The area of the modern Pictou County was a part of the
Miꞌkmaq nation of
Mi'kma'ki (''mi'gama'gi'') at the time of European contact. , Pictou, Nova Scotia In the early 1600s
France claimed the area as a part of
Acadia. By the 1760s, small French settlements existed along the coast in the eastern part of the county near the mouth of the
French River. The largest of these was on the
Big Island at Merigomish. By the conclusion of the
French and Indian War in 1763, and the
Expulsion of the Acadians, these had been abandoned. Pictou came under the control of
Britain in 1763 after the
French and Indian War. In 1765 the first British land grants were issued, including a grant to the Philadelphia Company. A number of families from that company left
Philadelphia aboard the
Hope in May 1767, and arrived at
Pictou Harbour in June. In 1770 there were 120 settlers living in Pictou, of whom 93 were American, 18 were Irish, five were Acadian, and two each were Scottish and English. Pictou was a receiving point for many
Scottish immigrants moving to a new home in northern Nova Scotia and
Cape Breton Island following the
Highland Clearances of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Consequently, the town's slogan is "The Birthplace of
New Scotland"; the first wave of immigrants from Scotland is acknowledged to have arrived on September 15, 1773, on the
Hector. Coal was first discovered in Pictou County in 1798. A number of different individuals and companies were involved in the nascent coal industry; however, in 1825 the majority of mining rights in Nova Scotia was obtained by the
General Mining Association. After surveying mines in Nova Scotia, they chose to start at the
East River of Pictou and in the summer of 1827 they began operations there. By the end of the year the first steam engine in Nova Scotia was operating at
Albion Mines. In 1839 the first locomotive in Canada to run on iron rails, the
Samson, was put into service at Albion Mines. It is the oldest surviving locomotive in Canada. ==Geography==