The name New Brunswick (Nouveau Brunswick) comes from the German Duchy of Braunschweig ruled by George III of England in the late 18th c. Virtually rectangular in shape, it borders on the Province of Québec and the St Lawrence in the north, and the U.S. State of Maine to the west, with the Bay of Fundy and Nova Scotia to the south, and the Gulf of St Lawrence and Prince Edward Island to the north-east.
Topography
The province has three kinds of landscape. In the south, along the Bay of Fundy, stretch the Southern Uplands, their highest point, Mount Pleasant, barely 400 m (1,312 ft). These are joined to the north by the Central Uplands, through which flows the Saint John River. The fertile lowlands in the south-east form the
border with Nova Scotia. Like the eastern part of Québec Province, New Brunswick has the low relief of the paleolithic spur of the Appalachians - the undulating plateau rises from around 250 m (820 ft) to 820 m (2700 ft) at Mount Carleton in the north. A number of rivers - Saint John, Saint Croix, Petitcodiac, Miramichi, Nepisiguit and Restigouche - divide the province up into lots of shallow valleys that make good farmland, the most important being the valley of the Saint John River.
Climate
Along the coast New Brunswick has a relatively mild maritime climate. Inland, on the other hand, there are mostly continental extremes of temperature with hot dry summers and cold snowy winters, when the average temperature is around -10°C (14°F). In July the average is 19°C (66°F), although it has been known to soar to a record 38°C (100°F).
Vegetation
About four-fifths of the province is wooded, with only about 7 percent used for farming, mainly potatoes.
History
The Indians, who were here long before the arrival of the Europeans, were mainly Micmac, one of the Algonquin tribes. They lived mainly by hunting and fishing, using the rivers to make their way far inland. Many of the place names still show their Indian origin. Miramichi Bay (Miramichi means "Micmac country") was also presumably where the first contact was made with Europeans when Jacques Cartier landed here with his French expedition in 1534. Early in the 17th c. his fellow countryman, Samuel de Champlain, began the systematic colonization of Canada, claiming the territory for France as part of "la Nouvelle France".
Few French settlers came here to begin with, preferring other parts of Canada such as the Saint Lawrence lowlands. However, the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 gave "Acadia" - the pseudo-Classical name for original French lands on the Atlantic coast, now Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia - to the British, and the following years saw the population growing, with the French contingent mostly in the north and east, many of them Acadians driven out of nearby parts of Nova Scotia.
The southern part of the province was settled by about 14,000 English Loyalists after the American War of Independence in 1776, mainly around the lower reaches of the Saint John River. This led to New Brunswick becoming a separate province from Nova Scotia in 1784. The colony became internally self-governing in 1847 and in 1867 it was one of the four provinces to found the Canadian Confederation.
Population
Where people live depends on the lie of the land, so that while very few live in the forested interior, the river valleys, lowlands and coastal strip are relatively densely populated. The larger towns are Saint John, Moncton and the provincial capital, Fredericton.
Forestry
Traditionally the economic mainstay of New Brunswick is the felling and processing of timber. Forests still cover over three quarters of the province, and about 25,000 people are employed in forestry and allied industries such as paper and pulp.
Tourism is coming to play an increasingly important part in the economy. New Brunswick's fisheries have long been another important part of the economy, albeit not to the extent of the other Maritime Provinces.
Agriculture
Intensive arable farming is mainly on the higher ground of the Saint John Valley, with potatoes the main crop, but some grain, fruit and vegetables as well. Between Saint John and Sussex agriculture predominantly takes the form of livestock and dairy farming.
Mining
Mining in New Brunswick did not get under way until after the Second World War. Besides coal there is zinc (at Bathurst), lead and copper.
Hobbies & Activities category: Natural area
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