I.

Introduction

Nova Scotia, province of eastern Canada, consisting of a peninsula on the Canadian mainland, Cape Breton Island, and numerous smaller islands. The peninsula is connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land called the Isthmus of Chignecto. Cape Breton Island is separated from the peninsula by the Strait of Canso. Nova Scotia is one of the Maritime provinces of Canada, along with Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick; it is also one of the Atlantic provinces (the Maritimes plus Newfoundland and Labrador). Halifax is Nova Scotia’s capital and largest city.

Nova Scotia juts out into the Atlantic Ocean from the mainland, and no part of the province is far from the sea. Teeming with fish and shellfish, the sea has always been central to life in Nova Scotia. The province’s many fine harbors and close proximity to sea lanes have given Nova Scotia an important role in Canada’s defense. The harbor at Halifax, one of the world’s largest, is open year-round and is one of Canada’s busiest ports.

Long before Europeans arrived, Nova Scotia was inhabited by the Mi'kmaq and Abenaki, Algonquian-speaking indigenous peoples. Seafaring Vikings, who explored the coast of northeastern North America in the 10th century, were likely the first Europeans to see Nova Scotia. About five centuries later, in 1497, the Italian navigator John Cabot made a landing in the area, possibly at Cape Breton Island. Cabot was followed by many other explorers and fishers who plied Nova Scotia’s coastal waters.

In 1605 the French explorers Samuel de Champlain and Pierre du Gua, Sieur de Monts established a settlement in Nova Scotia at Port Royal (now Annapolis Royal)—the first permanent French settlement in Canada. Nova Scotia was part of a maritime colony that France called Acadia, possibly after the Mi’kmaq word meaning “plenty.” The British, too, laid claim to Acadia, which they later called Nova Scotia (Latin for “New Scotland”). In the imperial rivalry that ensued, the territory passed back and forth between the two countries until 1713, when France ceded Acadia to the British (apart from Cape Breton Island and other areas). During the 1750s, French Acadians in Nova Scotia who refused to swear allegiance to the British crown were forcibly deported by British troops. In 1867 Nova Scotia became one of Canada’s four original provinces, along with New Brunswick, Ontario, and Québec.