Introduction to History of New Brunswick
The area that is now New Brunswick has been continuously inhabited since 5000 B.C., when nomadic Indians occupied the region. The two major tribes in the area when European explorers arrived in the 16th century were the Micmac in the northeast and the Malecite west of the St. John River. The Micmac were primarily hunters and fishers, while the Malecite grew corn.
In 1534 Jacques Cartier, a French explorer, sailed into what is now the Bay of Chaleur and claimed the entire coastal area for France. The area that is now New Brunswick and Nova Scotia came to be called Acadia. There was no attempt to colonize Acadia until 1604, when a group of settlers brought by the Sieur de Monts and Samuel de Champlain spent the winter at the mouth of the St. Croix River (the southwestern border of present-day New Brunswick). The settlement was then moved to the south shore of the Bay of Fundy (in what is now Nova Scotia), and Port Royal, the community founded there, became the nucleus of the Acadian colony.
Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt, a member of the colonizing group, and his son Charles de Biencourt tried to develop the north-shore area. De Biencourt and Charles de la Tour formed a fur-trading company, and around 1632 La Tour built a fort on the site of present Saint John.
Important dates in New Brunswick1534 The French explorer Jacques Cartier arrived in Chaleur Bay.1604 Samuel de Champlain and Sieur de Monts of France spent the winter on St. Croix Island.1762 Traders from New England arrived in Saint John.1763 France, in the Treaty of Paris, confirmed British ownership of the New Brunswick region.1770's-1780's Thousands of Loyalists came from the United States to settle in New Brunswick.1784 New Brunswick became a separate province.1825 A great fire swept the Miramichi River region.1842 The New Brunswick-Maine boundary dispute was settled.1848 New Brunswick was granted self-government.1867 New Brunswick became one of the original four provinces of the Dominion of Canada.1890 Two national railway systems linked New Brunswick cities with Montreal.1952-1953 Vast deposits of copper, lead, silver, and zinc were mapped in the Bathurst-Newcastle region.1968 An industrial development program was completed in the Bathurst-Newcastle region, and a hydroelectric plant opened at Mactaquac Dam on the St. John River near Fredericton.1997 Confederation Bridge, which connects Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, opened.French and Indian Wars
Acadia was also claimed by England, on the basis of John Cabot's voyages, and the territory changed hands between England and France repeatedly during the 17th and 18th centuries. During King William's War, 1689-97, the French built forts on the St. John River at Jemsig and opposite the site of present Fredericton. The St. John became the major route from Quebec to Port Royal and Fortress Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island. In 1750 the French constructed Fort Beauséjour on the Isthmus of Chignecto, but it fell to the British in only five years.
When France relinquished Canada to Britain by the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the St. Croix River was made the boundary between Maine, then part of Massachusetts, and Nova Scotia, as the British had renamed Acadia. A number of settlers from New England and Pennsylvania moved to the northern section and started a timber trade. A New England group founded a trading post at the site of Fort La Tour. Acadians who had been expelled by the British in 1755 returned, settling in the Restigouche River region and making fishing their main occupation.
Coming of the Loyalists
When the American Revolution ended, the St. Croix was confirmed as the eastern end of the boundary between Canada and the United States. The boundary immediately beyond the headwaters of the river was in dispute.
In 1783 many thousands of American colonists who had remained loyal to Britain in the war migrated to Nova Scotia. About 12,000 came to the area north of the Bay of Fundy. They established Parrtown (later Saint John) at the mouth of the St. John River, colonized the valleys of the river system, and settled also on the east side of Passamaquoddy Bay and on the Chignecto Isthmus.
The Loyalists were disturbed by the sympathies of Nova Scotians on the peninsula for the American cause in the Revolutionary War, and they urged the Colonial Office in London to partition Nova Scotia.
In 1784 the separate province of New Brunswick was created. Colonel Thomas Carleton, brother of Sir Guy Carleton, the governor-in-chief of British North America, became the province's first governor. He established the capital at Fredericton.
Growth and Development
The timber trade, which specialized at first in spars for sailing ships, thrived on the wars of the early 19th century—the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812—when other British timber supplies were cut off. A shipbuilding industry grew up along the coast, particularly in Saint John. After conflicts over timber and river rights led to the Aroostook War—a near-clash between the militia of New Brunswick and Maine—a boundary was agreed upon in 1842.
In 1854 the Reciprocity Treaty with the United States introduced 11 years of duty-free trade in natural products. During this prosperous period, manufacturing began. However, the province still lacked railway connections with neighboring provinces.
In 1864 New Brunswick sent delegates to Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island to discuss some form of union with the other Maritime Provinces. It was thought that a union of the provinces could provide the resources to build an intercolonial railway. The Charlottetown delegates returned with resolutions to link not only the Maritime Provinces but also Ontario and Quebec. Despite some local opposition—for a time it appeared that New Brunswick would not join the confederation—New Brunswick became one of the four original members of the Dominion of Canada in 1867.
The coming of the railways in the latter 19th century drew New Brunswick into the mainstream of the Canadian economy. Moncton grew into a major transportation center. Saint John became a leading winter port for overseas shipment of Canadian products. With the passing of the wooden ship and development of the agricultural and industrial resources of the central and western provinces, however, New Brunswick suffered a gradual economic decline.
In the mid-20th century the Maritime Provinces, including New Brunswick, became popular with tourists from both Canada and the United States. During the 1970's New Brunswick's pulp and paper industry expanded, and deposits of antimony, a commercially important metal, were discovered in the province.
In the early 1980's the Miramichi River was dredged for use by oceangoing vessels. In 1984, and 1985, large potash deposits began being mined in southern New Brunswick. In 1987, New Brunswick elected its first Liberal government after nearly 20 years of Conservative rule. The Liberals remained in power after the 1991 elections.
In 1997, a bridge called Confederation Bridge opened. It stretches across the Northumberland Strait and connects New Brunswick with Prince Edward Island.
Also, in 1997, flooding occurred in the larger of the two potash mines, and it had to be closed as a result. In recent years, as the labor force has grown, an increasing number of people have been having trouble finding employment in New Brunswick.