New+Brunswick

 -New Brunswick is one of the four Atlantic provinces in Canada. -It is the third smallest province. -The province is named for the British royal family of Brunswick-Lüneburg. -It is called the Loyalist Province. -New Brunswick is Canada's only officially bilingual province. -N.B. has a mainland and many islands. -Fredericton is the capital city. -flower - Purple Violet, tree - Balsam Fir, bird - Black-capped Chickadee -motto - "Hope was restored."

THE PEOPLE
-The population was 729,997 (Statistics Canada, 2006) -Estimated population in 2008 was 747,300. -The largest and oldest city is Saint John. -Other major cities are Fredericton (the capital city) and Moncton. -Many people are of French, British, Scottish and Irish origin. -Over 32 percent of the population are Francophones. -Other groups include native people, Germans, Dutch, Scandinavians, Italians and Asians.

CLIMATE
-The northern half of the province has cold winters and warm summers. -Areas near the sea have milder winters and slightly cooler summers. -Moist air from the Atlantic Ocean produces mild weather in the winter and cool summers. -Winter storms bring rain to the Bay of Fundy coast and snow to the interior. -It is often foggy in the spring and early summer along the Bay of Fundy.

HISTORY
-The first people to live in N.B. include the Micmac and Malecite. -The Micmac and Malecite hunted and fished and were guides for the French explorers. -The French mariner Jacques Cartier visited the east coast in 1534. -In 1604 Samuel de Champlain and the French established the first settlement.. -The French called the east coast area Acadia. -By 1608 French settlers (called Acadians) were farming around the Bay of Fundy. -Acadia became an English colony in 1713. -Some of the people would not swear loyalty to England. Their homes were burned and they were sent away. Some went to Louisiana in the United States. -Amercan settlers founded the city of Saint John (oldest city in Canada). -In 1784 the north section of the colony became the new colony of New Brunswick. -The lumbering industy grew. Shipbuilding was a big industry. -The ships carried masts and other wood products around the world. -Thousands came from Ireland after 1846 to work in the lumber industry or to farm. -On July 1, 1867 New Brunswick became one of the first four provinces of Canada.

WATER AND LAND
-More than half of the province is surrounded by water. -There are two coasts. The east coast faces the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Northumberland Strait; The Bay of Fundy is along the south coast. -Many bays and inlets along the coasts provide safe harbours for boats. -There are many rivers in the province. -The longest river is the Saint John River ( 670 km.long). -The Bay of Fundy between N.B. and Nova Scotia has the world's highest tides (over 15 metres high). -Forests (mainly black spruce and fir) cover about 85 percent of N.B. -The Appalachian Mountains run along the western edge of the province.

RESOURCES/INDUSTRY
-N.B. is the main producer of lead, zinc, copper and bismuth in Canada. -Gypsum, potash, antimony, silver, gold, natural gas and oil are also mined. -There are fishing ports where more than fifty kinds of fish and shellfish are caught (scallops, shrimp, herring, lobsters, snow crabs, mussels, oysters, etc. ) -Lobster is the most valuable catch. Crab is second. -Aquaculture farms harvest salmon, trout, arctic char, oysters and mussels. -The main industry is forestry. -Paper, newspaper, magazines, tissue, wooden doors and windows are made. -There are livestock, dairy, poultry, potato and berry farms. -The main crop is potatoes. The Saint John River Valley is called the "Potato Belt." -Apples, blueberries, strawberries, and cranberries are also grown. -Fiddleheads (sprouts of the ostrich fern) are gathered in early spring for eating.

PEOPLE AND PLACES
-R. Foulis invented the first steam foghorn (1860). -Romeo LeBlanc was the first Acadian to become a Governor-General of Canada. -Roch Voisine (song writer and singer ) won a Juno Award in 1993 for male vocalist. -Bliss Carmen (1861-1929) was one of Canada's best known poets. -Sir Charles G.D. Roberts (1860-1943) was known as the Father of Canadian Poetry. -Donald Sutherland (1934- ) is a famous Hollywood actor. -The McCain Brothers established McCain Foods in 1957. The company is the largest producer of french fries and other oven-ready frozen food products in the world. -Hartland Bridge - world's longest covered bridge (390 m. or 1283 ft. long) -Confederation Bridge (12.9 kilometres or 8 miles long ) - longest bridge in the world crossing ice-covered water. The bridge connects N.B. to Prince Edward Island. -Magnetic Hill in Moncton - an optical illusion. -Reversing Falls at St. John -water rushes uphill against the normal flow of the falls. -Whale watching - off the Bay of Fundy -Rocks Provincial Park (Bay of Fundy) - strange-shaped rocks called Flowerpot Rocks rise out of the sea