NEW BRUNSWICK (N.B.)
-New Brunswick is one of the four Atlantic provinces in Canada.-Quebec's Gaspé Peninsula is north, the State of Maine is to the west. -It is the third smallest province.
-The province is named for the British royal family of Brunswick-Lüneburg.
-It is called the Loyalist Province.
-New Brunswick is Canada's only officially bilingual province.
-N.B. has a mainland and many islands.
-Fredericton is the capital city.
-Saint John is the largest city.
-flower - Purple Violet, tree - Balsam Fir, bird - Black-capped Chickadee
-motto - "Hope was restored."
THE PEOPLE
-The population is 747,101 (2016 census)-The oldest city is Saint John.
-Moncton is the largest city.(114,810 CMA 2016)
-Fredericton, the provincial capital is the third largest city.
-Many people are of French, British, Scottish and Irish origin.
-Over 32 percent of the population are Francophones.
-Other groups include native people, Germans, Dutch, Scandinavians, Italians and Asians.
CLIMATE
-The northern half of the province has cold winters and warm summers.-Areas near the sea have milder winters and slightly cooler summers.
-Moist air from the Atlantic Ocean produces mild weather in the winter and cool summers.
-Winter storms bring rain to the Bay of Fundy coast and snow to the interior.
-It is often foggy in the spring and early summer along the Bay of Fundy.
HISTORY
-The first people to live in N.B. include the Micmac and Malecite.-The Micmac and Malecite hunted and fished and were guides for the French explorers.
-The French mariner Jacques Cartier visited the east coast in 1534.
-In 1604 Samuel de Champlain and the French established the first settlement..
-The French called the east coast area Acadia.
-By 1608 French settlers (called Acadians) were farming around the Bay of Fundy.
-Acadia became an English colony in 1713.
-Some of the people would not swear loyalty to England. Their homes were burned and they were sent away.
Some went to Louisiana in the United States.
-Amercan settlers founded the city of Saint John (oldest city in Canada).
-In 1784 the north section of the colony became the new colony of New Brunswick.
-The lumbering industy grew. Shipbuilding was a big industry.
-The ships carried masts and other wood products around the world.
-Thousands came from Ireland after 1846 to work in the lumber industry or to farm.
-On July 1, 1867 New Brunswick became one of the first four provinces of Canada.
WATER AND LAND
-More than half of the province is surrounded by water.-The east coast faces the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Northumberland Strait; The Bay of Fundy
is along the south coast.
-Many bays and inlets along the coasts provide safe harbours for boats.
-There are many rivers in the province.
-The longest river is the Saint John River ( 670 km.long).
-The Bay of Fundy between N.B. and Nova Scotia has the world's highest tides (over 15 metres high).
-Forests (mainly black spruce and fir) cover about 85 percent of N.B.
-The Appalachian Mountains run along the western edge of the province.
RESOURCES/INDUSTRY
-N.B. is the main producer of lead, zinc, copper and bismuth in Canada.-Gypsum, potash, antimony, silver, gold, natural gas and oil are also mined.
-There are fishing ports where more than fifty kinds of fish and shellfish are caught
(scallops, shrimp, herring, lobsters, snow crabs, mussels, oysters, etc. )
-Lobster is the most valuable catch. Crab is second.
-Aquaculture farms harvest salmon, trout, arctic char, oysters and mussels.
-The main industry is forestry.
-Paper, newspaper, magazines, tissue, wooden doors and windows are made.
-There are livestock, dairy, poultry, potato and berry farms.
-The main crop is potatoes. The Saint John River Valley is called the "Potato Belt."
-Apples, blueberries, strawberries, and cranberries are also grown.
-Fiddleheads (sprouts of the ostrich fern) are gathered in early spring for eating.
PEOPLE AND PLACES
-"Stompin Tom" Conners , a well-known folksinger, was born in Saint John in 1936-R. Foulis invented the first steam foghorn (1860).
-Romeo LeBlanc was the first Acadian to become a Governor-General of Canada.
-Roch Voisine (song writer and singer ) won a Juno Award in 1993 for male vocalist.
-Bliss Carmen (1861-1929) was one of Canada's best known poets.
-Sir Charles G.D. Roberts (1860-1943) was known as the Father of Canadian Poetry.
-Donald Sutherland (1934- ) is a famous Hollywood actor.
-The McCain Brothers established McCain Foods in 1957. The company is the largest producer of french fries
and other oven-ready frozen food products in the world.
-Hartland Bridge is the world's longest covered bridge (390 m. or 1282 ft. long).
-Sixty-two covered bridges remain in the province.
-Confederation Bridge is the longest bridge in the world crossing ice-covered water.
It is 12.9 kilometres or 8 miles long. The bridge connects N.B. to Prince Edward Island.
-Magnetic Hill in Moncton is a type of optical illusion.
-At Reversing Falls on St. John River, the water rushes uphill against the normal flow of the falls.
-Bay of Fundy is the place for whale watching (Finbacks, Humpbacks, Pilot whales and the rare Right whale).
-Rocks Provincial Park (Bay of Fundy) has strange-shaped rocks called Flowerpot Rocks rising out of the sea
-There are more than 48 lighthouses, including those inland on the rivers
CANADA | FACTS | EMBLEMS | TOURS
Web Pages for StudentsJ.Giannetta 1999
(updated 2017)
jgiannet@hotmail.com
link - The Canadian Encyclopedia - NEW BRUNSWICK
link - Government of New Brunswick website
link - Tourism New Brunswick website
