartmouth

Dartmouth, former city in Halifax County, southern Nova Scotia, on Halifax Harbour opposite Halifax; incorporated as a city 1961. Manufacturing is important to the local economy. The Bedford Institute of Oceanography is here. The site of the city was the summer home for Mi'kmaq people, who called it Boonamoogwaddy (Tom Cod grounds). Settled by the English in 1750, it was renamed for Dartmouth, England. The greatest periods of growth occurred after a canal to the Bay of Fundy was opened in 1861 and during World Wars I (1914-1918) and II (1939-1945). The community was partly destroyed in late 1917 when a munitions ship exploded in Halifax Harbour.