![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/12\/Nova-Scotia-in-Canada-300x255.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Its provincial capital is Halifax<\/a>. Nova Scotia is the second-smallest of Canada’s ten provinces, with an area of 21,300 square miles, including Cape Breton<\/a> and another 3,800 coastal islands. As of 2016, the population was 923,598. Nova Scotia is Canada’s second-most-densely populated province, after Prince Edward Island<\/a>, with 45 residents per square mile.<\/p>\n “Nova Scotia” means “New Scotland” in Latin and is the recognized English-language name for the province. In both French and Scottish Gaelic, the province is directly translated as “New Scotland”. In general, Romance and Slavic languages use a direct translation of “New Scotland”, while most other languages use direct transliterations of the Latin \/ English name.<\/p>\n The province was first named in the 1621 Royal Charter granting to Sir William Alexander<\/a> in 1632 the right to settle lands including modern Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick<\/a> and the Gasp\u00e9 Peninsula.<\/a><\/p>\n Nova Scotia is Canada’s smallest province in area after Prince Edward Island. The province’s mainland is the Nova Scotia peninsula<\/a> surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean<\/a>, including numerous bays and estuaries. Nowhere in Nova Scotia is more than 42 miles from the ocean. Cape Breton Island, a large island to the northeast of the Nova Scotia mainland, is also part of the province, as is Sable Island<\/a>, a small island notorious for its shipwrecks, approximately 110 miles from the province’s southern coast.<\/p>\n Nova Scotia has many ancient fossil-bearing rock formations. These formations are particularly rich on the Bay of Fundy’s<\/a> shores. Blue Beach near Hantsport<\/a>, Joggins Fossil Cliffs<\/a>, on the Bay of Fundy’s shores, has yielded an abundance of Carboniferous-age<\/a> fossils. Wasson’s Bluff, near the town of Parrsboro<\/a>, has yielded both Triassic<\/a>– and Jurassic-age<\/a> fossils.<\/p>\n The province contains 5,400 lakes.<\/p>\n The province includes regions of the Mi’kmaq<\/a> nation of Mi’kma’ki (mi’gama’gi). (The territory of the Nation of Mi’kma’ki also includes the Maritimes, parts of Maine<\/a>, Newfoundland<\/a> and the Gasp\u00e9 Peninsula.) The Mi’kmaq people inhabited Nova Scotia at the time the first European colonists arrived. In 1605, French colonists established the first permanent European settlement in the future Canada (and the first north of Florida<\/a>) at Port Royal<\/a>, founding what would become known as Acadia<\/a>.<\/p>\n The British conquest of Acadia<\/a> took place in 1710. The Treaty of Utrecht<\/a> in 1713 formally recognized this and returned Cape Breton Island (\u00cele Royale) to the French. Present-day New Brunswick then still formed a part of the French colony of Acadia. Immediately after the capture of Port Royal in 1710, Francis Nicholson<\/a> announced it would be renamed Annapolis Royal<\/a> in honor of Queen Anne<\/a>. In 1749, the capital of Nova Scotia moved from Annapolis Royal to the newly established Halifax. In 1755 the vast majority of the French population (the Acadians) was forcibly removed in the Expulsion of the Acadians<\/a>; New England Planters<\/a> arrived between 1759 and 1768 to replace them.<\/p>\n In 1763, most of Acadia (Cape Breton Island, St. John’s Island (now Prince Edward Island), and New Brunswick) became part of Nova Scotia. In 1765, the county of Sunbury<\/a> was created. This included the territory of present-day New Brunswick and eastern Maine as far as the Penobscot River<\/a>. In 1769, St. John’s Island became a separate colony. Nova Scotia included present-day New Brunswick until that province’s establishment in 1784, after the arrival of United Empire Loyalists<\/a>. In 1867, Nova Scotia became one of the four founding provinces of the Canadian Confederation.<\/p>\n The warfare on Nova Scotian soil during the 17th and 18th centuries significantly influenced the history of Nova Scotia. The Mi’kmaq had lived in Nova Scotia for centuries. The French arrived in 1604, and Catholic Mi’kmaq and Acadians formed the majority of the population of the colony for the next 150 years. During the first 80 years the French and Acadians lived in Nova Scotia, nine significant military clashes took place as the English and Scottish (later British), Dutch<\/a> and French fought for possession of the area. These encounters happened at Port Royal, Saint John, Cap de Sable (present-day Port La Tour, Nova Scotia<\/a>), Jemseg <\/a>(1674 and 1758) and Baleine<\/a> (1629). The Acadian Civil War<\/a> took place from 1640 to 1645.<\/p>\n Beginning with King William’s War<\/a> in 1688, six wars took place in Nova Scotia before the British defeated the French (and ultimately expelled much of their population) and made peace with the Mi’kmaq:<\/p>\n King William’s War (1688\u20131697), The battles during these wars took place primarily Port Royal, Saint John, Canso<\/a>, Chignecto<\/a>, Dartmouth<\/a> (1751), Lunenburg<\/a> (1756) and Grand-Pr\u00e9.<\/a> Despite the British conquest of Acadia in 1710, Nova Scotia remained primarily occupied by Catholic Acadians and Mi’kmaq, who confined British forces to Annapolis and to Canso.<\/p>\n The Mi’kmaq signed a series of treaties with Great Britain, beginning after Father Rale’s War (1725). In 1725, the British signed a treaty (or “agreement”) with the Mi’kmaq, but the authorities have often disputed its definition of the rights of the Mi’kmaq to hunt and fish on their lands.<\/p>\n A generation later, Father Le Loutre’s War began when Edward Cornwallis<\/a> arrived to establish Halifax<\/a> with 13 transports on 21 June 1749. A General Court, made up of the governor and the Council, was the highest court in the colony at the time. Jonathan Belcher<\/a> was sworn in as chief justice of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court on 21 October 1754. The first legislative assembly in Halifax, under the Governorship of Charles Lawrence<\/a>, met on 2 October 1758. During the French and Indian War of 1754\u201363 (the North American theater of the Seven Years’ War of 1756\u20131763), the British deported the Acadians and recruited New England Planters to resettle the colony. The 75-year period of war ended with the Halifax Treaties<\/a> between the British and the Mi’kmaq (1761). After the war, some Acadians were allowed to return and the British made treaties with the Mi\u2019kmaq.<\/p>\n The American Revolution (1775\u20131783) had a significant impact on shaping Nova Scotia. Initially, Nova Scotia\u2014”the 14th American Colony” as some called it\u2014displayed ambivalence over whether the colony should join the more southern colonies in their defiance of Britain, and rebellion flared at the Battle of Fort Cumberland (1776)<\/a> and at the Siege of Saint John (1777)<\/a>. Throughout the war, American privateers devastated the maritime economy by capturing ships and looting almost every community outside of Halifax. These American raids alienated many sympathetic or neutral Nova Scotians into supporting the British. By the end of the war Nova Scotia had outfitted a number of privateers to attack American shipping. British military forces based at Halifax succeeded in preventing American support for rebels in Nova Scotia and deterred any invasion of Nova Scotia. However the British navy failed to establish naval supremacy. While the British captured many American privateers in battles such as the Naval battle off Halifax (1782)<\/a>, many more continued attacks on shipping and settlements until the final months of the war. The Royal Navy struggled to maintain British supply lines, defending convoys from American and French attacks as in the fiercely fought convoy battle, the Naval battle off Cape Breton (1781)<\/a>.<\/p>\n After the Thirteen Colonies and their French allies forced the British forces to surrender (1781), approximately 33,000 Loyalists (the King’s Loyal Americans, allowed to place “United Empire Loyalist” after their names) settled in Nova Scotia (14,000 of them in what became New Brunswick) on lands granted by the Crown as some compensation for their losses. (The British administration divided Nova Scotia and hived off Cape Breton and New Brunswick in 1784). The Loyalist exodus created new communities across Nova Scotia, including Shelburne<\/a>, which briefly became one of the larger British settlements in North America, and infused Nova Scotia with additional capital and skills. However the migration also caused political tensions between Loyalist leaders and the leaders of the existing New England Planters settlement. The Loyalist influx also pushed Nova Scotia’s 2000 Mi’kmaq People to the margins as Loyalist land grants encroached on ill-defined native lands. Many Nova Scotian communities were settled by British regiments that fought in the war.<\/p>\n During the War of 1812<\/a>, Nova Scotia’s contribution to the British war effort involved communities either purchasing or building various privateer ships to attack U.S. vessels. Perhaps the most dramatic moment in the war for Nova Scotia occurred when HMS Shannon<\/a> escorted the captured American frigate USS Chesapeake<\/a> into Halifax Harbour (1813)<\/a>. Many of the U.S. prisoners were kept at Deadman’s Island, Halifax.<\/a><\/p>\n During this century, Nova Scotia became the first colony in British North America and in the British Empire to achieve responsible government in January\u2013February 1848 and become self-governing through the efforts of Joseph Howe<\/a>. Nova Scotia had established representative government in 1758, an achievement later commemorated by the erection of the Dingle Tower<\/a> in 1908.<\/p>\n Nova Scotians fought in the Crimean War of 1853\u20131856<\/a>. The Welsford-Parker Monument<\/a> in Halifax is the second-oldest war monument in Canada (1860) and the only Crimean War monument in North America. It commemorates the 1854\u201355 Siege of Sevastopol<\/a>.<\/p>\n Thousands of Nova Scotians fought in the American Civil War (1861\u20131865), primarily on behalf of the North. The British Empire (including Nova Scotia) declared itself neutral in the conflict<\/a>. As a result, Britain (and Nova Scotia) continued to trade with both the South and the North. Nova Scotia’s economy boomed during the Civil War.<\/p>\n Soon after the American Civil War, Pro-Canadian Confederation premier Charles Tupper<\/a> led Nova Scotia into the Canadian Confederation on 1 July 1867, along with New Brunswick and the Province of Canada<\/a>. The Anti-Confederation Party<\/a> was led by Joseph Howe<\/a>. Almost three months later, in the election of 18 September 1867, the Anti-Confederation Party won 18 out of 19 federal seats, and 36 out of 38 seats in the provincial legislature.<\/p>\n Nova Scotia became a world leader in both building and owning wooden sailing ships in the second half of the 19th century. Nova Scotia produced internationally recognized shipbuilders Donald McKay<\/a> and William Dawson Lawrence.<\/a> The fame Nova Scotia achieved from sailors was assured when Joshua Slocum<\/a> became the first man to sail single-handedly around the world. International attention continued into the following century with the many racing victories of the Bluenose schooner<\/a>. Nova Scotia was also the birthplace and home of Samuel Cunard<\/a>, a British shipping magnate (born at Halifax, Nova Scotia) who founded the Cunard Line.<\/a><\/p>\n Throughout the 19th century, numerous businesses developed in Nova Scotia became of pan-Canadian and international importance: the Starr Manufacturing Company (first skate-manufacturer in Canada), the Bank of Nova Scotia<\/a>, Cunard Line, Alexander Keith’s Brewery<\/a>, Morse’s Tea Company (first tea company in Canada), among others. Early in the 20th century Sobey’s<\/a> was established, as was Maritime Life<\/a>.<\/p>\n Nova Scotia’s per capita GDP in 2010 was $38,475, significantly lower than the national average per capita GDP of $47,605 and a little more than half of Canada’s richest province, Alberta<\/a>. GDP growth has lagged behind the rest of the country for at least the past decade.<\/p>\n Nova Scotia’s traditionally resource-based economy has diversified in recent decades. The rise of Nova Scotia as a viable jurisdiction in North America, historically, was driven by the ready availability of natural resources, especially the fish stocks off the Scotian Shelf<\/a>. The fishery was a pillar of the economy since its development as part of New France<\/a> in the 17th century; however, the fishery suffered a sharp decline due to overfishing in the late 20th century. The collapse of the cod stocks and the closure of this sector resulted in a loss of approximately 20,000 jobs in 1992.<\/p>\n Other sectors in the province were also hit hard, particularly during the last two decades: coal mining in Cape Breton and northern mainland Nova Scotia has virtually ceased, and a large steel mill<\/a> in Sydney<\/a> closed during the 1990s. More recently, the high value of the Canadian dollar relative to the US dollar has hurt the forestry industry, leading to the shutdown of a long-running pulp and paper mill<\/a> near Liverpool<\/a>. Mining, especially of gypsum and salt and to a lesser extent silica<\/a>, peat<\/a> and barite<\/a>, is also a significant sector. Since 1991, offshore oil and gas has become an important part of the economy, although production and revenue are now declining. Agriculture remains an important sector in the province, particularly in the Annapolis Valley<\/a>.<\/p>\n Nova Scotia’s defense and aerospace sector generates approximately $500 million in revenues and contributes about $1.5 billion to the provincial economy each year. To date, 40% of Canada\u2019s military assets reside in Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia has the fourth-largest film industry in Canada hosting over 100 productions yearly, more than half of which are the products of international film and television producers. In 2015, the government of Nova Scotia eliminated tax credits to film production in the province, jeopardizing the industry given most other jurisdictions continue to offer such credits.<\/p>\n The Nova Scotia tourism industry includes more than 6,500 direct businesses, supporting nearly 40,000 jobs. Two hundred thousand cruise-ship passengers from around the world flow through the Port of Halifax, Nova Scotia each year. This industry contributes approximately $1.3 billion annually to the economy.<\/p>\n The province also boasts a rapidly developing Information & Communication Technology (ICT)<\/a> sector which consists of over 500 companies, and employs roughly 15,000 people. In 2006, the manufacturing sector brought in over $2.6 billion in chained GDP, the largest output of any industrial sector in Nova Scotia. Michelin remains by far the largest single employer in this sector, operating three production plants in the province.<\/p>\n As of 2012, the median family income in Nova Scotia was $67,910, below the national average of $74,540; in Halifax the figure rises to $80,490.<\/p>\n The province is the world’s largest exporter of Christmas trees<\/a>, lobster<\/a>, gypsum<\/a>, and wild berries<\/a>. Its export value of fish exceeds $1 billion, and fish products are received by 90 countries around the world. Nevertheless, the province’s imports far exceed its exports. While these numbers were roughly equal from 1992 until 2004, since that time the trade deficit has ballooned. In 2012, exports from Nova Scotia were 12.1% of provincial GDP, while imports were 22.6%.<\/p>\n Private car is the most common means of transportation in Nova Scotia. There are also busses and shuttles in some locations.<\/p>\n VIA Rail train service<\/a> is available to destinations to the west, particularly Montreal<\/a> and Toronto<\/a>.<\/p>\n There are seasonal ferries from Maine and Halifax<\/a> and Nova Scotia is a popular stop on “leaf peeping” cruises in the fall.<\/p>\n Most visitors arrive by air and most of that traffic is through the Halifax Stanfield International Airport (YHZ).<\/a><\/p>\n Created in 1858, the flag of Nova Scotia is a banner of the coat of arms of Nova Scotia<\/a>, which were granted to the Scottish colony by King Charles I<\/a> in 1625.<\/p>\n The flag of the modern Canadian province, a blue saltire<\/a> on a white field (background), is a simple figure-ground reversal of the flag of Scotland<\/a> (a white saltire, Saint Andrew’s<\/a> cross, on a blue field), charged with an inescutcheon<\/a> bearing the royal arms of Scotland<\/a>, a gold shield with a red lion rampant<\/a> surrounded by a loyal double tressure (a double border decorated with fleurs de lis<\/a>).<\/p>\n The similarity to the Scottish flag reflects the province’s name, which is Latin for “New Scotland”. Nova Scotia was one of the few British colonies to be granted its own coat of arms, and the flag is the only one of the original Canadian provinces dating back to before confederation.<\/p>\n Despite continuous usage of the flag to represent Nova Scotia since 1858, the flag was recognized by the provincial government of Nova Scotia as the official provincial flag only in May 2013, but the Provincial Flag Act, after an eleven-year-old girl researching a project realized that no one had recognized the flag officially in 155 years of usage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The flag of the modern Canadian province, a blue saltire on a white field (background), is a simple figure-ground reversal of the flag of Scotland (a white saltire, Saint Andrew’s cross, on a blue field), charged with an inescutcheon bearing the royal arms of Scotland, a gold shield with a red lion rampant surrounded by a loyal double tressure (a double border decorated with fleurs de lis).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[66,80,81,8,5,6,7,29,41],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3765"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Etymology:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/12\/Map-of-Nova-Scotia-300x280.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Geography:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/12\/Topographic-Map-of-Nova-Scotia-300x239.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>History:<\/h2>\n
Overview:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/12\/Monument-at-Millbrook-near-Truro-Nova-Scotia-paying-tribute-to-Glooscap\u2014a-legendary-figure-to-Mikmaq-people-of-Nova-Scotia.-300x199.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>17th and 18th Centuries:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/12\/This-church-at-Grand-Pre-Nova-Scotia-commemorates-the-beginning-of-the-Acadian-expulsion-where-the-men-were-gathered-to-hear-their-fate-from-the-British-in-1755.-225x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>
\nQueen Anne’s War (1702\u20131713),<\/a>
\nFather Rale’s War (1722\u20131725),<\/a>
\nKing George’s War (1744\u20131748),<\/a>
\nFather Le Loutre’s War (1749\u20131755)<\/a>
\nThe Seven Years’ War, also called the French and Indian War (1754\u20131763)<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/12\/Fort-Edward-1750-300x225.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/12\/Louisburg-1762-300x190.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>19th Century:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/12\/Lobster-Fishing-in-Yarmouth-300x201.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Economy:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/12\/Annapolis-Valley-300x199.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/12\/Peggys-Cove-300x225.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/12\/Corn-Growing-in-Grafton-300x199.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Transportation:<\/h2>\n
Flag of Nova Scotia:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/12\/Flag-of-Nova-Scotia-300x150.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>