History of New Brunswick
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The history of New Brunswick covers the period from the arrival of the
French explorers first arrived to the area during the 16th century, and began to settle the region in the following century, as a part of the colony of
Efforts to establish a
Early history
The
Maliseet
The "Maliseet" (also known as Wəlastəkwiyik, and in French as Malécites or Étchemins (the latter collectively referring to the Maliseet and
Wəlastəkwiyik is the name (and Maliseet spelling) for the people of the St. John River, and Wəlastəkwey is their language. (Wolastoqiyik is the Passamaquoddy spelling of Wəlastəkwiyik.) Maliseet is the name by which the Mi'kmaq described the Wəlastəkwiyik to early Europeans since the Wəlastəkwey language seemed to the Mi'kmaq to be a slower version of the Mi'kmaq language. The Wəlastəkwiyik so named themselves because their territory and existence centred on the St. John River which they called the Wəlastəkw. It meant simply "good river" for its gentle waves; "wəli" = good or beautiful, shortened to "wəl-" when used as modifier; "təkw" = wave; "-iyik" = the people of that place. Wəlastəkwiyik therefore means People of the Good [Wave] River, in their own language.
Before contact with the Europeans, the traditional culture of both the Maliseet and Passamaquoddy generally involved downriver in the spring to fish and plant crops, largely of corn (maize), beans, squash, and to hold annual gatherings. Then they travelled to the saltwater for the summer, where they harvested seafoods and berries. In the early autumn they travelled upstream to harvest their crops and prepare for the winter. After the harvest, they dispersed in small family groups to their hunting grounds at the headwaters of the various tributaries to hunt and trap during the winter.
Passamaquoddy
The Passamaquoddy (Peskotomuhkati or Pestomuhkati in the Passamaquoddy language) are a First Nations people who live in northeastern North America, in Maine and New Brunswick.
Like the Maliseet, the Passamaquoddy maintained a migratory existence, but in the woods and mountains of the coastal regions along the
The name Passamaquoddy is an anglicization of the Passamaquoddy word Peskotomuhkatiyik, the name they applied to themselves. Peskotomuhkat literally means "pollock-spearer", reflecting the importance of this fish.[1] Like the Maliseet, their method of fishing was spear-fishing rather than angling.
The Passamaquoddy were moved off land repeatedly by European settlers since the 16th century and were eventually confined in the United States to two reservations, one at Indian Township near Princeton and the other at Sipayik, between Perry and Eastport in eastern
Mi'kmaq
The Mi'kmaq (previously spelled Micmac in English texts) are a First Nations people, indigenous to Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, the Gaspe peninsula in Quebec and the eastern half of New Brunswick in the
In 1616 Father Biard believed the Mi'kmaq population to be in excess of 3,000. However, he remarked that, because of European diseases, including smallpox, there had been large population losses in the previous century.
Wabanaki Confederacy
During the colonial wars the Mi'kmaq were allies with the four Abenaki nations [Abenaki, Penobscot, Passamaquoddy and Maliseet], forming the Wabanaki Confederacy, pronounced [wɑbɑnɑːɣɔdi]. At the time of contact with the French (late 16th century) they were expanding from their Maritime base westward along the Gaspé Peninsula /St. Lawrence River at the expense of Iroquoian peoples, hence the Mi'kmaq name for this peninsula, Gespeg ("last-acquired").
They were amenable to limited French settlement in their midst, but as France lost control of Acadia in the 18th century, they soon found themselves overwhelmed by British (English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh) who seized much of the land without payment and deported the French. Later on the Mi'kmaq also settled Newfoundland as the unrelated Beothuk tribe became extinct.
Norse exploration
It is generally accepted by
French colonial era
The first recorded European exploration of present-day New Brunswick was by French explorer Jacques Cartier in 1534, who discovered and named the Baie des Chaleurs between northern New Brunswick and the Gaspé peninsula of Quebec.
The next
The whole region of New Brunswick (as well as Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and parts of Maine) were at that time proclaimed to be part of the royal French colony of Acadia. The French maintained good relations with the First Nations during their tenure and this was principally because the French colonists kept to their small coastal farming communities, leaving the interior of the territory to the aboriginals. This good relationship was bolstered by a healthy fur trading economy.
A competing
17th century
Acadian Civil War
Acadia was plunged into what some historians have described as the
In the war, there were four major battles. La Tour attacked d'Aulnay at Port Royal in 1640.[4] In response to the attack, D'Aulnay sailed out of Port Royal to establish a five-month blockade of La Tour's fort at Saint John, which La Tour eventually defeated (1643). La Tour attacked d'Aulnay again at Port Royal in 1643. d'Aulnay and Port Royal ultimately won the war against La Tour with the 1645 siege of Saint John.[5] After d'Aulnay died (1650), La Tour re-established himself in Acadia.
King Williams War
The
18th century
One of its provisions of the
The bulk of the Acadian population now found itself residing in the new British colony of Nova Scotia. The remainder of Acadia (including the New Brunswick region) was only lightly populated, with major Acadian settlements in New Brunswick only found at Beaubassin (Tantramar) and the nearby region of Shepody, Memramcook, and Petitcodiac, which they called Trois-Rivière,[6] as well as in the Saint John River valley at Fort la Tour (Saint John) and Fort Anne (Fredericton).
To defend the area, the French built
The Maliseet from their headquarters at
Seven Years' War
Prior to 1755, Acadians participated in various militia operations against the British and maintained vital supply lines to the French Fortress of Louisbourg and Fort Beausejour.[7] During the French and Indian War, the British sought both to neutralize any military threat Acadians posed and to interrupt the vital supply lines Acadians provided to Louisbourg by deporting Acadians from Acadia.[8]
After the
British colonial era
After the
Other American settlements developed, principally in former Acadian lands in the southeast region, especially around Sackville. An American settlement also developed at Parrtown (Fort la Tour) at the mouth of the Saint John River. English settlers from Yorkshire also arrived in the Tantramar region near Sackville prior to the Revolutionary War.
American Revolution
The
The Loyalists and the establishment of New Brunswick
With the arrival of the Loyalist refugees in Parrtown (Saint John) in 1783,[11] the need to politically organize the territory became acute. The newly arrived Loyalists felt no allegiance to Halifax and wanted to separate from Nova Scotia to isolate themselves from what they felt to be democratic and republican influences existing in that city. They felt that the government of Nova Scotia represented a Yankee population which had been sympathetic to the American Revolutionary movement, and which disparaged the intensely anti-American, anti-republican attitudes of the Loyalists. "They [the loyalists]," Colonel Thomas Dundas wrote from Saint John, New Brunswick, December 28, 1786, "have experienced every possible injury from the old inhabitants of Nova Scotia, who are even more disaffected towards the British Government than any of the new States ever were. This makes me much doubt their remaining long dependent."[12] These views undoubtedly were exaggerated but there was no love lost between the Loyalists and the Halifax establishment and the feelings of the newly arrived Loyalists helped to sow the seeds for partition of the colony.
The election of 1786 was bitterly contested and pitted two concepts of loyalty to the Empire against one another: loyalty to the King and his appointed governors, and loyalty to the King with local affairs handled by the locals. Hundreds who protested a rigged election and signed a petition to call another election were arrested for sedition: the issue of what loyalty meant was at the centre of Canadian 19th century politics.[13] This event replicated the pre-1775 behavior and attitude of both Tories and Whigs in the southern 13 Colonies who protested their loyalty to the King and pride in belonging to the British Empire while insisting on their rights as British subjects, local rule and fair governance.[14]
The British administrators of the time, for their part, felt that the colonial capital (Halifax) was too distant from the developing territories to the west of the Isthmus of Chignecto to allow for proper governance and that the colony of Nova Scotia therefore should be split. As a result, the colony of New Brunswick was officially created with Sir Thomas Carleton the first governor on August 16, 1784.
New Brunswick was named in honour of the British monarch,
The choice of Fredericton (the former Fort Anne) as the colonial capital shocked and dismayed the residents of the larger Parrtown (Saint John). The reason given was because Fredericton's inland location meant it was less prone to enemy (i.e. American) attack. Saint John did, however, become Canada's first incorporated city and for over a century was one of the dominant communities in British North America. Saint John in 1787–91 was home to the former American general Benedict Arnold, who defected to the British army. He was an aggressive businessman who sued a great deal and had a negative reputation by the time he quit and went to London.[16]
Loyalists carried traditions of slavery with them to New Brunswick, and many brought slaves with them when they left the American colonies.
19th century
Some deported Acadians from Nova Scotia found their way back to "Acadie" during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. They settled mostly in coastal regions along the eastern and northern shores of the new colony of New Brunswick. There they lived outside of the established British communities in what would later become incorporated ranges of the province.
The
That being said, New Brunswick's contribution to the war effort in Upper Canada was significant in terms of troop contribution. In the winter of 1813, the locally mustered 104th Regiment of Foot (New Brunswick), the only regular regiment in the British Army raised outside the British Isles at the time, marched overland from Fredericton to Kingston, an epic journey documented in the war diary of John Le Couteur. Once in Upper Canada, the 104th fought in some of the most significant actions of the war, including the Battle of Lundy's Lane, the Siege of Fort Erie and the raid on Sacket's Harbour.
In 1819, the ship Albion left Cardigan for New Brunswick, carrying the first Welsh settlers to Canada; on board were 27 Cardigan families, many of whom were farmers.[23]
Border disputes
The Maine-New Brunswick frontier had not been defined by the Treaty of Paris (1783) which had concluded the Revolutionary War. The border was contested, and frequently this fact was taken advantage of by people on both sides of the border to engage in a lively smuggling trade, especially on the waters of Passamaquoddy Bay. The illicit trade in Nova Scotia gypsum resulted in the so-called "Plaster War" of 1820.[24]
By the 1830s competing lumber interests and immigration meant that a solution was required. The situation actually deteriorated sufficiently enough by 1842 that the governor of
Economy
Throughout the 19th century, shipbuilding, beginning in the Bay of Fundy with shipbuilders like James Moran in St. Martins and soon spreading to the Miramichi, became the dominant industry in New Brunswick. The ship Marco Polo, arguably the fastest clipper ship of her time was launched from Saint John in 1851. Noted shipbuilders like Joseph Salter laid the foundations of towns such as Moncton. Resource-based industries such as logging and farming were also important to the New Brunswick economy, despite disasters such as the 1825 Miramichi fire. From the 1850s through to the end of the century, several railways were built across the province, making it easier for these inland resources to make it to markets elsewhere.
Immigration
Immigration in the early part of the 19th century was mostly from the west country of England and from
A large influx of Catholic settlers arrived in New Brunswick in 1845 from Ireland as a result of the Great Famine. They headed to the cities of Saint John or Chatham, which to this day calls itself the "Irish Capital of Canada". Established Protestants resented the newly arrived Catholics. Until the 1840s, Saint John, the major city of New Brunswick, was a largely homogenous, Protestant community. Combined with a decade of economic distress in New Brunswick, the immigration of poor unskilled labourers triggered a nativist response. The Orange Order, until then a small and obscure fraternal order, became the vanguard of nativism in the colony and stimulated Orange-Catholic tension. The conflict culminated in the riot of 12 July 1849, in which at least 12 people died. The violence subsided as Irish immigration declined.[25]
Irish migrants
In the years between 1815, when vast industrial changes began to disrupt the old life-styles in Europe, and
After the partitioning of the British colony of Nova Scotia in 1784 New Brunswick was originally named New Ireland with the capital to be in Saint John.[26]
The
The Irish language survived as a community language in New Brunswick into the twentieth century. The 1901 census specifically enquired as to the mother tongue of the respondents, defining it as a language commonly spoken in the home. There were several individuals and a scattering of families in the census who described Irish as their first language and as being spoken at home. In other respects the respondents had less in common, some being Catholic and some Protestant.[28]
Canadian Confederation
New Brunswick was one of the four original provinces of Canada that entered into Confederation in 1867. The Charlottetown Conference of 1864 had originally been intended only to discuss a Maritime Union of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, but concerns over the American Civil War as well as Fenian activity along the border led to an interest in expanding the geographic scope of the union. This interest arose from the Province of Canada (formerly Upper and Lower Canada, later Ontario and Quebec) and a request was made by the Canadians to the Maritimers to have the meeting's agenda altered.
Following Confederation, the naysayers were proven right and New Brunswick (as well as the rest of the Maritimes) suffered the effects of a significant economic downturn. New national policies and trade barriers that had been created as a result of Confederation disrupted the historic trading relationship between the Maritime Provinces and New England. In 1871, the legislature sent a delegation to Ottawa in order to renew on "better terms".
World War II
After Canada joined
Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, who had promised no conscription, asked the provinces if they would release the government of said promise. New Brunswick voted 69.1% yes. The policy was not implemented until 1944, too late for many of the conscripts to be deployed.[30] New Brunswick sustained 1808 fatalities between the Army, RCAF, and RCN.[31]
Post World War II
The Acadians, who had mostly fended for themselves on the northern and eastern shores since they were allowed to return after 1764, were traditionally isolated from the English speakers that dominated the rest of the province. Government services were often not available in French, and the infrastructure in predominantly francophone areas was noticeably less evolved than in the rest of the province. This changed with the election of premier
County councils were abolished with the rural areas outside cities, towns and villages coming under direct provincial jurisdiction. The 1969
21st century
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2023) |
Throughout the early 2020s, during the COVID-19 pandemic, New Brunswick grew significantly in population,[33][34] largely through interprovincial migration, mainly from Ontario, and immigration.[35] As of a 2023 estimate, the province has seen higher population growth in the previous 24 months than in the past 29 years. In 2022, according to Statistics Canada analyst Patrick Charbonneau, New Brunswick experienced its highest population growth recorded in a single year since its Confederation in 1867. The following year, New Brunswick broke that record.[35] Population increase in New Brunswick has led to the province's median age falling for the first time in over 50 years.[36]
In 2023, a significant local governance reform resulted in the amalgamation of several local service districts in the province.[37]
See also
- Military history of the Mi’kmaq People
- Military history of the Maliseet people
- Military history of the Acadians
- History of the Acadians
- Aboriginal communities in New Brunswick
- List of New Brunswick premiers
- List of New Brunswick lieutenant-governors
- Aboriginal place names in New Brunswick
- List of historic places in New Brunswick
- List of National Historic Sites of Canada in New Brunswick
- History of Moncton
- Province of Massachusetts Bay
- The Officers' Quarterly
General:
References
- ^ "Passamaquoddy - Maliseet Dictionary". Lib.unb.ca. 15 August 2009. Retrieved 22 September 2010.
- ^ Fanny D. Bergen. "Popular American Plant-Names." The Journal of American Folklore 17: 89-106.
- ^ M. A. MacDonald, Fortune & La Tour: The civil war in Acadia, Toronto: Methuen. 1983
- ISBN 978-1-55109-740-4.
- ^ Dunn (2004), p. 20.
- ^ Paul Surette, Memramckouke, Petcoudiac et la Reconstruction de l'Acadie - 1763-1806 Mamramcook, 1981, p. 9
- ^ John Grenier, Far Reaches of Empire: War in Nova Scotia 1710-1760. Oklahoma Press. 2008
- JSTOR 10.3138/j.ctt15jjfrm.
- ^ From Life of General the Honourable James Murray by R. H. Mahon, p. Page 70
- ^ admin (28 March 2014). "Chapter 3". unb.ca.
- ^ http://www.mocavo.com/History-of-New-Brunswick/102214/13 History of New Brunswick, Page 9
- ^ S.D. Clark, Movements of Political Protest in Canada, 1640–1840, (1959), pp. 150-51
- ISBN 978-1-4595-0399-1
- ISBN 978-1-4000-4168-8
- ^ "The Winslow Papers: The Partition of Nova Scotia".
- ISBN 978-0-7735-2150-6.
- ^ "Black Enslavement in Canada". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
- ^ "Related Material in Other Archival or Special Collections". University of New Brunswick Loyalist Collection. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
- ^ Spray, W.A. (1979–2016). "Jones, Caleb". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
- ^ Wallace, C.M. (1979–2016). "Ludlow, George Duncan". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
- ISBN 9780228002819.
- ISBN 978-0-86492-644-9.
- ^ "2019 marks bi-centenary of the Albion sailing from Cardigan to Canada". Tivyside Advertiser. 28 April 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
- ISBN 978-0-8130-2986-3.
- ^ Scott W. See, "The Orange Order and Social Violence in Mid-Nineteenth Century Saint John," Acadiensis 1983 13(1): 68-92
- ^ "Winslow Papers: The Partition of Nova Scotia". lib.unb.ca.
- ^ O’Driscoll & Reynolds (1988), p. 712.
- ^ "Culture - The Irish Language in New Brunswick - ICCANB". Newirelandnb.ca. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
- ^ Stevenson 1872
- ^ a b c d New Brunswick at War. Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. 1995. pp. 1–13.
- ISBN 978-0195408478.
- ^ "Francophones concerned about rise in People's Alliance support". 25 September 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
- ^ Magee, Shane (28 December 2022). "N.B. sees record population growth, adding 25,000 people in past year". CBC News. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
- ^ Brown, Silas (12 January 2023). "Largest N.B. cities growing much faster than the national average - New Brunswick | Globalnews.ca". Global News. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
- ^ a b Jones, Robert (29 September 2023). "New Brunswick smashes population growth record set last year". CBC News. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
- SaltWire. 1 December 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
- ^ Government of New Brunswick, Canada (19 January 2021). "Local governance reform process begins". Government of New Brunswick. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
Further reading
- Acheson, Thomas W. (1993). Saint John: The Making of a Colonial Urban Community. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-1-4426-5509-6.
- Andrew, Sheila (2002). "Gender and Nationalism: Acadians, Québécois, and Irish in New Brunswick Nineteenth-Century Colleges and Convent Schools, 1854-1888" (PDF). Historical Studies. 68. Canadian Catholic Historical Association: 7–23.
- Andrew, Sheila M. (1996). Development of Elites in Acadian New Brunswick, 1861-1881. McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 978-0-7735-1508-6.
- Aunger, Edmund A. (1981). In Search of Political Stability: A Comparative Study of New Brunswick and Northern Ireland. McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 978-0-7735-0366-3.
- Barkley, Murray (Spring 1975). "The Loyalist Tradition in New Brunswick: the Growth and Evolution of an Historical Myth, 1825-1914". JSTOR 30302493.
- Benedict, William H. (1925). New Brunswick in History. the author.
- Bell, David Graham (1983). Early Loyalist Saint John: The Origin of New Brunswick Politics, 1783-1786. New Ireland Press. ISBN 978-0-9690215-8-2.
- ISBN 9780665634277.
- Gair, W. Reavley (1985). A Literary and linguistic history of New Brunswick. Fiddlehead Poetry Books & Goose Lane Editions. ISBN 978-0-86492-052-2.
- Godfrey, W.G. (1983). "Carleton, Thomas". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. V (1801–1820) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
- MacNutt, W. Stewart (1984). New Brunswick, a History: 1784-1867. Macmillan of Canada. ISBN 978-0-7715-9818-0.
- Mancke, Elizabeth (2005). The Fault Lines of Empire: Political Differentiation in Massachusetts and Nova Scotia, Ca. 1760-1830. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-95000-8.
- Marquis, Greg (Fall 2004). "Commemorating the Loyalists in the Loyalist City: Saint John, New Brunswick, 1883-1934". Urban History Review. 33 (1): 24–33. JSTOR 43560111.
- Nerbas, Don (June 2008). "Adapting to Decline: the Changing Business World of the Bourgeoisie in Saint John, NB, in the 1920s". .
- Petrie, Joseph Richards (1944). Report of the New Brunswick Committee on Reconstruction. Fredericton.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Richard, Chantal; Brown, Anne; Conrad, Margaret; et al. (2013). "Markers of Collective Identity in Loyalist and Acadian Speeches of the 1880s: A Comparative Analysis". Journal of New Brunswick Studies/Revue d'Études Sur le Nouveau-Brunswick. 4: 13–30.
- See, Scott W. (1993). Riots in New Brunswick: Orange nativism and social violence in the 1840s. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-7770-7.
- Stewart, Ian (1994). Roasting Chestnuts: The Mythology of Maritime Political Culture. Vancouver: UBC Press. ISBN 978-0-7748-4273-0.
- Whitcomb, Edward A. (2010). A Short History of New Brunswick. Ottawa: From Sea To Sea Enterprises. ISBN 978-0-9865967-0-4.
- Whitelaw, William Menzies (1934). The Maritimes and Canada Before Confederation. Oxford University Press. excerpts
- Woodward, Calvin A. (1976). The history of New Brunswick provincial election campaigns and platforms, 1866-1974: With primary source documents on microfiche.
Older books
- Atkinson, Christopher William (1844). A Historical and Statistical Account of New-Brunswick, B.N.A.: With Advice to Emigrants. Edinburgh: Anderson & Bryce.–A Historical and Statistical Account of New-Brunswick at Google Books
- Fisher, Peter (1825). History of New Brunswick. Saint John: Chubb & Sears.– History of New Brunswick at Project Gutenberg
- Gesner, Abraham (1847). New Brunswick: With Notes for Emigrants. Comprehending the Early History, an Account of the Indians, Settlement ... London: Simmonds & Ward.–New Brunswick: With Notes for Emigrants at Google Books
- Hannay, James (1897). The Life and Times of Sir Leonard Tilley: Being a Political History of New Brunswick for the Past Seventy Years. Saint John.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)–The Life and Times of Sir Leonard Tilley at Google Books - Lawrence, Joseph Wilson (1883). Foot-prints, Or, Incidents in Early History of New Brunswick. Saint John: J. & A. McMillan.–Foot-prints, Or, Incidents in Early History of New Brunswick at Google Books
- MacFarlane, W.G. (1895). New Brunswick Bibliography: The Books and Writers of the Province. Saint John: Sun Printing Company.–New Brunswick Bibliography at Google Books
- Report on Agriculture for the Province of New Brunswick. Fredericton: New Brunswick. Dept. of Agriculture. 1895.
- Stevenson, Benjamin R. (1872). Report of the "Better Terms" Delegation of New Brunswick. Saint John: J. & A. McMillan.