Indigenous societies Paleo-Indians are believed to have been the first humans on the land of New Brunswick, settling there roughly 10,000 years ago. Because their descendants did not leave a written record, there is a lack of knowledge of the history of the area before the arrival of European explorers. New Brunswick's land base has historically formed integral parts of the homelands of three
First Nations:the
Mi’kmaq,
Wolastoqiyik, and
Passamaquoddy of
Wabanakia. Much of the eastern coast falls within the Mi'kmaw district of
Siknikt (Signigtewa'gi) in their country of
Mi'kma'ki; the western half of the province is covered by the Wolastoqiyik homeland: Wolastokuk, named for the Wolastoq or
Saint John River; and Peskotomuhkatik, the Passamaquoddy country, surrounds the
bay named for the nation.
Acadia, a colonial division of
New France covering the
Maritimes, was founded in 1604 by
Samuel de Champlain and
Pierre Dugua de Mons with a settlement on
Saint Croix Island. It was quickly abandoned due to difficult living conditions and moved to Acadia's capital,
Port-Royal. There, the Mi'kmaq helped the French survive. In 1626, Port-Royal was destroyed by the British. The British conquered Acadia shortly after and held it until 1629.
James VI and I, King of Scotland, renamed it "Nova Scotia" in English. The Mi'kmaq helped all French survivors, including
Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour. Together, they established a
fur trade network along the
Saint John River. With the onset of the
Anglo-French War (1627–1629), de la Tour was issued a charter to govern Acadia. In 1629, Acadia was officially returned to France. As such, a new wave of French settlers arrived in Port-Royal to revitalise the colony, including
Isaac de Razilly, a new
governor of Acadia, and
Charles de Menou d'Aulnay, his cousin. de Razilly and de la Tour's charters conflicted with each others', but the two maintained an amicable relationship. In 1635, de Razilly died, triggering tensions between de la Tour, who governed from the Saint John valley, and d'Aulnay, who governed from Port-Royal. In the 1630s, this erupted into the
Acadian Civil War. d'Aulnay managed to expel de la Tour in 1644. But, following d'Aulnay's death in 1650, de la Tour married his widow in 1653, essentially overturning his success. Over time, French settlement extended up the river to the site of present-day
Fredericton. Other settlements in the southeast extended from
Beaubassin, near the present-day border with Nova Scotia, to
Baie Verte, and up the
Petitcodiac,
Memramcook, and
Shepody Rivers. The descendants of Acadia's French colonists became the
Acadians. Acadians developed a unique society characterised by dyking technology, which allowed them to cultivate marshes left by the
Bay of Fundy's tides, and by tightly knit independent communities, because they were often neglected by French authorities. During the 1690s, in
King William's War, attacks were launched from the Saint John valley by
Acadian militias onto New England colonists. This would create a deep English hostility against the French presence in the region. From the 1600s to mid-1700s, Acadia was routinely a war zone between the French and the English and would often change hands. However, Acadia would definitively fall into British hands following
Queen Anne's War, a conquest of most of the Acadian peninsula, formalized by the
Treaty of Utrecht of 1713. After the war, Acadia was reduced to Île Saint-Jean (
Prince Edward Island) and
Île-Royale (
Cape Breton Island), with the ownership of continental Acadia (New Brunswick) being disputed between France and Britain, with an informal border on the
Isthmus of Chignecto. In an effort to limit British expansion into continental Acadia, the French built
Fort Beauséjour at the isthmus in 1751. at the
Isthmus of Chignecto. The French built the fort in 1751 in an effort to limit British expansion into continental Acadia. From 1749 to 1755,
Father Le Loutre's War took place, where British soldiers fought against Acadians and Mi'kmaq to consolidate their power over Acadia/Nova Scotia. In 1755, the British
captured Fort Beauséjour, severing the Acadian supply lines to Nova Scotia, and Île-Royale. Continental Acadia thus came to be incorporated into the British colony of Nova Scotia with the
Treaty of Paris in 1763. Following this, the British, unsatisfied with the Acadians' surrender because they refused to pledge allegiance, turned to capturing and exporting Acadians en masse, an
ethnic cleansing event known as the
Deportation of the Acadians which was ordered by
Robert Monckton. From 1755 to 1763, 12,000 Acadians out of 18,000 were forcefully deported to various locations around the world, though 8000 died before arrival. The remaining 6000 Acadians escaped the British by fleeing North to the present
Acadia, or to
Canada. From 1755 to 1757, most Acadians were deported to the
Thirteen Colonies. From 1758 to 1762, most were sent to France. Between 1763 and 1785, many deported Acadians relocated to join their compatriots in
Louisiana. Their descendants became
Cajuns. In the 1780s and 1790s, some Acadians returned to Acadia, and discovered several thousand English immigrants, mostly from New England, on their former lands. In the late 1700s, the British began to make efforts to colonise the region, mostly by importing colonists from New England. Before the American Revolution, these colonists were called
planters. After the revolution, the colonists were called
loyalists, because only those loyal to the British crown settled in Nova Scotia. In 1766, planters from Pennsylvania founded The Bend of the Petitcodiac, or simply The Bend, which later became
Moncton in 1855, and English settlers from
Yorkshire arrived in the
Sackville area. In the 1770s, 10,000 loyalists settled along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy. In 1783, both
Saint Andrews and
Saint John were founded.
British colony of New Brunswick (1784–1867) in New Brunswick Loyalists who received land allocations around the St. John River valley, the Bay of Fundy or the Northumberland Strait became dissatisfied with being governed from
Halifax because it was so far away. Therefore, on 18 June 1784, the British government created a new province for them: New Brunswick. New Brunswick was formed from the partition of
Sunbury County from the remainder of Nova Scotia. In that same year, New Brunswick formed its first elected assembly. The first governor was
Thomas Carleton, and, in 1785, he chose the
hamlet of Sainte-Anne as the provincial capital. Sainte-Anne was later renamed Frederick's Town (and then later
Fredericton) after the second son of
George III. In total, it is believed that around 14,000 loyalist refugees came to New Brunswick. However, 10% eventually returned to the United States. In 1785, Saint John became New Brunswick's first incorporated city. Economically, New Brunswick was a poor environment for agriculture and mining. Its fishery was also far inferior to that of Nova Scotia's. New Brunswick's forests were rich in wood, but as wood is a bulky and low-value commodity, accessible markets were limited. Essentially, in the late 1700s, New Brunswick was a peripheral corner of the British Empire and North American world. Geopolitical events in Europe would change this situation. In 1806,
Napoleon Bonaparte's
continental blockade forced the United Kingdom, which usually relied on the
Baltic Sea for supplies, to import timber from its North American colonies. This stimulated the lumber trade in New Brunswick, as well as in
Lower Canada. Between 1805 and 1812, New Brunswick annually exported 100,000 tons of squared timber. In 1819, the number exceeded 240,000 tons, and in 1825 exports reached their highest level at 417,000 tons. From 1800 to 1851, New Brunswick's population grew from 25,000 to 200,000, and it saw large-scale immigration from Ireland and Scotland. In 1848, responsible home government was granted. They were also not part of the economic boom, and had troubles asserting their land rights. During the 1860s, the notion of unifying the maritime colonies of British North America was being increasingly discussed. This was due to multiple factors. For example, some felt that the American Civil War was the result of a weak central government and wished to avoid the same fate. Some also wanted to increase trade between the colonies, and be less economically tied to the US. In 1864, the
Charlottetown Conference was held to discuss a possible
Maritime Union between
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and
Prince Edward Island. However, the
Province of Canada, caught wind of the conference and decided to send representatives to attend. They asked that the agenda be expanded to discuss a union that would also include them. In 1866, the United States cancelled the Reciprocity Treaty, leading to a loss of trade and a stronger desire to build up trade within British North America. A
Fenian raid in 1866 also increased public support for a potential union.
Canadian province (1867–present) On 1 July 1867, New Brunswick joined with Nova Scotia and the
Province of Canada (now Ontario and Quebec) to create the Dominion of Canada. bridge, 1875. The railway was established as a result of
Confederation. Though Confederation brought into existence the
Intercolonial Railway in 1872, new barriers undermined traditional trade relations. In 1879,
John A. Macdonald's
Conservatives enacted the
National Policy, which called for high tariffs and opposed
free trade, disrupting the trading relationship between the Maritimes and
New England. The economic situation was worsened by the
Great Fire of Saint John of 1877, the decline of the shipbuilding industry, and the US
Panic of 1893. Many experienced workers lost their jobs and had to move west or to the United States. In 1871, the government introduced free education, banning
catechism, the
cassock and French in public schools in the process. Though contested by the Acadians and the Irish, the law was deemed constitutional. Following
a riot in
Caraquet in 1875, and political pressure, the bans were lifted in 1877. The
Irving Group of Companies, founded by the
Irving family, officially began in 1881 in
Bouctouche when James Irving bought a sawmill. Afterwards, the family continued to acquire businesses and substantial wealth, eventually becoming the richest family in the province. Today, Irving is considered by many to exert a monopoly over New Brunswick. Towards the early 20th century, the economy began to improve somewhat. The railways and tariffs fostered the growth of new industries in the province such as textile manufacturing, iron mills,
pulp and paper mills, and sugar refineries. In 1940, the
Rowell–Sirois Commission reported grave flaws in the Canadian constitution. While the federal government had most of the revenue gathering powers, the provinces had many expenditure responsibilities such as healthcare, education, and welfare, which were becoming increasingly expensive. The Commission recommended the creation of
equalization payments, which were eventually implemented in 1957. After Canada joined
World War II, 14 NB army units were organized, in addition to
The Royal New Brunswick Regiment, and first deployed in the
Italian campaign in 1943. After the
Normandy landings they redeployed to northwestern Europe, along with
The North Shore Regiment. The Acadians in northern New Brunswick had long been geographically and linguistically isolated from the more numerous English speakers to the south. The population of French origin grew dramatically after Confederation, from about 16 per cent in 1871 to 34 per cent in 1931. In 2005, the
Court of Queen's Bench approved
a ruling allowing for the legalization of
same-sex marriage. At the beginning of 2023, the provincial government implemented a
local governance reform, reducing the number of entities from 340 to 89. The following year, the province elected
Susan Holt, its first woman to serve as premier, following the
2024 provincial election. ==Geography==