4.Atlantic Provinces

Understanding Canada Chapter Six Geography and HistoryA. GeographySection 4 The Atlantic Provinces.Atlantic Provinces refer to the three Maritime Provinces plus Newfoundland and Labrador. The Atlantic Provinces are on the far east coast of the country. Rugged and sparsely populated, the provinces have traditionally made much of their income from the area's large fisheries. This is changing in the region, as oil production, information technology, biomedical research, post secondary education and tourism become more important for local economies.The Four CanadianAtlantic Provinces★Three Maritime Provinces——New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and PEI are collectively known as the Maritime Provinces.1.New BrunswickMap of NewBrunswickNew Brunswick is the largest of Canada’s three Maritime Provinces. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Nova Scotia, and the American state of Maine. It is blessed with two distinct shorelines; one with rocky cliffs, and the other fringed with long stretches of sand and dunes. Fishing wharves, charming villages, and cityscapes that provide blocks of Victorian architecture, are available as well as vast forests, fabled salmon rivers, islands and rolling farmland hills.Map of New BrunswickForests cover about 85 percent of the land and the manufacture of lumber, paper, and other forest products is important to the province's economy.New Brunswick also has rich farmland in the St John River Valley. Mineral deposits have been discovered in the northeastern part of the province and the province's rivers have been harnessed to provide electricity.Fredericton is the provincial capital, and Saint John is the largest city.Fredericton is the capital of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. An important cultural, artistic, and educational centre for the province (and for Eastern Canada at large), Fredericton is home to three universities, as well as cultural institutions such as the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, the York-Sunbury Museum, and The Playhouse—a performing arts venue.The city hosts the annual Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival, attracting regional and international jazz, blues, rock, and world artists.The St. John River flows in a west-east direction, bisecting the city and providing the dominant natural feature for the municipality.As a provincial capital, its economy is inextricably tied to the fortunes of the public sector; however, the city also contains a growing IT and commercial sector. The city has the highest percentage of residents with apost-secondary education in the province and one of the highest per capita incomes.]In the 2006 census, the population of the city of Fredericton was 50,535.Saint John is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick and the oldest incorporated city in Canada. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 68,043.The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the St. John River.Saint John became the province's leading industrial centre during the nineteenth century, fostering a shipbuilding trade that lasted until 2002. Much of the city's shipbuilding industry was concentrated on the mudflats of Courtney Bay on east side. One local shipyard built the famous sailing ship Marco Polo. Due to its location for railways and servicing the triangle trade between BritishNorth America, the Caribbean, and the United Kingdom, the city was poised to be one of Canada's leading urban centers; however a disastrous fire in 1877 destroyed a large portion of the central business district.★Three Maritimes Provinces——2. Nova ScotiaNova Scotia (Latin for New Scotland) is located on Canada's southeastern coast. It is the most populous province in the Maritimes, and its capital, Halifax, is a major economic centre of the region. Nova Scotia is the second smallest province in Canada, with an area of55,284 km². Its population of 934,405 makes sit the fourth least populous province of the country, though second most densely populated. Nova Scotia's economy is traditionally largely resource-based, but has in recent decades become more diverse. Industries such as fishing, mining, forestry and agriculture remain very important, and have been joined by tourism, technology, film production, music and the financial service industries.Peggy’s Light Nova ScotiaHalifax, Capital of Nova ScotiaLocation Map of HalifaxLocated in the south-central part of the province on the Atlantic Ocean, Halifax is the capital city of Nova Scotia and the largest cityin the Atlantic Provinces of Canada. The city's origins and rich maritime history derive from a strategic location and one of the world's great natural harbors. Founded in 1749, it served as an important naval base in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and both World Wars. In the 19th and early 20th century, Halifax was the entry point for European immigration to Canada. Today, Halifax is a busy Atlantic seaport and the economic and cultural hub of Eastern Canada.An old fort on a hill overlooking the city and the harbor, Halifax Citadel is a national historic site and home to a museum and a small ceremonial garrison. The waterfront offers a great variety of restaurants, tours, and other entertainment. Brewery Market is considered the oldest running Farmer's Market in North America. It is always bustling with people buying ethnic and local foods, plants, artwork, and clothing.★Three Maritimes Provinces——3. Prince Edward IslandMap of Prince Edward IslandPrince Edward Island(PEI) is a Canadian province which consists of an island of the same name and located in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation of Canada in both land area and population (excluding the territories). Theisland has a few other names: "Garden of the Gulf" referring to the pastoral scenery and lush agricultural lands throughout the province; and "Birthplace of Confederation", referring to the Charlottetown Conference in 1864.The island was discovered by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and named Île St. Jean by Samuel de Champlain in 1603. It was renamed in 1798 after Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (1767–1820),the fourth son of KingGeorge III and the father ofQueen Victoria. It joined theconfederacy in 1873.Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, residedin Halifax between 1794 and 1800.According to the 2009 estimates, Prince Edward Island has 140,402 residents. It is the 104th largest island in the world, and Canada's 23rd largest island. The island hastwo urban areas. The largest surrounds Charlottetown Harbor, situated centrally on the island's southern shore, and consists of the capital city Charlottetown, and its suburban towns. A much smaller urban area surrounds Summerside Harbor, situated on the southern shore 40 km west of Charlottetown Harbor, and consists primarily of the city of Summerside.Charlottetown is the provincial capital of Prince Edward Island. It was named for Queen Charlotte, consort of King George III. Charlottetown was first incorporated as a town in 1855 and designated as a city in 1885. It is also the county seat of Queens County.The population of the Charlottetown in the 2006 census was 58,625 slightly less than half of the province's population (135,851). Its main industries are fishing, manufacturing, agriculture and tourism.● Atlantic Provinces——Newfoundland and LabradorMap of Newfoundland and LabradorNewfoundland and Labrador is a province on the country's Atlantic coast in northeastern North America. This easternmost Canadian province comprises two main parts: the island of Newfoundland off the country's easterncoast, and Labrador on the mainland to the northwest of the island. St. John's is the capital and the largest city.A former colony and dominion of the United Kingdom, it became the tenth province to enter the Canadian Confederation on 31 March 1949, named simply as Newfoundland. On 6 December 2001, an amendment was made to the Constitution of Canada to change the province's official name to Newfoundland and Labrador. In day-to-day conversation, however, Canadians generally still refer to the province itself as Newfoundland and to the region on the Canadian mainland as Labrador.As of January 2009, the province's population is estimated to be 508,990. Approximately 94% of the province's population resides on the Island of Newfoundland (including its associated smaller islands). The Island of Newfoundland has its own dialects of the English, French, and Irish languages. TheEnglish dialect in Labrador shares much with that of Newfoundland. Labrador also has its own dialects of Innu-aimun (an Algonquian) language spoken by over 11,000 people, called the Innu, in Labrador and Quebec in Eastern Canada) and Inuktitut(the name of some of the Inuit languages spoken by roughly 35,000 Inuktitut speakers in Canada).St. John’s is the provincial capital of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland, and on the large Atlantic Ocean. It is the most easterly city in North America, as well as the second largest city in Atlantic Provinces after Halifax, Nova Scotia and 20th largest metropolitan area in Canada with a population of 183,493.The downtown area exists to the north of St. John's Harbor and the rest of the city expands uphill to the west, north, and east.The city enjoys a long and vibrant history as the oldest English-founded city in North America when Sir Humphrey Gilbert declared Newfoundland an English colony in 1583.With a long and prosperous history in the fishery industry, the last half of the 20th century has seen St. John's transformed into a modern export and service centre. More recently, its proximity to recently discovered oil fields has led to an economic boom that has spurred population growth, commercial development. St. John's area now accounts for about half of the province's economic output.Of all major cities in Canada, St John's is the cloudiest (only 1,497 hours of sunshine a year), snowiest (359 cm), and has the most wet days per year. However, St. John's has the third mildest winter in comparison to other Canadian cities.。