Trivia

• one of the four Atlantic provinces on the east coast of Canada
• second smallest province (P.E.I. is the smallest)
• made up of the mainland and Cape Breton Island
• also includes over 3800 coastal islands
• capital city and largest city is Halifax – 372,858 (2006 Census Canada figures)
• Halifax is an international seaport and transportation center.
• flower – the Mayflower, tree -Red Spruce, bird – Osprey
• “Nova Scotia” means “New Scotland” in Latin.
• motto : ” One defends and the other conquers”

THE PEOPLE

• There are 938,310 people living in Nova Scotia.(2008)
• Many people live in or close to Halifax.
• Most of the communities are along the coast.
• First people were the Micmacs (Mi’Kmaq Indians).
• People came from Britain, Western Europe, and Southern Europe.
• Over eighty percent are of British ancestry, eighteen percent are of French ancestry
• Other groups include German, Dutch, Poles, Ukrainian, Chinese, Scandinavian and native people.
• N.S. has Canada’s oldest African-Canadian community.

HISTORY

• The Vikings first visited around the year 990.
• Explorer John Cabot came to Nova Scotia in 1497.
• Micmac lived there. They hunted, fished, gathered plants and berries.
• French settlers arrived in 1605.
• A French settlement named Port Royal was built in 1605.
• The area was turned over to the British after a war.
• French colonists were forced to leave.
• Some went back to France while others went to the U.S.
• Later settlers came from England, Germany, Scotland.
• In 1783 the United Empire Loyalists came from the United States.
• In 1784 Nova Scotia was partitioned and the colonies of New Brunswick and Cape Breton Island were created.
• In 1820 Cape Breton Island became part of Nova Scotia again.
• In 1867 Nova Scotia became a part of the Dominion of Canada.

CLIMATE AND WEATHER

• Cool dry air from the interior mixes with warmer wet air over the sea.
• Areas along the coast are milder and wetter than the areas inland.
• The Atlantic coast is foggy, especially in the spring.
• There are heavy rains and stormy weather in the fall.
• The province has experienced hurricanes in the late summer.

WATER AND LAND

• The province is almost surrounded by water.
• The Atlantic Ocean is to the south and east.
• Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are connected by a small land bridge (28 km Isthmus of Chignecto) .
• The Bay of Fundy stretches between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
• The Bay of Fundy has world’s highest tides.
• Much of the province is part of the Appalachian Region.
• The province is covered with forests and lakes.
• There are 3000 small lakes.
• Almost 7500 km is rocky coastline.
• There are salt marshes and ice-free deep water harbours along the coast.
• The Strait of Canso (1.2 km wide) separates the mainland of Nova Scotia from Cape Breton Island.
• The Canso Causeway is a road which connects the island to the mainland.

RESOURCES/INDUSTRY

• Coal mining, fishing and fish processing were once major industries.
• The Fishery is the oldest and most important natural resource.
• Haddock and cod were once caught in great numbers.
• Scallops, crabs, clams, cod, haddock, pollock, herring and salmon are caught in the waters off Nova Scotia.
• Lobsters from N.S. are shipped all across Canada.
• There are about 160 fish processing plants.
• The main mineral is coal which is used for making electricity.
• Refineries turn oil into gasoline and other products.
• Both hardwood and softwood forests cover much of the province.
• Forest products include lumber, pulp and paper and Christmas trees.
• There are three pulp and paper mills and several hundred sawmills.
• Nova Scotia is among the leading producers of gypsum in the world. Gypsum is used in the manufacture of wallboard.
• Apples, blueberries, pears and strawberries are grown in the Annapolis Valley.

PEOPLE and PLACES

• Anne Murray is a singer and songwriter from Springhill, who has many gold singles.
• Singer Rita MacNeil and musician Ashley MacIssac are from Nova Scotia.
• Marconi sent the first official west-to-east wireless ( radio) message across the Atlantic Ocean from Table Head, Cape Breton Island in 1902.
• A. Gesner made kerosene in the 1850s. The kerosene was burned in lamps and lanterns. He is known as the Father of the Petroleum Industry.
• Thomas Haliburton was a famous writer who wrote books about a character named Sam Slick.
• Joshua Slocum was the first to sail alone around the world in the 1890s.
• In the 1920s and 1930s the Bluenose schooner was famous for winning international races.

• Nova Scotia is called “Canada’s ocean playground”
• Fishing villages and lighthouses along the coastline attract tourists.
• Peggy’s Cove is a well-known fishing village with a lighthouse.
• The Citadel is a fort built (1856) on a hill overlooking Halifax harbour.
• Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site (Cape Breton Island) has a museum displaying his inventions. He is the inventor of the telephone.
• The Fortress of Louisbourg (Cape Breton Island) is the largest reconstructed 18th-century French fortified town in North America.
• Bras d’Or lake (Cape Breton Island) is a saltwater lake that is a nesting site of the endangered bald eagle.