The
pre-history of the Canadian Maritimes begins after the northerly retreat of glaciers at the end of the
Wisconsin glaciation over 10,000 years ago; human settlement by
First Nations began in the Maritimes with
Paleo-Indians during the
Early Period, ending around 6,000 years ago. The
Middle Period, starting 6,000 years ago, and ending 3,000 years ago, was dominated by
rising sea levels from the melting glaciers in polar regions. This is when what is called the
Laurentian tradition started among
Archaic Indians, the term used for First Nations peoples of the time. Evidence of Archaic Indian
burial mounds and other ceremonial sites existing in the
Saint John River valley has been uncovered. The
Late Period extended from 3,000 years ago until first contact with European settlers. This period was dominated by the organization of First Nations peoples into the
Algonquian-speaking
Abenaki Nation, which occupied territory largely in present-day interior
Vermont,
New Hampshire, and
Maine, and the Mi'kmaq Nation, which inhabited all of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, eastern New Brunswick and the southern
Gaspé. The primarily agrarian
Wolastoqiyik Nation settled throughout the Saint John River and
Allagash River valleys of present-day New Brunswick and Maine. The
Passamaquoddy Nation inhabited the northwestern coastal regions of the present-day
Bay of Fundy. The Mi'kmaq Nation is also believed to have crossed the present-day
Cabot Strait at around this time to settle on the south coast of
Newfoundland, but they were a minority compared to the
Beothuk Nation.
European contact , in Nova Scotia. After Newfoundland, the Maritimes were the second area in Canada to be settled by Europeans. There is evidence that
Viking explorers discovered and settled in the
Vinland region around 1000 AD, which is when the
L'Anse aux Meadows settlement in
Newfoundland and Labrador has been dated. They may have made further exploration into the present-day Maritimes and northeastern United States. Both
Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) and
Giovanni da Verrazzano are reported to have sailed in or near Maritime waters during their voyages of discovery for England and France, respectively. Several Portuguese explorers / cartographers have also documented various parts of the Maritimes, namely
Diogo Homem. However, it was French explorer
Jacques Cartier who made the first detailed reconnaissance of the region for a European power and, in so doing, claimed the region for the King of France. Cartier was followed by nobleman
Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons, who was accompanied by explorer / cartographer
Samuel de Champlain in a 1604 expedition. During this they established the second permanent European settlement in what is now the United States and Canada (and the first in the Maritimes), following Spain's settlement at
St. Augustine in present-day Florida in the American South. Champlain's settlement at
Saint Croix Island, later moved to
Port Royal (
Annapolis Royal), survived. By contrast, the ill-fated English settlement at
Roanoke Colony off the southern American coast did not. The French settlement pre-dated the more successful English settlement at
Jamestown in present-day Virginia by three years. Champlain was considered the founder of
New France's province of Canada, which comprises much of the present-day lower
St. Lawrence River valley in the province of
Quebec.
Acadia Champlain's success in the region, which came to be called , led to the fertile tidal marshes surrounding the southeastern and northeastern reaches of the
Bay of Fundy being populated by French immigrants who called themselves . The Acadians eventually built small settlements throughout what is today mainland
Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick, as well as Île-Saint-Jean (
Prince Edward Island), Île-Royale (
Cape Breton Island), and other shorelines of the
Gulf of St. Lawrence in present-day
Newfoundland and
Labrador, and
Quebec. Acadian settlements had primarily agrarian economies. Early examples of Acadian fishing settlements developed in southwestern Nova Scotia and in Île-Royale, as well as along the south and west coasts of Newfoundland, the
Gaspé Peninsula, and the present-day
Côte-Nord region of Quebec. Most Acadian fishing activities were overshadowed by the much larger seasonal European fishing fleets that were based out of Newfoundland and took advantage of proximity to the
Grand Banks. The growing English colonies along the American seaboard to the south and various European wars between England and France during the 17th and 18th centuries brought Acadia to the centre of world-scale geopolitical forces. In 1613, Virginian raiders captured Port-Royal, and in 1621 France ceded Acadia to Scotland's
Sir William Alexander, who renamed it
Nova Scotia. By 1632, Acadia was returned from Scotland to France under the
Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The Port Royale settlement was moved to the site of nearby present-day
Annapolis Royal. More French immigrant settlers, primarily from the
Brittany,
Normandie, and
Vienne regions of France, continued to populate the colony of Acadia during the latter part of the 17th and early part of the 18th centuries. Important settlements also began in the
Beaubassin region of the present-day
Isthmus of Chignecto, and in the
Saint John River valley, as well as smaller communities on Île-Saint-Jean and Île-Royale. In 1654, raiders from
New England attacked Acadian settlements on the
Annapolis Basin. Acadians lived with uncertainty throughout the English constitutional crises under
Oliver Cromwell, and it was not until the
Treaty of Breda in 1667 that France's claim to the region was reaffirmed. Colonial administration by France throughout the history of Acadia was of low priority. France's priorities were in settling and strengthening its claim on the larger territory of
New France and the exploration and settlement of interior North America and the
Mississippi River valley.
Colonial wars Over 74 years (1689–1763) there were six colonial wars, which involved continuous warfare between New England and
Acadia (see the
French and Indian Wars reflecting English and French tensions in Europe, as well as
Father Rale's War (Dummer's War) and
Father Le Loutre's War). Throughout these wars, New England was allied with the
Iroquois Confederacy based around the southern
Great Lakes and west of the
Hudson River. Acadian settlers were allied with the
Wabanaki Confederacy. In the first war,
King William's War (the North American theatre of the
Nine Years' War), natives from the Maritime region participated in numerous attacks with the French on the Acadia / New England border in southern Maine (e.g.,
Raid on Salmon Falls). New England retaliatory raids on Acadia, such as the
Raid on Chignecto, were conducted by
Benjamin Church. In the second war,
Queen Anne's War (the North American theatre of the
War of the Spanish Succession), the British conducted the
Conquest of Acadia, while the region remained primarily in control of
Wolastoqey militia,
Acadia militia and
Mi'kmaw militia. In 1719, to further protect strategic interests in the
Gulf of St. Lawrence and
St. Lawrence River, France began the 20-year construction of a large
fortress at Louisbourg on Île-Royale. Massachusetts was increasingly concerned over reports of the capabilities of this fortress, and of
privateers staging out of its harbour to raid New England fishermen on the Grand Banks. In the fourth war,
King George's War (the North American theatre of the
War of the Austrian Succession), the British engaged successfully in the
Siege of Louisbourg. The British returned control of Île-Royale to France with the fortress virtually intact three years later under the
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle and the French reestablished their forces there. In 1749, to counter the rising threat of Louisbourg,
Halifax was founded and the
Royal Navy established a major naval base and
citadel. The founding of Halifax sparked
Father Le Loutre's War. :
A View of the Plundering and Burning of the City of Grimross (present day
Arcadia, New Brunswick) by
Thomas Davies in 1758. This is the only contemporaneous image of the
Expulsion of the Acadians. During the sixth and final colonial war, the
French and Indian War (the North American theatre of the
Seven Years' War), the military conflicts in Nova Scotia continued. The British
Conquest of Acadia happened in 1710. Over the next forty-five years, the Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath of allegiance to Britain. During this time period Acadians participated in various militia operations against the British and maintained vital supply lines to the French Fortress of Louisbourg and Fort Beausejour. The British sought to neutralize any military threat Acadians posed and to interrupt the vital supply lines Acadians provided to Louisbourg by deporting Acadians from Acadia. The British began the
Expulsion of the Acadians with the
Bay of Fundy campaign in 1755. Over the next nine years over 12,000 Acadians of 15,000 were removed from Nova Scotia. In 1758, the fortress of
Louisbourg was laid siege for a second time within 15 years, this time by more than 27,000 British soldiers and sailors with over 150 warships. After the French surrender, Louisbourg was thoroughly destroyed by British engineers to ensure it would never be reclaimed. With the fall of Louisbourg, French and Mi'kmaw resistance in the region crumbled. British forces seized remaining French control over Acadia in the coming months, with Île-Saint-Jean falling in 1759 to British forces on their way to Quebec City for the first siege of Quebec and the ensuing
Battle of the Plains of Abraham. The war ended and Britain had gained control over the entire Maritime region and the Indigenous people signed the
Halifax Treaties.
American Revolution Following the
Seven Years' War, empty Acadian lands were settled first by 8,000
New England Planters and then by immigrants
brought from Yorkshire. Île-Royale was renamed Cape Breton Island and incorporated into the Colony of Nova Scotia. Some of the Acadians who had been deported came back but went to the eastern coasts of New Brunswick. Both the colonies of Nova Scotia (present-day Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) and St. John's Island (Prince Edward Island) were affected by the
American Revolutionary War, largely by privateering against American shipping, but several coastal communities were also the targets of American raiders. Charlottetown, the capital of the new colony of St. John's Island, was ransacked in 1775 with the provincial secretary kidnapped and the Great Seal stolen. The largest military action in the Maritimes during the revolutionary war was the
attack on Fort Cumberland (the renamed
Fort Beauséjour) in 1776 by a force of American sympathizers led by
Jonathan Eddy. The fort was partially overrun after a month-long siege, but the attackers were ultimately repelled after the arrival of British reinforcements from Halifax. The most significant impact from this war was the settling of large numbers of
Loyalist refugees in the region (34,000 to the 17,000 settlers already there), especially in
Shelburne and Parrtown (Saint John). Following the
Treaty of Paris in 1783, Loyalist settlers in what would become New Brunswick persuaded British administrators to split the Colony of Nova Scotia to create the new colony of New Brunswick in 1784. At the same time, another part of the Colony of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island, was split off to become the Colony of Cape Breton Island. The Colony of St. John's Island was renamed
Prince Edward Island on November 29, 1798. The
War of 1812 had some effect on the shipping industry in the Maritime colonies of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Cape Breton Island; however, the significant
Royal Navy presence in Halifax and other ports in the region prevented any serious attempts by American raiders. Maritime and American
privateers targeted unprotected shipping of both the United States and Britain respectively, further reducing trade. New Brunswick's section of the Canada–US border did not have any significant action during this conflict, although British forces did occupy a portion of coastal
Maine at one point. The most significant incident from this war which occurred in the Maritimes was the British capture and detention of
USS Chesapeake, an American
frigate in Halifax.
19th century In 1820, the Colony of
Cape Breton Island was merged back into the Colony of Nova Scotia for the second time by the British government. British settlement of the Maritimes, as the colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island came to be known, accelerated throughout the late 18th century and into the 19th century with significant immigration to the region as a result of Scottish migrants displaced by the
Highland Clearances and
Irish escaping the
Great Irish Famine (1845–1849). As a result, significant portions of the three provinces are influenced by
Celtic heritages, with
Scottish Gaelic (and to a lesser degree,
Irish Gaelic) having been widely spoken, particularly in Cape Breton, although it is less prevalent today. During the
American Civil War, a significant number of Maritimers volunteered to fight for the armies of the
Union, while a small handful joined the
Confederate Army. However, the majority of the conflict's impact was felt in the shipping industry. Maritime shipping boomed during the war due to large-scale Northern imports of war supplies which were often carried by Maritime ships as Union ships were vulnerable to Confederate naval raiders. Diplomatic tensions between Britain and the
Unionist North had deteriorated after some interests in Britain expressed support for the secessionist
Confederate South. The
Union Navy, although much smaller than the British
Royal Navy and no threat to the Maritimes, did posture off Maritime coasts at times chasing
Confederate naval ships which sought repairs and reprovisioning in Maritime ports, especially Halifax. The immense size of the Union Army (the largest on the planet toward the end of the Civil War), however, was viewed with increasing concern by Maritimers throughout the early 1860s. Another concern was the rising threat of
Fenian raids on border communities in
New Brunswick by the
Fenian Brotherhood seeking to end
British rule in Ireland. This combination of events, coupled with an ongoing decline in British military and economic support to the region as the
Home Office favoured newer colonial endeavours in Africa and elsewhere, led to a call among Maritime politicians for a conference on
Maritime Union, to be held in early September 1864 in Charlottetown – chosen in part because of Prince Edward Island's reluctance to give up its jurisdictional sovereignty in favour of uniting with New Brunswick and Nova Scotia into a single colony. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia felt that if the union conference were held in Charlottetown, they might be able to convince Island politicians to support the proposal. The
Charlottetown Conference, as it came to be called, was also attended by a slew of visiting delegates from the neighbouring
Crown colony, the
Province of Canada, who had largely arrived at their own invitation with their own agenda. This agenda saw the conference dominated by discussions of creating an even larger union of the entire territory of
British North America into a united colony. The Charlottetown Conference ended with an agreement to meet the following month in
Quebec City, where more formal discussions ensued, culminating with meetings in London and the signing of the
British North America Act, 1867 (BNA Act). Of the Maritime provinces, only Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were initially party to the BNA Act: Prince Edward Island's reluctance, combined with a booming agricultural and fishing export economy having led to that colony opting not to sign on. ==Major population centres==