-one of the four Atlantic provinces on the east coast of Canada
-second smallest province (P.E.I. is the smallest)
-made up of the mainland and Cape Breton Island
-also includes over 3800 coastal islands
-capital city and largest city is Halifax - 403,390 (CMA 2016)
-Halifax is an international seaport and transportation center.
-flower - the Mayflower, tree -Red Spruce, bird - Osprey
-"Nova Scotia" means "New Scotland" in Latin.
-motto : " One defends and the other conquers"
THE PEOPLE
-There are 923,598 people living in Nova Scotia.(2016 census)
-Many people live in or close to Halifax.
-Most of the communities are along the coast.
-First people were the Micmacs (Mi'Kmaq).
-People came from Britain, Western Europe, and Southern Europe.
-Over eighty percent are of British ancestry, eighteen percent are of French ancestry
-Other groups include German, Dutch, Poles, Ukrainian, Chinese, Scandinavian and native people.
-N.S. has Canada's oldest African-Canadian community.
HISTORY
-The Vikings first visited around the year 990.
-Explorer John Cabot came to Nova Scotia in 1497.
-Micmac lived there. They hunted, fished, gathered plants and berries.
-French settlers arrived in 1605.
-A French settlement named Port Royal was built in 1605.
-The area was turned over to the British after a war.
-French colonists were forced to leave.
-Some went back to France while others went to the U.S.
-Later settlers came from England, Germany, Scotland.
-In 1783 the United Empire Loyalists came from the United States.
-In 1784 Nova Scotia was partitioned and the colonies of New Brunswick and Cape Breton Island were created.
-In 1820 Cape Breton Island became part of Nova Scotia again.
-In 1867 Nova Scotia became a part of the Dominion of Canada.
CLIMATE AND WEATHER
-Cool dry air from the interior mixes with warmer wet air over the sea.
-Areas along the coast are milder and wetter than the areas inland.
-The Atlantic coast is foggy, especially in the spring.
-There are heavy rains and stormy weather in the fall.
-The province has experienced hurricanes in the late summer.
WATER AND LAND
-The province is almost surrounded by water.
-The Atlantic Ocean is to the south and east.
-Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are connected by a small land bridge (28 km Isthmus of Chignecto) .
-The Bay of Fundy stretches between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
-The Bay of Fundy has world's highest tides.
-Much of the province is part of the Appalachian Region.
-The province is covered with forests and lakes.
-There are 3000 small lakes.
-Almost 7500 km is rocky coastline.
-There are salt marshes and ice-free deep water harbours along the coast.
-The Strait of Canso (1.2 km wide) separates the mainland of Nova Scotia from Cape Breton Island.
-The Canso Causeway is a road which connects the island to the mainland.
RESOURCES/INDUSTRY
-Coal mining, fishing and fish processing were once major industries.
-The Fishery is the oldest and most important natural resource.
-Haddock and cod were once caught in great numbers.
-Scallops, crabs, clams, cod, haddock, pollock, herring and salmon are caught in the waters off Nova Scotia.
-Lobsters from N.S. are shipped all across Canada.
-There are about 249 fish processing plants.
-The main mineral is coal which is used for making electricity.
-Refineries turn oil into gasoline and other products.
-Both hardwood and softwood forests cover much of the province.
-Forest products include lumber, pulp and paper and Christmas trees.
-There are three pulp and paper mills and several hundred sawmills.
-Nova Scotia is among the leading producers of gypsum in the world. Gypsum is used in the manufacture of wallboard.
-Apples, blueberries, pears and strawberries are grown in the Annapolis Valley.
PEOPLE and PLACES
-Anne Murray, a singer and songwriter from Springhill, has many gold singles.
-Singer Rita MacNeil and musician Ashley MacIssac are from Nova Scotia.
-Marconi sent the first official west-to-east wireless ( radio) message across the Atlantic Ocean from Table Head,
Cape Breton Island in 1902.
-A. Gesner made kerosene in the 1850s. The kerosene was burned in lamps and lanterns. He is known as the Father of the
Petroleum Industry.
-Thomas Haliburton was a famous writer who wrote books about a character named Sam Slick.
-Joshua Slocum was the first to sail alone around the world in the 1890s.
-In the 1920s and 1930s the Bluenose schooner was famous for winning international races.
-Nova Scotia is called "Canada's ocean playground"
-Fishing villages and lighthouses along the coastline attract tourists.
-Peggy's Cove is a well-known fishing village with a lighthouse.
-The Citadel is a fort built (1856) on a hill overlooking Halifax harbour.
-Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site (Cape Breton Island) has a museum displaying his inventions.
He is the inventor of the telephone.
-The Fortress of Louisbourg (Cape Breton Island) is the largest reconstructed 18th-century French fortified town in
North America.
-Bras d'Or lake (Cape Breton Island) is a saltwater lake that is a nesting site of the endangered bald eagle.
