Nova ScotiaCanadian province located on the eastern seaboard of North America, one of the four British colonies federated into original provinces (along with New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec) that constituted the Dominion of Canada in 1867. It Roughly 360 miles (580 km) long but not more than about 80 miles (130 km) wide at any point, the province comprises the peninsula of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island (separated from the mainland to the southwest by the narrow Strait of Canso), and a number of small adjacent islands. The total area is 21,425 square miles (55,490 square kilometres). Along the 17-mile- (27-kilometre-) wide Along the narrow Chignecto Isthmus, which seems to thrust the peninsula into the Atlantic Ocean, runs the province’s only land boundary, with New Brunswick to the west. Two arms of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Northumberland and Cabot straits, separate it, Nova Scotia respectively , from Prince Edward Island on to the north and the island of Newfoundland on to the northeast. To the east and south lies the Atlantic and to the southwest northwest the Bay of Fundy. Halifax is the capital.

Nova Scotia—with Scotia is one of Canada’s Maritime Provinces (along with New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island—is one of Canada’s Maritime ProvincesIsland), and both its past and its present are tied closely to the maritime life of fishing, shipbuilding, and transatlantic shipping. It was became the site , in 1605, of the first permanent European settlement in North American settlement America north of Florida , established by the French. Among the legends that pervade the province is that told by the U.S. poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his tale Evangeline, an account of the deportation in 1755 of the French inhabitants by a fearful British governor. The province’s contemporary life retains some of the feeling of 17th-century Acadie, or Acadia, the Micmac Indian name adopted by the French for the region before Scottish colonists implanted their own name of Nova Scotia.

Physical and human geographyThe landRelief, soils, and drainageNova Scotia’s five upland regions reach a maximum height

when the French established a fur-trading post at Port Royal (near present-day Annapolis Royal) in 1605. Early explorers gave the area the name Acadia (French: Acadie), probably a corruption of the word used by the native Mi’kmaq. The province’s present name, which means “New Scotland” in Latin, was the result of brief Scottish claims to the region in the 1620s. Area 21,345 square miles (55,284 square km). Pop. (2001) 908,007; (2006) 913,462.

Relief, drainage, and soils

Nova Scotia’s upland regions reach a maximum elevation of more than 1,700 feet (520 metres) above sea level in the Cape Breton Highlands. The most important lowlands lie along the Bay of Fundy and the Minas Basin


in the southwest and along the Northumberland Strait. Many of the tens of thousands of acres of marshland

in the west

created by the tremendously high

tides of the

tides—among the highest in the world—of the Bay of Fundy have been turned to agricultural use by dikes, which were begun in the

early 18th

mid-17th century by the


early French settlers, the Acadians.

Nearly 90 percent

More than 3,000 lakes and hundreds of short rivers and streams either have been impounded by or have cut through the irregularly high and low landscapes. The best-known of the lakes, Bras d’Or on Cape Breton Island, is saline, connected to the Atlantic Ocean through three short channels. Many intruding heads of land make the lake’s 424 square miles (1,098 square km) a geographic complexity.

Nearly nine-tenths of Nova Scotia’s landmass is unsuitable for agriculture. Most of the southern peninsula rests upon acidic granite, and a large part of Cape Breton Island is mountainous, forested terrain of acidic and metamorphic rock. Podzolic soil dominates, with some gray wooded soil mainly along the Northumberland Strait. In a few pockets where clastic sedimentary rock, mostly sandstone, underlies the soil—as in the Annapolis Valley, along parts of the Northumberland Strait, and at Cobequid Bay—the land supports orchards and field crops.

More than 3,000 lakes and hundreds of short rivers and streams either have been impounded by, or have cut through, the irregularly high and low landscapes. The best known of the lakes, Bras d’Or on Cape Breton Island, which is saline, is connected to the Atlantic through three short channels. Many intruding heads of land make the lake’s 424 square miles a geographic complexity.

ClimateOver its 350-mile length,

Nova Scotia has a modified continental climate

, comparable to that of northern Europe. Rarely does the temperature exceed 88° F (31° C) or fall below 14° F (-10° C) anywhere in the province. At Halifax International Airport the average July temperature is 65° F (18° C), and the average January temperature is 23° F (-5° C). Yearly precipitation at that station averages about 59 inches (1,500 millimetres), including some 107 inches (272 centimetres) of snow. The southwestern and southern shores of Nova Scotia have both milder and wetter climates than the rest of the province. Rainfall varies from 55 inches (1,400 millimetres) in the south, where fog may occur on as many as 90 days, to 40 inches elsewhere

that is greatly influenced by the proximity of the sea. The Atlantic coastal regions experience the warmest winter and coolest summer temperatures. At Halifax, on the central part of the Atlantic coast, the average daily temperature in January is about 24 °F (–4.5 °C), while in July the average daily temperature is nearly 66 °F (19 °C). Winters in the inland areas are generally colder, with the coldest temperatures occurring in the highlands, and summers are slightly warmer. Yearly precipitation (both rain and snow) varies considerably, depending on the section of the province, with total annual amounts ranging from less than 49 inches (1,250 mm) along the Northumberland Strait to more than 63 inches (1,600 mm) on the Cape Breton Highlands plateau.

Plant and animal life

Forests occupy about

78 percent

four-fifths of the land area. About one-


quarter of the woodland is held as crown, or public, land. Softwoods are by far the most numerous, led by species of balsam, spruce, hemlock, and pine; birch and maple make up most of the hardwoods. Animal life includes such game species as deer and moose and, among the birds, partridge, pheasant, and duck.

Trout and salmon are common freshwater game fish; tuna is a favourite of deep-sea fishermen.
Settlement patterns

Subsistence living on family farms has been characteristic of Nova Scotia agriculture. Along the coasts many families living on marginal land have combined farming with fishing for lobsters and groundfish; in other areas farming and lumbering are often combined. Mixed farming and dairying are carried out in the fertile lands of Guysborough and other eastern counties, as well as on the Chignecto Isthmus and along the Fundy shore. Though apples, grapes, and pears are also found in other sections, the Annapolis Valley orchards, dating back three centuries, are the most productive. More efficient land use and increased mechanization have reduced the number and increased the size of farms while improving production and income. About 6 percent of the people live on farms, and another 40 percent are nonfarm rural dwellers.

In the 19th century, as steamships replaced schooners, the outports dwindled. Coal and steel and textile industries drew workers to Sydney and Halifax, but some smaller towns continued enterprises like boatbuilding, woodworking, and food processing. Internal population movement has been toward the Halifax–Dartmouth area, where there is employment in the shipyards, naval dockyard, construction industries, and assembly plants.

The peopleWhen Europeans arrived in the 16th and 17th centuries, Micmac Indians greeted them. This seminomadic tribe
Population composition

The Mi’kmaq people had occupied the area for centuries before the arrival of the first Europeans in the late 15th century. Primarily hunters and gatherers, the Mi’kmaq ranged over the Maritime Provinces and into the Gaspé Peninsula and later spread to Newfoundland and New England. Their Algonquian language is reflected in such Nova Scotia Scotian place-names as Musquodoboit, Pugwash, and Shubenacadie. Of 14,000 Micmac Indians in Nova Scotia, more than 3,000 Many of Nova Scotia’s Mi’kmaq people now live on reservations.

About one-eighth of Nova Scotia’s people are population is at least partially descended from the Acadian French, who were allowed to return some of whom returned from exile after the British took French Canada in 1763. end of French-English conflict in North America in 1763. Acadian communities, with a lively Acadian culture, are located in southwestern Nova Scotia and on Cape Breton Island.

Most of the remaining seven-eighths people are descended from settlers from the British Isles , both English and Scottish. Acadian communities are now located around Yarmouth along St. Mary’s Bay and on Cape Breton Island. New England planters resettled the Minas Basin after 1755, and British Empire loyalists founded Shelburne in 1783 and helped to populate Halifax. Yorkshiremen settled in Halifax county. Scottish Highlanders tended to settle in the Northumberland Strait counties and Cape Breton Island. Also in the 18th century some Ulstermen, including migrants from New Hampshire, established farms in the Truro and Onslow districts. Later Irish came in family groups by way of Newfoundland and directly from Ireland and settled in and near Halifaxand from what is now the United States. In the second half of the 18th century, settlers from New England (known as Planters) and, later, American colonists loyal to Great Britain during the American Revolution (known as United Empire Loyalists) settled much of western and northern Nova Scotia, with scattered settlements elsewhere. Settlers from England (Yorkshire) and Scotland populated northern and eastern Nova Scotia; the Scots, who settled in substantial numbers in Cape Breton, gave the province a strong Gaelic culture. Irish migration, especially in the 19th century, greatly expanded the population of the Halifax region, among others. German immigrants in the 1750s founded the seaport of Lunenburg, and others came a century later. Other minorities include small numbers .

Beginning in the 20th century, there were smaller migrations of Dutch, Italians, and Hungarians, who have immigrated since World War II. More significant are the black communities near Halifax and Shelburne, dating from the days of the West Indian slave tradeItalian, Polish, Arab, Chinese, South Asian, and other peoples, especially to the urban centres of Halifax and Sydney. The small black population in the province includes the descendants of slaves brought into the colony in the 18th century as well as the descendants of black loyalists; West Indian immigrants have bolstered the black population.

English is the only spoken language of more than 90 percent the vast majority of the people. Few Nova Scotians remain who have French as their only spoken language, but nearly 8 percent of the people are bilingual. More than speak only French are few. However, both Gaelic and the native language of the Mi’kmaq have experienced a renaissance in recent years. Approximately one-third of the people Nova Scotians are Roman Catholics; among the Protestant denominations, the United Church of Canada is the largest, followed by Anglicans the Anglican and Baptists. Since 1960 immigration into Nova Scotia has not been numerically significant, but emigration of both the undertrained and the well-educated has continued.

The economy

Nova Scotia’s diversified economy still relies heavily on maritime activities. It embraces some international and many local resource-based manufacturers housed in industrial parks. Essential to industrial development have been such crown corporations as the provincial Industrial Estates Limited and the federal Cape Breton Development Corporation. The federal Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency assists with incentive grants mainly for small and medium-sized businesses. In addition, federal equalization payments help to compensate the province for above-average unemployment rates and substandard total and per capita incomes. Most of the labour force is employed in service industries.

Agriculture and fishingFarming has focused

Baptist churches.

Settlement patterns and demographic trends

Urbanization was an important trend during the 20th century, but nearly one-half of Nova Scotians still live outside major population centres. The early European settlement tended to hug the coastline; the sea provided the main means of transportation, and the economy was based on fisheries, the fur trade, and farming. Yet even with the development of railways and better roads in the 19th and 20th centuries, the interior of the province has remained sparsely settled. With the decline in the late 19th century of shipbuilding and shipping, the coal, steel, and textile industries drew workers to the major centres of Sydney and Halifax, while such smaller towns as Yarmouth, Windsor, Truro, and Amherst developed smaller-scale manufacturing and processing industries. The last century and a half has seen a major out-migration of Nova Scotians, first to New England and later to Ontario and the Canadian West.


Nova Scotia has a diversified economy based on both land and sea resources. Traditional industries such as fishing, forestry, and mining are in decline, while tourism and other service industries are becoming much more significant components of the economy.

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing

Farming has tended to focus on dairy products, livestock, poultry and eggs, and fruit. Extensive forestry resources supply large pulp and paper mills, numerous sawmills, and the expanding

industries in



tree and maple syrup industries.

The catching, processing, and exporting of fish continue as

major Nova Scotian

important but declining industries.

Canada’s stock-conservation and surveillance policies in the internationally recognized 200-mile coastal zone ensure that Nova Scotia’s fisheries will remain productive. For fishermen from 250 harbours, lobster and cod are the most lucrative catches, but scallops, haddock, and herring are also important. Aquaculture has shown considerable promise.Industries

The near-complete destruction of cod stocks has decimated this traditional component of the fisheries. However, lobster, scallops, and other shellfish, along with haddock and herring, remain important catches in Nova Scotian waters. Aquaculture is an increasingly significant facet of the fishing industry.

Resources and power

Mining is another major industry in Nova Scotia.

Coal is

Traditionally, coal was the leading mined product,

and some 70 percent of the province’s energy needs are met through thermal coal

but many coal mines closed in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Salt and anhydrite production


meet a wide demand, and the provincial gypsum deposits yield

75 percent

about three-fourths of Canada’s supply. There are




resources of barite and construction materials, such as sand and gravel.

A profitable tin mine has operated in East Kemptville since 1986. Upgraded mills in Sydney and Pictou manufacture selected steel products. Near Sable Island tested reserves offer promise of large quantities of oil and natural gas for export.

The continent’s first tidal energy project, completed in 1984 near Annapolis Royal, harnesses the tides of the Bay of Fundy to enhance the province’s hydroelectric energy output.

More than one million tourists annually stimulate Nova Scotia’s economy with cash and jobs generated for about 7 percent of the work force

Natural gas is pumped from wells located off Sable Island and carried to the mainland via pipeline.

Manufacturing, services, labour, and taxation

Food processing, wood- and paper-related industries, metal production, and many smaller industries provide a solid manufacturing base to the provincial economy. However, most of the labour force is employed in public and private services. Tourism is a particularly strong service industry, with more than a million people visiting the province each year. More than one-fourth of provincial workers are employed in knowledge-based service industries, such as telecommunications, computer technology, and education. In fact, more Nova Scotians work as teachers and university professors than as fish-processing, forestry, and construction workers combined. Also significant for the


economy are


several Canadian Forces military bases

: Halifax, Cornwallis, Shearwater, and Greenwood.Transportation

located within the province.

Provincial income is derived from two main sources: various provincial taxes and fees and the federal government. Important taxes levied by the province include personal and corporate income taxes, a sales tax, and a fuel tax.

Transportation and telecommunications

Shipping remains a major enterprise in Nova Scotia. Point Tupper accommodates the world’s largest oil carriers, and Halifax, a railroad terminus and year-round ice-free port, has facilities for all types of vessels, including huge container ships. Other transportation needs are served by a network of paved highways, by a

rapidly growing

trucking industry

, which is partly displacing

that has largely displaced local rail service, and by an international airport at Halifax and several smaller airports.


Car and passenger ferries operate between Nova Scotia and ports in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, and the U.S. state of Maine.

Administration and social conditionsGovernment

Nova Scotia has a highly developed, fully digital telecommunications system that features a provincewide fibre-optic network. Cellular telephone service and high-speed Internet access are widely available.

Government and society
Constitutional framework

Nova Scotia’s governmental structure is similar to that of all Canadian provinces. A lieutenant governor appointed by the federal government serves as representative of the crown and titular head of state. The premier, who is the leader of the party in power in the provincial


assembly, selects


a cabinet from among

his colleagues. The judiciary is

the elected party. While judges of the province’s higher courts are federally appointed,

while government

the provincial government appoints judges to lower courts; judges normally serve until retirement. Government employees are recruited through a nonpolitical civil service.

Provincial income is derived from two virtually equal sources: the federal government and various provincial taxes and fees.Since

Since Canadian confederation there have been two major political parties in Nova Scotia


: the


Liberals and the Conservatives (


later known as the Progressive Conservatives)

; the

. The New Democratic Party

has had little success.

The nondenominational system of compulsory, free public education, dating from the mid-19th century, consolidated the many rural school districts into fewer, larger, and more efficient districts during the 1970s. Considerable emphasis is placed on commercial and vocational training at the secondary as well as the college level. Dalhousie University (founded 1818) in Halifax is perhaps the best known of the institutions of higher learning, though a number of Roman Catholic and other private institutions offer diversified curricula. Agriculture, social work, and teacher training are among the specialized areas served by specific institutions. St. Francis Xavier University, in Antigonish, has attracted international interest in its adult-education programs.

experienced dramatic growth in the late 20th century.

Health and welfare

In 1969 Nova Scotia joined the federal

Medical Care Program

medical care program. The premium is paid from the province’s general revenues, and insured services include all medically necessary procedures and care. The province provides facilities for mental health, dental care, tuberculosis control, and other public


health services. Nova Scotia’s welfare services


, similar to those in other provinces,


cover old-age assistance, allowances for the blind and disabled, social assistance, social development, child welfare and adoptions, and

service to unmarried mothers. The Department of Public Welfare operates institutions for mentally retarded children and for delinquent youth and supervises some private institutions.Cultural life

Its geographic position has kept Nova Scotia somewhat removed from the mainstream of Canadian life, centred in Ontario and Quebec. The improvement of transportation, however, and the growing impact of the nationwide communications media have brought the province closer to the mainstream, enhancing a modern life-style in the province and eroding some features of traditional Nova Scotian life. Nevertheless many areas of the mainland peninsula and of Cape Breton Island retain an unretouched image of the past.

Scottish culture is particularly vigorous in Nova Scotia. Pictou county alone has several bagpipe bands, while services for single parents.


The nondenominational system of compulsory, free public education, dating from the mid-19th century, provides Nova Scotians with high-quality education from kindergarten through grade 12. In areas of the province where demand is sufficient, education is available in French as part of the publicly funded school system. Higher education is offered by a system of technical schools and community colleges, as well as by the largest number of universities per capita of any province in Canada. Dalhousie University in Halifax is the largest; it offers a variety of programs, including law, medicine, nursing, and dentistry. Sainte-Anne University is Nova Scotia’s only French-language university. St. Francis Xavier University, in Antigonish, has attracted international interest in its adult-education programs, while Acadia University, in Wolfville, has become a leader in Canada in the use of technology in learning. With many programs designed specifically for women, Mount Saint Vincent University, in Halifax, is the only university in Canada to make the education of women its focus.

Cultural life

The cultural life of Nova Scotia is rich and varied, reflecting both the cultural diversity of its people and the strong sense of its past. Traditional aspects of Scottish and Acadian culture are particularly vibrant. A number of provincial organizations do much to encourage cultural and artistic development.

In the last decades of the 20th century a major revival of interest in Celtic music began, with singers and musicians (especially fiddlers) from Cape Breton becoming well known nationally and internationally. St. Francis Xavier University offers courses in Celtic studies, and the Gaelic College in St. Ann’s, Cape Breton,


teaches Celtic piping, singing, dancing, and handicrafts. Clan gatherings take place annually at

the Gaelic College

St. Ann’s to celebrate the Gaelic Mod, a festival of Highland folk arts.

Each summer individual and community arts are taught at Tatamagouche, and an Acadian festival is held at Clare. Other popular attractions include the annual Nova Scotia Military Tattoo and the Atlantic Winter Fair.The

Acadian culture, fostered by a French-language school system, French-language radio and television stations, and local festivals, remains an important part of the life of the province. The late 20th century witnessed a renewed interest in the culture and traditions of the Mi’kmaq. Nova Scotia’s black community has retained a strong sense of its own traditions as well.

Major cultural institutions include the Neptune Theatre and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia

are major cultural assets. Halifax is the centre of repertory drama, and the universities have their own theatre productions. Resident and visiting painters work in such south shore communities as Mahone Bay, Lunenburg, and Peggy’s Cove. Woodcarving, pottery making, hooking, and weaving are also pursued.Impressive historic sites include the restored fortress of Louisbourg, Champlain’s

, both in Halifax, and the Nova Scotia Museum system. Live theatre flourishes in many centres in the province, especially during the summer months. Artists and writers have found the province both a congenial place in which to live and a stimulating climate in which to work.

Several impressive historic sites belonging to Canada’s national parks system reflect the rich history of the region. These include a reconstruction of the 1605 French habitation at Port Royal,

and the Halifax citadel. Also of interest are the Breton Highlands National Park and

the reconstructed fortress of Louisbourg, the Halifax Citadel, the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic

Park and a museum at Baddeck

Site at Baddeck (where the Scottish-born American inventor Alexander Graham Bell had a summer home), and the Grand-Pré


National Historic Site in the Annapolis Valley

. Provincial parks are under continual development, and accommodations and recreational facilities are increasing.History

In the 17th and 18th centuries Nova Scotia experienced instabilities of colonization, struggles for power originating in the rivalries between London and Paris, and migratory and military pressure from the colonies to the south that were to become the United States. (a centre of Acadian settlement and deportation in the 18th century). Another significant historic site is Old Town Lunenburg, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995. In addition, there are a number of provincial museums, and most communities have museums reflective of local history.

Cape Breton Highlands National Park and Kejimkujik National Park provide popular scenic and wilderness experiences. There is also an extensive system of provincial parks. Popular sporting and recreational activities include football (soccer), golf, hockey, kayaking and canoeing, walking, and gardening.

There are a great many community newspapers and a number of local radio stations in the province. The region also is well served by the provincial newspaper The Chronicle Herald of Halifax as well as by radio and television affiliates of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and Canadian Television (CTV) networks.


After thousands of years of occupation by aboriginal peoples, the region came to the attention of Europeans, perhaps during the Viking voyages of c. AD 1000 and certainly by the late 15th century. The rich fisheries of the coast provided the major impetus for European involvement in the area. In the early 17th century, a group of French merchants led by Pierre du Gua, sieur de Monts, and assisted by the explorer Samuel de Champlain, established trading posts in the region; one founded at Port Royal (near present-day Annapolis Royal) in 1605 was the first permanent European settlement in North America north of Florida. In 1621 the English king James I granted the area to a Scottish nobleman, Sir William Alexander. This led to a brief, unsuccessful Scottish settlement at Port Royal (1629–32).

For the next century and a half, the region was a focal point for French-English rivalry for control of North America. This struggle for control retarded European settlement of the region and greatly altered the lives of the French settlers, or Acadians. The territory passed back and forth between France and England until 1713, when one of the French, retaining treaties of Utrecht conveyed mainland Nova Scotia to the English for the last time, although conflict continued for another 50 years. The French retained Cape Breton Island and other areas, began construction of , where they built the powerful Louisbourg fortress. Halifax was founded in 1749 as a counterbalance and populated with some 4,000 British settlersfortress of Louisbourg, which the English attempted to counter by the founding in 1749 of Halifax as the new administrative and military centre of their colony. In the 1750s the French Acadians, who refused to swear allegiance to the British crown, were expelledEnglish expelled the Acadians from the region—an event romanticized and popularized by the New England poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his narrative poem Evangeline.

Offers of free land attracted immigrants from the British Isles, the Germanic states, and New England; the latter group helped to secure the first elected assemblythese newcomers gave the colony its first substantial Protestant population. By the time of the American Revolution, New Englanders constituted roughly onetwo-half thirds of Nova Scotia’s population; though they tried to remain neutral, four delegates attended the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. During the Revolution and after, some . In spite of some support for the revolution, the colony remained largely passive during the conflict, and approximately 35,000 loyalists immigrated to the province from the revolting colonies to the south. Meanwhile, Prince Edward Island had split off from Nova Scotia in 1769, and New Brunswick and Cape Breton followed in 1784; Cape Breton Island the last was reunited with Nova Scotia in 1820. In 1848 Nova Scotia became the first British colony to exercise in which the prerogative administration of government was responsible to the people through their elected representatives. Despite majority in the House of Assembly, the representative branch of colonial government. Despite opposition from some economic and political oppositionleaders, confederation with Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick the colonies of New Brunswick and Canada (present-day Quebec and Ontario) was carried out in 1867.

As a separate British colony, Nova Scotia had prospered from its forestry, fisheries, and shipbuilding for the first two-thirds of the 19th century. Under the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854, the north–south (1854) between the Canadian colonies and the United States, the north-south flow of commerce and Nova Scotia’s normal market and supply source in New England seemed secure. Nova Scotia The colony benefited further from the increased demand for duty-free natural products during the U.S. Civil War. The Canadian tariffs on manufactured goods, the alleged pro-Confederate sentiments of Britain and Canada, and the protectionist pressures of some states in the victorious North led to the nonrenewal of reciprocity in 1866 and the levying of further protective tariffs by both nations. Canada also lost the preferential treatment by Britain previously granted under colonial policy. Railways, meanwhile, were changing continental traffic patterns, and Canada and the U.S became rivals for the east–west inland trade. Canada’s tariffs, intended both to protect its own manufactures and to assist in financing its railways from coastal ports to Central Canada, did not assure the province of year-round commerce, because transportation costs to the distant population centres were so high. Nova Scotia’s prospects were further set back as iron steamers replaced the wooden sailing vessels that had been the pride and chief industry of the province. The steamers usually bypassed Nova Scotian ports for those in the United States, and even the lucrative trade with the West Indies dwindled. Also, the opening of the western provinces to settlement tended to drain the older regions of some vigorous elements of the population and to deprive them of investment capital and other resources.By the last decade of the 20th century Nova Scotia’s diversified economy and extensive natural resources had the potential to expand business and reduce unemployment. The 1989 Canada–United States free-trade agreement was regarded as a benefit to the province’s fisheries and to its shipping and energy sectors, and continuing federal assistance was a vital factor in the maintenance of social and economic programs. There was, at the same time, a general agreement among the political and social institutions that Nova Scotia should continue to advance technologically but with a minimal sacrifice of traditional human valuesby both the North and the South of the United States during the American Civil War. However, the termination of reciprocity in 1866 and changing continental and world trade patterns eroded much of Nova Scotia’s traditional economy. The linking of Nova Scotia with central Canada via the railway did not bring all the expected benefits to the region; rather, it helped to make the province more economically dependent on Quebec and Ontario. The late 19th century witnessed the extensive industrialization of parts of Nova Scotia, but in general the early 20th century saw the consolidation of financial and industrial power in Montreal and Toronto. The extensive out-migration of Nova Scotians, mainly to the New England states and western Canada, was a sign of the troubled economy.

During both of the 20th-century World Wars, Halifax played a key role in the transportation of men and supplies to Europe; the city experienced unprecedented prosperity as a result. During World War I, much of the city was destroyed when two ships collided in Halifax Harbour on Dec. 6, 1917. The collision resulted in the largest man-made explosion in history prior to the advent of the atomic bomb. Nearly 2,000 Haligonians were killed.

At the turn of the 21st century, Nova Scotia’s population and economy continued to experience modest growth. The large potential of offshore gas reserves and an expanding technology-based industrial sector augured well for the future of the province, as did the tourism industry. However, increasing difficulties posed by border security and the high cost of gasoline led to a decline in the number of American tourists visiting the province.

Robert J. McCalla, The Maritime Provinces Atlas (1988), provides information in a graphic format. George Rogers (ed.), Exploring The structure of provincial government is dealt with in J. Murray Beck, The Government of Nova Scotia (1984), is a concise guidebook. A look at the economy is provided in Stanislaw Czamanski, Structure of the Nova Scotia Economy (1970). On the 1957, reprinted 1973), and Politics of Nova Scotia, 2 vol. (1985–88). The history of the province , there is a considerable body of literature in the Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society (1878– ). Selected readings include J. Murray Beck, The Government of Nova Scotia (1957), John Bartlett Brebner, The Neutral Yankees of Nova Scotia (1937, reissued 1970), and New England’s Outpost: Acadia Before the Conquest of Canada (1927, reissued 1974); Arthur G. Doughty, The Acadian Exiles: A Chronicle of the Land of Evangeline (1916, reprinted 1935); and Andrew H. Clark, Acadia: The Geography of Early Nova Scotia to 1760 (1968)is covered by Lesley Choyce, Nova Scotia: Shaped by the Sea: A Living History (1996); Phillip A. Buckner and John G. Reid (eds.), The Atlantic Region to Confederation: A History (1994); E.R. Forbes and D.A. Muise (eds.), The Atlantic Provinces in Confederation (1993); and Margaret R. Conrad and James K. Hiller, Atlantic Canada: A Region in the Making (2001). N.E.S. Griffiths, From Migrant to Acadian: A North American Border People, 1604–1755 (2004), deals with the early colonial period.