Atlantic Canada | |
---|---|
Country | Canada |
Composition | |
Most populous municipality | Halifax |
Area | |
• Total | 488,000 km2 (188,000 sq mi) |
Population (2021) | |
• Total | 2,409,874 |
• Density | 4/km2 (10/sq mi) |
Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (French : provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. [1] As of 2021, the landmass of the four Atlantic provinces was approximately 488,000 km2 (188,000 sq mi), and had a population of over 2.4 million people. The provinces combined had an approximate GDP of $121.888 billion in 2011. [2] The term Atlantic Canada was popularized following the admission of Newfoundland as a Canadian province in 1949.
The Atlantic Provinces are the historical territories of the Mi'kmaq, Naskapi, Beothuk and Nunatsiavut peoples. [3] [4] [5] [6] The people of Nunatsiavut are the Labrador inuit (Labradormiut), who are descended from the Thule people. [6] Acadia, a colony of New France, was established in areas of present day Atlantic Canada in 1604, under the leadership of Samuel de Champlain and Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons. [7] The French would form alliances with many indigenous groups within Atlantic Canada, including the Mi'kmaq of Acadia, who joined the Wabanaki Confederacy, important allies to New France. [8]
The first premier of Newfoundland, Joey Smallwood, coined the term "Atlantic Canada" when the Dominion of Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949. [9] He believed that it would have been presumptuous for Newfoundland to assume that it could include itself within the existing term "Maritime provinces," used to describe the cultural similarities shared by New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia, which entered Confederation during the 19th century (New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were founding members of the Dominion of Canada in 1867, and Prince Edward Island joined in 1873). [10]
Although Quebec has a physical Atlantic coast on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, it is generally not considered an Atlantic Province; instead, it is classified as part of Central Canada, along with Ontario. [1]
Atlantic and Central Canada together are also known as Eastern Canada. Atlantic Canada includes a section of the Appalachian Mountains known as the Appalachian Uplands. [11] In each Atlantic province, Upland regions have been divided into three highland areas. The mountain range results in coastal regions being fjorded. Some areas contain glaciofluvial deposits. [12] [13]
The following tables use Statistics Canada's 2021 census data.
Province | Land area (km2) | References |
---|---|---|
New Brunswick | 71,248.50 | [62] |
Newfoundland and Labrador | 358,170.37 | [63] |
Nova Scotia | 52,824.71 | [64] |
Prince Edward Island | 5,681.18 | [65] |
The following tables provide 2021 census figures for "Metropolitan Areas" (built from entire municipalities) and "Population Centres" (limited to actual continuously-built-up areas) in Atlantic Canada. The list includes communities above 15,000, by Metropolitan Area population, or 10,000 by Population Centre population.
Municipality | Province | Type of Municipality | Population of Metropolitan Area (CA/CMA) | Population of Municipality | Population of Urban Area | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Halifax | Nova Scotia | Municipality | 465,703 | 439,819 | 348,634 | [14] [15] [16] |
St. John's | Newfoundland and Labrador | City | 212,579 | 110,525 | 185,565 | [17] [18] [19] |
Moncton | New Brunswick | City | 157,717 | 79,470 | 119,785 | [20] [21] [22] |
Saint John | New Brunswick | City | 130,613 | 69,895 | 63,447 | [23] [24] [25] |
Fredericton | New Brunswick | City | 108,610 | 63,116 | 64,614 | [26] [27] [28] |
Cape Breton | Nova Scotia | Municipality | 98,318 | 93,694 | 30,960 | [29] [30] [31] |
Charlottetown | Prince Edward Island | City | 78,858 | 38,809 | 52,390 | [32] [33] [34] |
Truro | Nova Scotia | Town | 46,157 | 12,954 | 23,583 | [35] [36] [37] |
New Glasgow | Nova Scotia | Town | 34,397 | 9,471 | 19,316 | [38] [39] [40] |
Bathurst | New Brunswick | City | 31,387 | 12,157 | 15,985 | [41] [42] [43] |
Corner Brook | Newfoundland and Labrador | City | 29,762 | 19,333 | 19,129 | [44] [45] [46] |
Miramichi | New Brunswick | City | 27,593 | 17,692 | 11,594 | [47] [48] [49] |
Kentville | Nova Scotia | Town | 26,929 | 6,630 | 14,905 | [50] [51] [52] |
Edmundston | New Brunswick | City | 22,144 | 16,437 | 13,125 | [53] [54] [55] |
Summerside | Prince Edward Island | City | 18,157 | 16,001 | 14,952 | [56] [57] [58] |
Grand Falls-Windsor | Newfoundland and Labrador | Town | 13,853 | 13,853 | 11,986 | [59] [60] [61] |
Province | Population | Population density (people per km2) | Reference |
---|---|---|---|
New Brunswick | 775,610 | 10 | [62] |
Newfoundland and Labrador | 510,550 | 1 | [63] |
Nova Scotia | 969,383 | 18 | [64] |
Prince Edward Island | 154,331 | 27 | [65] |
Atlantic Canada's primary natural resource industries include fishing, hydroelectricity, forestry, and mining. [66] The Atlantic provinces contribute to around 75% of Canada's fish production, with many coastal communities primarily dependent on fisheries. [67] The access point for many of such fisheries being the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Atlantic continental shelf. [68]
Nova Scotia produces 75% of Canada's gypsum. Salt and iron is also mined in the Atlantic provinces. [69] [66]
Nova Scotia is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Wolfville is a Canadian town in the Annapolis Valley, Kings County, Nova Scotia, located about 100 kilometres (62 mi) northwest of the provincial capital, Halifax. The town is home to Acadia University and Landmark East School.
The Acadians are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Labrador is a geographic and cultural region within the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the primarily continental portion of the province and constitutes 71% of the province's area but is home to only 6% of its population. It is separated from the island of Newfoundland by the Strait of Belle Isle. It is the largest and northernmost geographical region in the four Atlantic provinces.
Canada is divided into 10 provinces and three territories. The majority of Canada's population is concentrated in the areas close to the Canada–US border. Its four largest provinces by area are also its most populous; together they account for 86.5 percent of the country's population. The territories account for over a third of Canada's area but are home to only 0.32 percent of its population, which skews the national population density value.
The Mi'kmaq are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland, and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as Native Americans in the northeastern region of Maine. The traditional national territory of the Mi'kmaq is named Miꞌkmaꞌki.
Events from the 1630s in Canada.
Nunatsiavut is an autonomous area claimed by the Inuit in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The settlement area includes territory in Labrador extending to the Quebec border. In 2002, the Labrador Inuit Association submitted a proposal for limited autonomy to the government of Newfoundland and Labrador. The constitution was ratified on December 1, 2005, at which time the Labrador Inuit Association ceased to exist, and the new Government of Nunatsiavut was established, initially being responsible for health, education and cultural affairs. It is also responsible for setting and conducting elections, the first of which was executed in October 2006. An election for the ordinary members of the Nunatsiavut Assembly was held on May 4, 2010. Its incumbent president is Johannes Lampe who assumed office in 2016.
Canada ranks 37th by population among countries of the world, comprising about 0.5% of the world's total, with 40 million Canadians. Despite being the second-largest country by area, the vast majority of the country is sparsely inhabited, with most of its population south of the 55th parallel north. Just over 60 percent of Canadians live in just two provinces: Ontario and Quebec. Though Canada's overall population density is low, many regions in the south, such as the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor, have population densities higher than several European countries. Canada has six population centres with more than one million people: Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa.
A multitude of languages have always been spoken in Canada. Prior to Confederation, the territories that would become Canada were home to over 70 distinct languages across 12 or so language families. Today, a majority of those indigenous languages are still spoken; however, most are endangered and only about 0.6% of the Canadian population report an Indigenous language as their mother tongue. Since the establishment of the Canadian state, English and French have been the co-official languages and are, by far, the most-spoken languages in the country.
Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2022, it is estimated that the population of the Halifax CMA was 480,582, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The regional municipality consists of four former municipalities that were amalgamated in 1996: Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford, and Halifax County.
Nain is the northernmost permanent settlement in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, within the Nunatsiavut region, located about 370 km (230 mi) by air from Happy Valley-Goose Bay. The town was established as a Moravian mission in 1771 by Jens Haven and other missionaries. As of 2021, the population is 1,204 mostly Inuit and mixed Inuit-European. Nain is the administrative capital of the autonomous region of Nunatsiavut.
Annapolis Royal is a town in and the county seat of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, Canada. The community, known as Port Royal before 1710, is recognised as having one of the longest histories in North America, preceding the settlements at Plymouth, Jamestown and Quebec. For nearly 150 years, it served as the capital of Acadia and subsequently Nova Scotia until the establishment of Halifax in 1749.
Barrington, officially named the Municipality of the District of Barrington, is a district municipality in western Shelburne County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Statistics Canada classifies the district municipality as a municipal district.
Burgeo is a town in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is located mainly on Grandy Island, on the south coast of the island of Newfoundland. It is an outport community.
Newfoundland and Labrador is a province of Canada on the country's Atlantic coast in northeastern North America. The province has an area of 405,212 square kilometres and a population in 2023 of 533,710, with approximately 95% of the provincial population residing on the Island of Newfoundland, with more than half of the population residing on the Avalon Peninsula. People from Newfoundland and Labrador are called "Newfoundlanders," "Labradorians", or "Newfoundlanders and Labradorians".
Nova Scotia is a Canadian province located on the country's southeastern coast. It is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada, and its capital, Halifax, is a major economic centre of the region. Geographically, Nova Scotia is the second smallest province in Canada, with an area of 52,824.71 km2 (20,395.73 sq mi). As of 2021, it has a population of 969,383 people.
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and the only officially bilingual province in the country. The provincial Department of Finance estimates that the province's population in 2006 was 729,997 of which the majority is English-speaking but with a substantial French-speaking minority of mostly Acadian origin.
Flat Bay is a local service district and designated place in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is a Mi'kmaq community in southwestern Newfoundland.
The Municipality of the County of Inverness is a county municipality on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. It provides local government to about 17,000 residents of the historical county of the same name, except for the incorporated town of Port Hawkesbury and the Whycocomagh 2 Miꞌkmaq reserve, both of which are enclaves. Public services are provided in the areas of recreation, tourism, administration, finance, and public works.