Prince Edward Island
The province Prince Edward Island (PEI) is located in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence,
and is separated from
Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick by the Northumberland Strait. PEI is Canada's smallest province, at 224 km long and
width ranging from 4–60 km.
The Micmac have lived on the island and surrounding region for at least 2,000 years,
and the Micmac's ancestors occupied what is now PEI as far back as 10,000 years ago. Jaques Cartier was the first European to record sight of the island, and he made
several landings upon its shores in 1534. The French settled there in the 1720s, calling it the Île St-Jean, and by 1748 the
population was roughly 700.
The island was ceded by the French to the British following the Treaty of Paris in
1763; the British then Anglicized its name to the Island of Saint John. The island became part of the Province of
Nova Scotia until 1769, when a separate administration evolved. In 1799 the name of the colony changed to PEI, in honour of a son of King George
III, who was stationed in
Halifax at the time. PEI resisted Confederation until 1873, when, driven largely by financial need, it
joined Canada.
- 1. S. Andrew Robb and H. T. Holman, Prince Edward Island, The Canadian Encyclopedia.
- 2. Ibid.
- 3. Ibid.
- 4. Ibid.
- 5. Ibid.
- 6. Ibid.
- 7. Ibid.
- 8. Ibid.