- This article is about the Canadian province; for the city in New Jersey, see New Brunswick, New Jersey.
New Brunswick (French, le Nouveau-Brunswick) is one of Canada's provinces. Its capital is Fredericton. Its population is slowly growing, and now exceeds 750,000 (New Brunswickers).
Geography New Brunswick is a Maritime Province, on the country's east coast. It is bounded on the north by Quebec's Gaspé Peninsula and Chaleur Bay and on the east by the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and Northumberland Strait. To the south, the narrow Isthmus of Chignecto connects it to peninsular Nova Scotia, most of which is separated from the mainland by the Bay of Fundy; on its west, the province borders the American state of Maine.
The total land and water area of the province is approximately 70,000 square kilometres. About 80% of the province is forested, with the other 20% consisting of agricultural land and urban areas. New Brunswick lies entirely within the Appalachian Mountain range, a chain of ancient, eroded mountains which have created river valleys and low, gently rolling hills throughout large parts of the province. The eastern and central part of the province consists of the New Brunswick Lowland, whereas the Caledonia Highlands and St. Croix Highlands extend along the Bay of Fundy coast, reaching elevations of 300 metres. The northwestern part of the province is comprised of the remote and more rugged Miramichi Highlands, Chaleur Uplands, and the Notre Dame Mountains with a maximum elevation at Mount Carleton of 820 metres.
History The aboriginal nations of New Brunswick include the Mi'kmaq (Micmac), Maliseet and Passamaquoddy. The population is majority English-speaking but with a substantial (35%) French-speaking minority who call themselves Acadians from Acadia, the former name of this region during the French colonial period during which large numbers of colonists migrated from the Vienne area of France. New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province in the country.
The Province of New Brunswick was created in 1784, when recently-arrived Loyalist refugees from the United States, who resented being governed from distant Halifax, Nova Scotia, petitioned the British Government to allow them to form a separate province consisting of the portion of Nova Scotia west of the Isthmus of Chignecto and north of the Bay of Fundy.[1] (http://webhome.idirect.com/~cpwalsh/nb/birth.htm) The new province was named in honour of the British monarch, King George III, who was descended from the House of Brunswick. Fredericton, the provincial capital, was likewise named for George III's second son, Prince Frederick Augustus, Duke of York.
Cities New Brunswick has eight officially incorporated cities, listed here in descending order by population: - Saint John
- Moncton
- Fredericton
- Miramichi
- Edmundston
- Dieppe
- Bathurst
- Campbellton
See also a List of communities in New Brunswick.
Saint John is a port city, with heavy industry in the form of pulp and paper, oil refineries, and drydocks, all owned by the family of the late K.C. Irving. The Irving family also controls much of the province's economy and 3 out of 4 of its daily English language newspapers. Saint John is conventionally written out in full, to distinguish it from St. John's (Harbour), the capital of Newfoundland and Labrador, with which it is commonly confused by those outside of the Atlantic Provinces.
Moncton is the second largest city in New Brunswick and also the fastest growing. It is principally a transportation, distribution, commercial and retail center. Moncton has a sizeable francophone Acadian minority (35%) and is considered by the Acadians to be their unofficial "capital". The majority of Moncton's recent growth is traced to economic policies which has led to depopulation in the northeastern area of the province.
Fredericton, in addition to being the capital of the province, is a genteel university town, and home to the Lord Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Theatre New Brunswick, the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame, and other amenities, including Christ Church Cathedral, whose foundation is the oldest in Canada or the United States. Fredericton is nicknamed the "City of Stately Elms". It has boasted of the largest stand of elms outside of Central Park since Dutch Elm Disease devastated this species in the early twentieth century.
Economy The economy of New Brunswick is a modern service economy dominated by financial services, insurance and other services, but is best known for forestry, mining, mixed farming and fishing. The most valuable crop is potatoes, while the most valuable fish catches are lobster and scallops. The largest employers are the Irving group of companies, several large multinational forest companies, the Government of New Brunswick, and the McCain group of companies.
Education The province has a complete network of English and French public schools serving from kindergarten to high school; there are also several private schools having secular and religious affiliations.
The New Brunswick Community College system is province-wide with campuses in most major centres; the community college has both French and English campuses.
The University of New Brunswick was founded as King's College in 1785, one of the oldest public post-secondary education institutions in North America.
Mount Allison University is a small private undergraduate university which has consistently topped the Maclean's magazine survey of Canadian Universities in the undergraduate university category since that poll began. It produces a Rhodes Scholar about once every two years on the average, and was the first university in the British Empire to grant a Bachelor's degree to a woman.
Saint Thomas University is a small, Catholic institution whose central liberal arts program is complemented by professional programs in education and social work.
The Université de Moncton is a French-language university with its principal campus in Moncton.
Atlantic Baptist University is an undergraduate university offering three Bachelor's degrees; Science, Arts and Education. It was founded mid-twentieth century as a bible training school, and grew to an accredited and academically rigorous Liberal Arts university in under fifty years. ABU is also located in Moncton.
People The Acadians are survivors of the Great Expulsion (1755) which drove several thousand French residents into exile in North America, the U.K. and France for refusing to take an oath of allegiance to George II of Great Britain during the French and Indian War. American Acadians, who wound up in Louisiana and other parts of the American South, are often referred to as Cajuns.
Many of the English-Canadian population of New Brunswick are descended from United Empire Loyalists who fled the American Revolution. This is commemorated in the province's motto, Spem reduxit (hope was restored). There are also a significant number with Irish ancestry, especially in Saint John and the Miramichi Valley. People of Scottish descent are scattered throughout the Province with especial concentrations in the Miramichi and in Campbellton. A small number of Danish origins may be found in New Denmark.
First Nations in New Brunswick include the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet.
See: Famous people from New Brunswick
Facts The provincial flower is the purple violet. The provincial bird is the black-capped chickadee, in common with the American states of Maine and Massachusetts.
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