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A province of southeast Canada consisting of Prince Edward Island in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. It joined the confederacy in 1873. The island was discovered by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and named Île St. Jean by Samuel de Champlain in 1603. It was renamed in 1798 after Edward, Duke of Kent (1767–1820), the father of Queen Victoria. Charlottetown is the capital and the largest city. Population: 136,000.
For more information on Prince Edward Island, visit Britannica.com.
Prince Edward Island was ceded by France in 1763, becoming a separate colony in 1769. It was called St John's Island until 1799. Although the dominion of Canada was planned at a conference in Charlottetown, the island's capital, in 1864, Prince Edward Island remained aloof until 1873.
Geography
One of the Maritime Provinces, Prince Edward Island lies in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and is separated on the S from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick by the Northumberland Strait, which is crossed by the Confederation Bridge (1997). It is Canada's smallest province but also has Canada's highest population density. The generally low, level island is c.140 mi (225 km) long and 5 to 35 mi (8–56 km) wide. Sandy beaches line the deeply indented north shore, and much of this popular resort spot is now Prince Edward Island National Park (est. 1937). Low red sandstone cliffs rim the south shores, and the tides reach to the headwaters of the island's short rivers.
With its fertile and distinctive red soil and its agreeable climate, the island has become known as the Garden of the Gulf. About 90% of the land is arable. The capital is Charlottetown.
Economy and Higher Education
Agriculture and fishing have long dominated the economy. Since earliest settlement, fishing has been important, yielding an abundance of lobsters, oysters, halibut, mackerel, and herring. Livestock, fruit, and vegetables are produced, and potatoes are exported.
Because of the lack of raw materials and cheap sources of power, manufacturing is largely limited to food processing, such as the making of butter and cheese and the canning of pork and lobsters. There has been little diversification of the economy, but the tourist industry has grown. Sites and events associated with Anne of Green Gables, the story by islander Lucy Maud Montgomery, draw many visitors, and the Confederation Bridge is expected to greatly increase tourism.
The Univ. of Prince Edward Island is at Charlottetown.
History and Politics
The Micmac lived on the island before Europeans arrived. Jacques Cartier wrote enthusiastically about it after landing there in 1534. Samuel de Champlain named it Île St. Jean in 1603, and it was known by that name (or Isle St. John) until 1799, when it was renamed after Edward, duke of Kent, who later fathered Queen Victoria. The first permanent settlement was made by the French in 1719 near present-day Charlottetown, but the British gained control under the Treaty of Paris in 1763. Many French settlers were deported by the British (see Acadia), but others remained; their descendants still live here. In 1803, Lord Selkirk's first colony of impoverished Scots settled here; persons of Scottish extraction now constitute about one third of the inhabitants.
In 1763, Prince Edward Island was annexed to Nova Scotia, but it became a separate colony in 1769. Responsible, or cabinet, government was granted in 1851. In 1864 delegates from the Maritime Provinces met in Charlottetown to discuss union—the first step toward forming the Canadian confederation, which was achieved in 1867. However, Prince Edward Island did not join the confederation until 1873. Throughout the 20th cent. the island's economy was relatively stable, although lack of energy and technology caused it to lag behind the rest of Canada.
The Progressive Conservatives (or Conservatives) and the Liberals are the only parties to have formed provincial governments since 1873. In 1993, Catherine Callbeck, who led the Liberals to a sweep, became Canada's first female provincial premier. Progressive Conservative Patrick Binns became premier in 1996 and was returned to office in 2000 and 2003. In 2007 the Liberals won a majority, and Robert Ghiz became premier. The province sends 4 senators and 4 representatives to the national parliament.
Bibliography
See A. H. Clark, Three Centuries and the Island (1957); D. C. Harvey, The French Regime in Prince Edward Island (1926, repr. 1970); J. M. Bumsted, Land, Settlement, and Politics on Eighteenth-Century Prince Edward Island (1987).
Province in eastern Canada in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean, separated by the Northumberland Strait from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, with which it makes up the Maritime Provinces; Canada's smallest province. Charlottetown is its capital and largest city.
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| Motto: Parva Sub
Ingenti (Latin: The Small Protected By The Great) |
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| Capital | Charlottetown | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Largest city | Charlottetown | ||||
| Official languages | English | ||||
| Government | |||||
| - Lieutenant-Governor | Barbara Oliver Hagerman | ||||
| - Premier | Robert Ghiz (Liberal) | ||||
| Federal representation | in Canadian Parliament | ||||
| - House seats | 4 | ||||
| - Senate seats | 4 | ||||
| Confederation | July 1 1873 (7th) | ||||
| Area | Ranked 13th | ||||
| - Total | km² ( sq mi) | ||||
| - Land | km² ( sq mi) | ||||
| - Water (%) | km² ( sq mi) (0%) | ||||
| Population | Ranked 10th | ||||
| - Total (2007) | 138,627 (est.)[1] | ||||
| - Density | /km² (/sq mi) | ||||
| GDP | Ranked 10th | ||||
| - Total (2006) | C$4.32 billion[2] | ||||
| - Per capita | C$31,278 (13th) | ||||
| Abbreviations | |||||
| - Postal | PE | ||||
| - ISO 3166-2 | CA-PE | ||||
| Time zone | UTC-4 | ||||
| Postal code prefix | C | ||||
| Flower | Pink Lady's Slipper | ||||
| Tree | Red Oak | ||||
| Bird | Blue Jay | ||||
| Web site | www.gov.pe.ca | ||||
| Rankings include all provinces and territories | |||||
Prince Edward Island (IPA: /pɹɪns ɛd.wɝd aɪ.lɪnd/) (PEI or P.E.I.; French: Île-du-Prince-Édouard; Scottish Gaelic: Eilean a’ Phrionns or Eilean Eòin; Míkmaq: Apekweit or Epikwetk roughly translated "land cradled in the waves") is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population (excluding the territories).
Prince Edward Island has 135,851 residents[3] collectively referred to as Islanders. It is located in a rectangle defined roughly by 46°–47° N, and 62°–64° 30′ W and at km² ( sq mi) in size,[4] it is the 104th largest island in the world, and Canada's 23rd largest island. The island's namesake is Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent (1767-1820), the father of Queen Victoria.
Prince Edward Island was originally inhabited by the Mi'kmaq people. They named the island Abegweit, meaning Land Cradled on the Waves. They believed that the island was formed by the Great Spirit placing some dark red clay which was shaped as a crescent on the Blue Waters.
As part of the French colony of Acadia, the island was called Île Saint-Jean. Roughly one thousand Acadians lived on the island. However, many fled to the island from mainland Nova Scotia during the British-ordered expulsion of Acadians in 1755. Many more were forcibly deported in 1758 when British soldiers, under the command of Colonel Andrew Rollo, were ordered by General Jeffery Amherst to capture the island.
The new British colony of "St. John's Island", also known as the "Island of St. John", was settled by "adventurous Victorian families looking for elegance on the sea. Prince Edward Island became a fashionable retreat in the eighteenth century for British nobility".[5]
In 1798, Great Britain changed the colony's name from St. John's Island to Prince Edward Island to distinguish it from similar names in the Atlantic, such as the cities of Saint John and St. John's. The colony's new name honoured the fourth son of King George III, Prince Edward Augustus, the Duke of Kent (1767–1820), who was then commanding British troops in Halifax. Prince Edward was also the father of Queen Victoria.
In September 1864, Prince Edward Island hosted the Charlottetown Conference, which was the first meeting in the process leading to the Articles of Confederation and the creation of Canada in 1867. Prince Edward Island did not find the terms of union favourable and balked at joining in 1867, choosing to remain part of the nation of Great Britain and Ireland. In the late 1860s, the colony examined various options, including the possibility of becoming a discrete dominion unto itself, as well as entertaining delegations from the United States, who were interested in Prince Edward Island joining the United States of America.
In the early 1870s, the colony began construction of a railway and frustrated by Great Britain's Colonial Office, began negotiations with the United States. In 1873, Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald, anxious to thwart American expansionism and facing the distraction of the Pacific Scandal, negotiated for Prince Edward Island to join Canada. The Federal Government of Canada assumed the colony's railway debts and agreed to finance a buy-out of the last of the colony's absentee landlords to free the island of leasehold tenure and from any new migrants entering the island. Prince Edward Island entered Confederation on July 1, 1873.
As a result of having hosted the inaugural meeting of Confederation, the Charlottetown Conference, Prince Edward Island presents itself as the "Birthplace of Confederation" with several buildings, a ferry vessel, and the Confederation Bridge, the longest bridge over ice covered waters in the world,[6] using the term "confederation" in many ways. The most prominent building in the province with this name is the Confederation Centre of the Arts, presented as a gift to Prince Edward Islanders by the 10 provincial governments and the Federal Government upon the centenary of the Charlottetown Conference, where it stands in Charlottetown as a national monument to the "Fathers of Confederation."
Known as the Garden of the Gulf, the island is located in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence west of Cape Breton Island, north of the Nova Scotia peninsula, and east of New Brunswick. Its southern shore forms the Northumberland Strait. The island has two urban areas. The largest surrounds Charlottetown Harbour, situated centrally on the island's southern shore, and consists of the capital city Charlottetown, as well as suburban towns Cornwall and Stratford and a developing urban fringe. A much smaller urban area surrounds Summerside Harbour, situated on the southern shore km ( mi) west of Charlottetown Harbour, and consists primarily of the city of Summerside. As with all natural harbours on the island, Charlottetown and Summerside harbours are created by rias.
The island's landscape is pastoral: rolling hills, pristine forests, reddish white sand beaches, ocean coves and the famous red soil have given Prince Edward Island a reputation as a province of outstanding natural beauty. The provincial government has enacted a number of laws that attempt to preserve the landscape through regulation, although the lack of consistent enforcement and absence of province-wide zoning and land-use planning has resulted in some aesthetically displeasing development in recent years.
The island's lush landscape has had a strong bearing not only on its economy but also its culture. Author Lucy Maud Montgomery, drew inspiration from the land during the late Victorian Era for the setting of her classic novel Anne of Green Gables. Today, many of the same qualities that Montgomery and others found in the Island are enjoyed by tourists who visit during all seasons. They enjoy a variety of leisure activities, including beaches, various golf courses, eco-tourism adventures, and simply touring the countryside and enjoying cultural events in local communities around the island.
The smaller rural communities as well as the towns and villages throughout the province proudly retain a slower-paced, old world flavour, something that factors heavily into Prince Edward Island's popularity as a destination for relaxation. The popular Canadian television show, Road to Avonlea, was filmed on Prince Edward Island and, according to creator David McHewen, no film sets were required. Most rural communities on Prince Edward Island are based on small-scale agriculture, given that the size of farm properties is quite small when compared with other areas in Canada. There is an increasing amount of industrial farming as older farm properties are consolidated and modernized.
The coastline of the island consists of a combination of long beaches, dunes, red sandstone cliffs, salt water marshes and numerous bays and harbours. The beaches, dunes and sandstone cliffs consist of sedimentary rock and other material with a high iron concentration which oxidizes upon exposure to the air. The geological properties of a white silica sand found at Basin Head are unique in the province; the sand grains cause a scrubbing noise as they rub against each other when walked on, aptly named the singing sands. Large dune fields on the north shore can be found on barrier islands at the entrances to various bays and harbours. The magnificent sand dunes at Greenwich are of particular significance. The shifting, parabolic dune system is home to a variety of birds and rare plants and is also a site of significant archeological interest.
While Prince Edward Island is the most densely populated province in Canada, there are 32 cities and towns with a larger population than Prince Edward Island. According to the 2001 Canadian census,[7] the largest ethnic group in Prince Edward Island is Scottish (38.0%), followed by English (28.7%), Irish (27.9%), French (21.3%), German (4.0%), and Dutch (3.1%) - although almost half of all respondents also identified their ethnicity as "Canadian."
| Year | Population | Mean annual* | 5-year* | 10-year* | Rank** |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1851 | 62,678 | – | – | – | 5 |
| 1861 | 80,857 | 2.6 | – | 29.0 | |
| 1871 | 94,021 | 1.5 | – | 16.3 | |
| 1881 | 108,891 | 1.5 | – | 15.8 | |
| 1891 | 109,078 | 0.017 | – | 0.2 | 6 |
| 1901 | 103,259 | −0.55 | – | -5.3 | 7 |
| 1911 | 93,728 | −0.96 | – | -9.2 | 9 |
| 1921 | 88,615 | −0.56 | – | -5.4 | |
| 1931 | 88,038 | −0.065 | – | -0.7 | |
| 1941 | 95,047 | 0.77 | – | 8.0 | |
| 1951 | 98,429 | 0.35 | – | 3.6 | 10 |
| 1956 | 99,285 | 0.17 | 0.9 | – | |
| 1961 | 104,629 | 1.1 | 5.4 | 6.3 | |
| 1966 | 108,535 | 0.74 | 3.7 | 9.3 | |
| 1971 | 111,635 | 0.56 | 2.9 | 6.7 | |
| 1976 | 118,225 | 1.2 | 5.9 | 8.9 | |
| 1981 | 122,506 | 0.7 | 3.6 | 9.7 | |
| 1986 | 126,640 | 0.67 | 3.4 | 7.1 | |
| 1991 | 129,765 | 0.49 | 2.5 | 5.9 | |
| 1996 | 134,557 | 0.73 | 3.7 | 6.3 | |
| 2001 | 135,294 | 0.11 | 0.5 | 4.2 | |
| 2006 | 135,851 | NA | 0.4 | NA |
* Percentage change.
** among provinces.
† Preliminary 2006 census estimate.
Source: Statistics Canada [8][9]
| Municipality | 2001 | 1996 |
|---|---|---|
| Charlottetown | 32,245a | 32,531 |
| Summerside | 14,654b | 15,525 |
| Stratford | 6,314 | 5,869 |
| Cornwall | 4,412 | 4,291 |
| Lot 34 | 2,344 | 2,180 |
| Montague | 1,945 | 1,995 |
| Lot 1c | 1,900 | 1,936 |
| Lot 65 | 1,829 | 1,595 |
| Lot 19 | 1,775 | 1,759 |
| Lot 2d | 1,720 | 1,766 |
| a Agglomerated population: 58,358. b Agglomerated population: 16,200. c Tignish and surrounding area. d St. Louis/Elmsdale area. |
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The provincial economy is dominated by the seasonal industries of agriculture, tourism, and the fishery. The province is limited in terms of heavy industry and manufacturing. Although commercial deposits of minerals have not been found, exploration for natural gas beneath the eastern end of the province has resulted in the discovery of an as yet undisclosed quantity of gas.
Agriculture remains the dominant industry in the provincial economy, as it has since colonial times. During the twentieth century, potatoes have replaced mixed farming as the leading cash crop, accounting for one-third of provincial farm income. The province currently accounts for a third of Canada's total potato production, producing approximately 1300 million kg annually.[10] Comparatively, the state of Idaho produces approximately 6200 million kg annually, with a population approximately 9.5 times greater than PEI.[11] PEI is a major producer of seed potatoes, exporting to more than twenty countries around the world.[10]
Many of the province's coastal communities rely upon shellfish harvesting, particularly lobster fishing[12] as well as oyster fishing and mussel farming.
Prince Edward Island's transportation network has traditionally revolved around its seaports – Charlottetown, Summerside, Borden, Georgetown, and Souris – all linked to its railway system, and airports (Charlottetown and Summerside) for communication with mainland North America. The railway system was abandoned by CN in 1989 in favour of an agreement with the federal government to improve major highways. Until 1997, the province was linked by two passenger-vehicle ferry services to the mainland: one, provided by Marine Atlantic, operated year-round between Borden and Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick; the other, provided by Northumberland Ferries Limited, operates seasonally between Wood Islands and Caribou, Nova Scotia. A third ferry service provided by CTMA operates seasonally between Souris and Cap-aux-Meules, Quebec and connects with Quebec's Magdalen Islands.
On June 1, 1997, the Confederation Bridge opened, connecting Borden-Carleton to Cape Jourimain and replacing the Marine Atlantic ferry service. Since then, the Confederation Bridge's assured transportation link to the mainland has altered the province's tourism and agricultural and fisheries export economies.
Prince Edward Island is home to one provincial university, the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI), located in Charlottetown. The university was formed from the merger of Prince of Wales College and St. Dunstan's University. UPEI is home to the Atlantic Veterinary College, which offers the region's only veterinary medicine program.
Holland College is the provincial community college, with campuses across the province, including specialized facilities such as the Atlantic Police Academy, Marine Training Centre, and the Culinary Institute of Canada.
The College of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts of Canada, located in Summerside, specializes in the instruction of bagpipe and other traditional Scottish and Irish performance art such as highland dance.
 Panorama of the banks of the Hunter River in New Glasgow |
 Sandstone arch |
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| Provinces and territories of Canada | ||
|---|---|---|
| Provinces | British Columbia · Alberta · Saskatchewan · Manitoba · Ontario · Quebec · New Brunswick · Nova Scotia · Prince Edward Island · Newfoundland and Labrador |
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| Territories | Yukon · Northwest Territories · Nunavut | |
