History of Nova Scotia

[5] Mi'kma'ki was divided into seven largely sovereign districts, each governed by a Nikanus and council of Sagamaw (local band chiefs), Elders, and other worthy community leaders.

Giovanni Antonio de Carbonariis and the other friars who accompanied Cabot's 1498 expedition had stayed in Newfoundland and founded a mission which would have made it the first Christian settlement on the continent.

Acadia (French: Acadie) was located in the northeastern region of North America comprising what is now the Canadian Maritime Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, Gaspé, in Quebec, and to the Kennebec River in southern Maine.

The colony, whose capital, Charles Fort, was located near today's town of Annapolis Royal, lasted only until 1623 at which time the attempted settlement was abandoned, leaving the area to the French.

William Alexander, the son of the Earl of Stirling of Menstrie Castle, Scotland claimed mainland Nova Scotia and settled at Charlesfort, at what would eventually be renamed Port Royal by the French.

During these wars, Acadians, Mi'kmaq and Maliseet from the region fought to protect the border of Acadia from New England, which New France defined as the Kennebec River in southern Maine.

Governing a marginal colony that received little attention from London, the royal governor, Francis Legge (1772 to 1776) battled the popularly elected assembly for control of the policies regarding trade, commerce, and taxation.

These reforms were not as yet enacted, but they suggest that politicians in Nova Scotia were aware of the demands being made by Americans, and hoped their moderate proposals would reduce possible tensions with the British government.

A small number of Nova Scotians went south to serve with the Continental Army against the British; after the war, between 1798 and 1812, the United States Congress granted such supporters land in the Refugee Tract in Ohio.

In addition to capturing 225 vessels either leaving or arriving at Nova Scotia ports,[41] American privateers made regular land raids, attacking Lunenburg, Annapolis Royal, Canso and Liverpool.

[42] To guard against repeated American privateer attacks, the 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants) was garrisoned at forts around Atlantic Canada to strengthen the small and ill-equipped militia companies of the colony.

[43] As the New England Planters (1759 onwards) and United Empire Loyalists began to arrive in Mi'kmaki (the Maritimes) in greater numbers, economic, environmental and cultural pressures were put on the Mi'kmaq with the erosion of the intent of the treaties.

The party arrived at a very opportune moment for the Americans, and afforded material assistance in the defence of that post during the attack made by Sir George Collier from 13 to 15 August.

The Loyalists exodus created new communities across Nova Scotia, including Shelburne, which was briefly one of the larger British settlements in North America, and infused the province with additional capital and skills.

[55][56] Two chief justices, Thomas Andrew Lumisden Strange (1790–1796) and Sampson Salter Blowers (1797–1832) waged "judicial war" in their efforts to free slaves from their owners in Nova Scotia.

Businessmen complained, and in 1816 Nova Scotia passed an act against trade unions, the preamble of which declared that great numbers of master tradesmen, journeymen, and workmen in the town of Halifax and other parts of the province had, by unlawful meetings and combinations, endeavored to regulate the rate of wages and effectuate other illegal aims.

Pacifism, neutrality, anti-Americanism, and anti-"Yankee" sentiments all operated to keep the numbers down, but on the other hand, there were strong cash incentives to join the well-paid Northern army and the long tradition of emigrating out of Nova Scotia, combined with a zest for adventure, attracted many young men.

Nova Scotia was the site of two minor international incidents during the war: the Chesapeake Affair and the escape from Halifax Harbour of the CSS Tallahassee, aided by Confederate sympathizers.

Nova Scotia's role in arms trafficking to the South was so noticeable that the Acadian Recorder in 1864 described Halifax's effort as a "mercenary aid to a fratricidal war, which, without outside intervention, would have long ago ended.

This rather baseless scare was one of the main reasons why Britain sanctioned the creation of Canada (1867); to avoid another possible conflict with America and to leave the defence of Nova Scotia to a Canadian Government.

But it was controversial because localism, Protestant fears of Catholics and distrust of Canadians generally, and worries about losing free trade with America, were all intensified by the refusal of Tupper to consult Nova Scotia's voters on the subject.

The idea of a past golden age came to prominence in the early 20th century by economic reformers in the Maritime Rights Movement and was exploited by the tourism industry in the 1930s to lure tourists to a romantic era of tall ships and antiques.

Samuel parlayed his father's modest waterfront properties into a succession of businesses that revolutionized transatlantic shipping and passenger travel with the introduction of steam and steel.

[86][87] After Confederation, boosters of Halifax expected federal help to make the city's natural harbor Canada's official winter port and a gateway for trade with Europe.

But the new Intercolonial Railway (ICR) took an indirect, southerly route for military and political reasons, and the national government made little effort to promote Halifax as Canada's winter port.

However the long term negative factors included fragmentation, limited Maritime region markets, rising costs, low quality raw materials, and the lack of external economies.

[97] On November 7, 1900, the Royal Canadian Dragoons engaged the Boers in the Battle of Leliefontein, where they saved British guns from capture during a retreat from the banks of the Komati River.

Led by minister William Pearly Oliver, the Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Colored People was formed in 1945 out of the Cornwallis Street Baptist Church.

[107]: 81  In 1947, the Association successfully took the case of Viola Desmond to the Supreme Court of Canada[107]: 93  It also pressured the Children's Hospital in Halifax to allow for black women to become nurses; it advocated for inclusion and challenged racist curriculum in the Department of Education.

Generally, Stanfield, though a conservative, took a positive view of the state's role in helping citizens overcome poverty, ill-health, and discrimination and accepted the need to raise taxes to pay for such services.