New Brunswick

I

Introduction

New Brunswick, province in eastern Canada. It is the largest of Canada’s three Maritime provinces, the others being Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. It is also one of the four Atlantic provinces, which include the Maritimes plus Newfoundland and Labrador. Fredericton is the provincial capital, and Saint John is the largest city.

With its many swift-flowing streams and rounded, forested hills, New Brunswick has the rough charm of the uplands of New England. Timber cut from dense forests is transported to mills that make pulp and paper, a leading manufacturing activity. Fishing and agriculture are also important, and the province’s rich mineral deposits support a vigorous mining industry. The ice-free port of Saint John, located at the mouth of the province’s largest river, is an important shipping and commercial center. New Brunswick’s rugged wilderness and coastal scenery draw many tourists, and the largely unoccupied northern interior is famous for its excellent hunting and fishing.

The original inhabitants of the area that is now New Brunswick were Algonquian-speaking peoples of the Northeast culture area (see Native Americans of North America). During and after the American Revolution (1775-1783) many United Empire Loyalists—American colonists who remained loyal to Britain during the war—fled to New Brunswick. They settled there in such great numbers that the province was nicknamed the Loyalist Province. The Loyalists lived among French farmers and fishers, who had settled in the Maritimes in the early 17th century and called the region Acadia.

New Brunswick became a part of the British province of Nova Scotia in 1763 at the conclusion of the French and Indian War. Many French Acadians expelled by the British during the war were allowed to return, and the French population and culture remained an important force in the region. In 1784 New Brunswick became a separate British province. Nearly a century later, in 1867, New Brunswick was one of the four original provinces—along with Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Québec—that joined to form the Dominion of Canada. Today, New Brunswick has the highest percentage of Francophones in Canada outside of Québec, and it is Canada’s only officially bilingual province.

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II

Physical Geography

New Brunswick is roughly the shape of a rectangle and has an area of 72,908 sq km (28,150 sq mi), including 1,458 sq km (563 sq mi) of inland waters. It ranks eighth in size among the Canadian provinces. From north to south New Brunswick measures a maximum of 391 km (243 mi) and from east to west a maximum of 408 km (254 mi). Campobello, Deer, and Grand Manan islands, which lie south of the mainland, are part of the province.

New Brunswick shares borders with the state of Maine in the west, the province of Québec in the north, and the province of Nova Scotia in the southeast. To the east are the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Northumberland Strait, which separates New Brunswick from Prince Edward Island; connecting the two provinces is the 12.9-km (8.02-mi) Confederation Bridge. To the northeast lies Chaleur Bay (Baie des Chaleurs), and in the south is the Bay of Fundy. The Bay of Fundy separates New Brunswick from Nova Scotia, but the two provinces are linked by the Isthmus of Chignecto, a low-lying area covered by marsh and swamp.

A

Natural Regions

New Brunswick is a part of the Appalachian region, a geographic zone that runs almost the entire length of eastern North America. The highest lands in New Brunswick are located on a plateau that dominates the northwest of the province and provides headwaters for several river systems. At the center of this region is the highest peak of the province, Mount Carleton, which has an elevation of 820 m (2,690 ft). In central and eastern New Brunswick are gently rolling hills. A maritime plain slopes to the sea in the north and east. On the southern coast, a line of steep hills, called the Caledonia Highlands and Kent Hills, drop to tidal marshes and the sea. In the southwest a lowland plain extends inland from the coast.

Even in lowland areas the landscape of New Brunswick varies considerably. Numerous rivers and streams have cut deeply into the surface, creating rough terrain that is difficult to traverse. Everywhere the land shows the effects of ancient glaciers, which covered New Brunswick during the last ice age. A thick mantle of sandy materials deposited by glaciers covers most of the province. In the lowlands, glacial deposits have created a large number of lakes and swamps.

B

Coastline

The coastline of New Brunswick is broken by many deep bays, inlets, and estuaries. All of New Brunswick is within 200 km (124 mi) of the ocean. As a result, marine-based activities remain prominent in the economic and social life of the province.

Chaleur Bay (Baie des Chaleurs) to the north is one of the major inlets on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In the south is the Bay of Fundy, which is noted for some of the world’s highest tides. Other large bays are Passamaquoddy, Miramichi, and Nepisiguit bays. Chignecto Bay and its arm, Cumberland Basin, is also a significant body of water.

The exceptionally high tides in the 150-km- (90-mi)-long Bay of Fundy produce a series of spectacular natural phenomena. The bay is narrow, especially in its headwaters area, where waters entering it from the North Atlantic Ocean are bottled up. As a result, the variation between high tides and low tides normally runs from 10 to 15 m (30 to 50 ft). However, spring tides, or unusually high tides, raise the water level by as much as 18 m (60 ft). The Saint John and Petitcodiac rivers are especially affected by the bay. On the Saint John River the result is the famous Reversing Falls, where the force of the incoming tide reverses a series of low waterfalls where the river meets the sea. The water then rushes uphill in a tidal wall against the normal flow of the falls, appearing to defy gravity. On the Petitcodiac River near the city of Moncton, high tides also produce a tidal bore (crested wave). There the waters of the incoming tide rush in with such speed and force that they enter the river as a solid wall as much as 2 m (6 ft) high. The vigorous tidal activity in the Bay of Fundy helps keep its ports, most notably Saint John, ice-free in winter.

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