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History. When Samuel de Champlain and other European explorers began to explore the area that became New Brunswick in the early 1600s, they were met by the Maliseet (Wolastoqiyik) and Mi'kmaq peoples who inhabited the area and lived along its rivers and coasts. The early French pioneers established settlements at the head of the Bay of Fundy ...
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New Brunswick was first inhabited by First Nations like the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet. In 1604, Acadia , the first New France colony , was founded with the creation of Port-Royal . For 150 years afterwards, Acadia changed hands multiple times due to numerous conflicts between France and the United Kingdom.
The history of New Brunswick covers the period from the arrival of the Paleo-Indians thousands of years ago to the present day. Prior to European colonization, the lands encompassing present-day New Brunswick were inhabited for millennia by the several First Nations groups, most notably the Maliseet , Mi'kmaq , and the Passamaquoddy .
- Overview
- Relief, drainage, and soils
- Climate
- Plant and animal life
- Population composition
New Brunswick, Canadian province located on the eastern seaboard of the North American continent. It is Canada’s only officially bilingual province, French and English having equal status. It was one of the four original provinces making up the national confederation in 1867. Together with Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, it forms the regional grouping known as the Maritime Provinces. New Brunswick has a roughly rectangular shape, about 210 miles (340 km) from north to south and 185 miles (300 km) from east to west. It is bounded to the north by the province of Quebec, to the east by the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Northumberland Strait, and to the south by the Bay of Fundy. The latter two bodies of water are separated by the narrow neck of the Chignecto Isthmus, which joins New Brunswick to Nova Scotia, to the southeast. To the west lies the U.S. state of Maine.
Chartered by King George III, the province was named for the royal house of Brunswick, and its capital, Fredericton, was named for King George III’s son Frederick. While New Brunswick has contributed significantly to the national life of Canada, it is one of the smaller provinces and has always occupied a lesser role in the national economy. Its beautiful forests, rivers, lakes, and seashore—attractions for tourists, hunters, and sport fishermen—have remained relatively unspoiled. Area 28,150 square miles (72,908 square km). Pop. (2021) 775,610.
The land rises abruptly and in some places spectacularly out of the Bay of Fundy in the south and undulates northward in a series of rolling hills and rocky outcroppings. Plains and flatlands are limited to sea-level marshlands in the southeast, river valley floodplains, and low-lying lands adjacent to the beaches of the east coast. There are no true mountains, although ranges of rugged and sometimes steep hills run east-west a few miles north of the Fundy coast and in the north-central part of the province, where the highest elevation is Mount Carleton at 2,680 feet (817 metres).
This hilly landmass is cut in every direction by an extensive river system. The St. Croix River follows the southwestern boundary. The 418-mile- (673-km-) long St. John River, with its numerous tributaries, drains the entire northwestern, central, and south-central parts of the province. The high tides of the Bay of Fundy reverse the rapids at the river’s mouth at the city of Saint John and raise the level of the lower river for up to 95 miles (150 km) inland. Additionally, a number of lake-size arms branch off the lower St. John on its eastern side, the largest of which is Grand Lake, about 60 miles (100 km) inland. The eastern part of the province is drained by the Restigouche River in the north, the many branches of the Miramichi in the north-central area, and the shorter Petitcodiac in the southeast. Spring flooding is common in many of the rivers.
Clearly distinguishable seasons characterize the climate. Winters are snowy and cold, and summers are mild and pleasant. The fall, with alternating cold nights and sunny warm days, is particularly spectacular, as the blazing colours of deciduous foliage contrast with the solid dark greens of conifers. Temperatures at Fredericton range from an extreme low of −35 °F (−37 °C) to an extreme high of 99 °F (37 °C). In January the mean daily temperature is 14 °F (−10 °C), and in July it is 67 °F (19 °C). Temperatures are more moderate in the southern coastal regions. Normal annual rainfall is slightly above 30 inches (800 mm), and snowfall averages about 115 inches (2,900 mm); annual precipitation (which factors in snowmelt) amounts to about 43 inches (1,100 mm).
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Forests cover the majority of the province, and coniferous trees commonly found in northern temperate climates—such as balsam fir, red and black spruce, pine, and hemlock—constitute the principal growth. Deciduous stands, especially along the river valleys, consist of sugar and red maple, trembling aspen, and yellow and white birch. Wild blueberrie...
The English-speaking majority consists largely of the descendants of Scottish, Irish, and English settlers of the 18th and 19th centuries, along with those descended from loyalists who fled the American Revolution. It is concentrated in the southern and western parts of the province. The French-speaking minority, which has grown to about one-third ...
New Brunswick is proud of its mix of cultures, with the main groups including: Indigenous Peoples. For thousands of years before the arrival of the Europeans, the land that now makes up New Brunswick was inhabited by the Mi’kmaq, who traditionally live in the northeast, east, and south; the Maliseet, who traditionally live in the north and west; and the Passamaquoddy, who traditionally live ...
New Brunswick was named in 1784 to honour the reigning British monarch, King George III, who was also Duke of Brunswick. Population (2006): 749,200. Area: Land – 72,090 km 2 Fresh water – 1,350 km 2 Total – 73,440 km 2Capital: Fredericton Date of entry into Confederation: July 1, 1867.
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1980 The Oxbow Site:chronology and prehistory in northeastern New Brunswick. New Brunswick Manuscripts in Archaeology, Series 2, No.1. 1991 Metepenagiag, New Brunswick’s Oldest Village. Red Bank Indian Band, Red Bank, New Brunswick. Bock, Phillip K. 1978 Micmac. In Handbook of North Amerian Indians, Northeast. Smithsonian Institution ...
