Nova Scotia :: essays research papers

Nova ScotiaNova Scotia, one of the three Maritime and one of the four Atlanticprovinces of Canada, border on the north by the Bay of Fundy, the province ofNew Brunswick, Northumberland Strait, and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and on theeast, south, and west by the Atlantic Ocean. Nova Scotia consists primarily of amainland section, associate to New Brunswick by the Isthmus of Chignecto, and CapeBreton Island, separated from the mainland by the Strait of Canso. On July 1,1867, Nova Scotia became one of the founding members of the CanadianConfederation. The provinces name, which is Latin for New Scotland, was first-year utilize to the region in the 1620s by settlers from Scotland.Physical GeographyNova Scotia can be divided into four major geographical regions-theAtlantic Uplands, the Nova Scotia Highlands, the Annapolis Lowland, and theMaritime Plain. The Atlantic Uplands, which occupy most of the southern part ofthe province, are made up of ancient resistant rocks largely overlain by rockyglacial deposits. The Nova Scotia Highlands are make up of three separate areasof uplands. The western section includes North Mountain, a long ridge oftraprock along the Bay of Fundy the central section takes in the CobequidMountains, which rise to 367 m (1204 ft) atop Nuttby Mountain and the easternsection contains the Cape Breton Highlands, with the provinces highest point.The Annapolis Lowland, in the west, is a small area with considerable fertilesoil. Nova Scotias fourth region, the Maritime Plain, occupies a small regionfronting on Northumberland Strait. The plain is characterized by a low,undulating landscape and substantial areas of fertile soil.HistoryThe area now known as Nova Scotia was in the beginning inhabited by tribes ofAbenaki and Micmac peoples. The Venetian explorer John Cabot, sailing under theEnglish flag, may have reached Cape Breton Island in 1497.Colonial PeriodThe first settlers of the area were the French, who called it Acadia andfounded Port Roya l in 1605. Acadia included present-day New Brunswick, NovaScotia, and Prince Edward Island. The English, rivals of the French in Europeand the New World, refused to recognize French claims to Acadia, which theycalled Nova Scotia (New Scotland) and granted to the Scotch poet and courtierSir William Alexander in 1621. This act initiated nearly a century of Anglo-French conflict, resolved by the British capture of Port Royal (now AnnapolisRoyal) in 1710 and the French cession of mainland Acadia to the British by thePeace of Utrecht in 1713. Thus, the bulk of the Roman Catholic French-Acadianscame under Protestant British rule.