Prince Edward Island map 1765
Prince Edward Island
(PEI or P.E.I.; , Scottish Gaelic: Eilean a'
Phrionnsa) is a Canadian
province consisting of
an island of the same name, as well as
other
islands. The
maritime province
is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population
(excluding the territories). The island has a few other names:
"Garden of the Gulf" referring to the pastoral scenery and lush
agricultural lands throughout the province; and "Birthplace of
Confederation", referring to the
Charlottetown Conference in
1864.
According to the 2009 estimates, Prince Edward Island has 122,000
residents. It is located in a rectangle defined roughly by
46°–
47°N, and
62°–64°30′W and at in size, it is the
104th largest island in the
world, and
Canada's
23rd largest island.The island was named for
Prince Edward, Duke
of Kent and Strathearn (1767–1820), the fourth son of
King George III and the
father of
Queen
Victoria.
Geography
Prince
Edward Island is located in the Gulf of St. Lawrence
west of Cape Breton Island
, north of the Nova Scotia peninsula
, and east of New Brunswick
. Its southern shore bounds the Northumberland
Strait
. The island has two urban areas.
The
largest surrounds Charlottetown Harbour, situated centrally on the
island's southern shore, and consists of the capital city Charlottetown
, and suburban towns Cornwall
and Stratford
and a developing urban
fringe. A much smaller urban area surrounds
Summerside Harbour, situated on the southern shore west of
Charlottetown Harbour, and consists primarily of the city of
Summerside
. As with all natural harbours on the island,
Charlottetown and Summerside harbours are created by
rias.
The island's landscape is
pastoral: rolling
hills, woods, reddish white sand beaches, ocean coves and the
famous red soil have given Prince Edward Island a reputation as a
province of outstanding natural beauty. The provincial government
has enacted laws that attempt to preserve the landscape through
regulation, although the lack of consistent enforcement and absence
of province-wide
zoning and
land-use planning has resulted in some
aesthetically displeasing development in recent years.
The island's lush landscape has had a strong bearing on its economy
and its culture. Author
Lucy Maud
Montgomery drew inspiration from the land during the late
Victorian Era for the setting of her
classic novel
Anne of Green
Gables. Today, many of the same qualities that Montgomery
and others found in the island are enjoyed by tourists who visit
during all seasons. They enjoy a variety of leisure activities,
including
beaches, various
golf courses,
eco-tourism adventures, and simply touring the
countryside and enjoying cultural events in local communities
around the island.
Rolling hills characterise a
significant portion of the island's landscape.
The smaller rural communities as well as the towns and villages
throughout the province proudly retain a slower-paced, old-world
flavour, something that factors heavily into Prince Edward Island's
popularity as a destination for relaxation. The economy of most
rural communities on the island is based on
small-scale agriculture, given that
the size of farm properties is small when compared with other areas
in Canada. There is an increasing amount of industrial farming as
older farm properties are consolidated and modernised.
The coast of Prince Edward Island
around Cavendish
The coastline consists of a combination of long
beaches, dunes, red
sandstone
cliffs, salt water
marshes and numerous
bays and
harbours. The beaches, dunes and sandstone cliffs
consist of sedimentary rock and other material with a high iron
concentration which
oxidises upon exposure
to the air.
The geological properties of a white silica
sand found at Basin Head
are unique in the province; the sand grains cause a
scrubbing noise as they rub against each other when walked on,
aptly named the singing sands. Large
dune fields on the north shore can be found on
barrier islands at the entrances to
various bays and harbours.
The magnificent sand dunes at Greenwich
are of particular significance. The
shifting, parabolic dune system is home to a variety of birds and
rare plants and is also a site of significant
archeological interest.
Climate
Winters are moderately cold, with clashes of cold Arctic air and
milder Atlantic air causing frequent temperature swings. From
December to April, P.E.I. typically has many storms (which may
produce rain as well as snow) and blizzards. Springtime
temperatures typically remain cool until the sea ice has melted,
usually in late April or early May. Summers are moderately warm,
but rarely uncomfortable, with the daily maximum temperature only
occasionally reaching as high as . Autumn is a rather pleasant
season, as the moderating Gulf waters delay the onset of frost,
although storm activity does increase over that of summer. There is
ample precipitation throughout the year, although it is heaviest in
the late autumn and early winter and mid spring.
History
Prince Edward Island was originally inhabited by the
Mi'kmaq people. They named the Island "Epekwitk",
the pronunciation of which was changed to "
Abegweit" by the Europeans, meaning
Land
Cradled on the Waves. They believed that the island was formed
by the Great Spirit placing on the Blue Waters some dark red
crescent-shaped clay.
Jacques Cartier discovered the
island in 1534. As part of the
French
colony of
Acadia, the island was called
"Île Saint-Jean". Roughly one thousand
Acadians lived on the island. However, many fled to
the island from mainland Nova Scotia during the British-ordered
expulsion in 1755. Many more were
forcibly deported in 1758 when British soldiers-- under the command
of
Colonel Andrew Rollo
-- were ordered by General
Jeffery
Amherst to capture the island.
Great
Britain
obtained the island from France
under the
terms of the Treaty of
Paris in 1763 which settled the Seven Years' War, calling the colony
St. John's Island (also the Island of St.
John's).
The first British governor of St. John's Island,
Walter Patterson, was appointed in 1769.
Assuming office in 1770, he had a controversial career during which
the initial attempts to populate and develop the island under a
feudal system were slowed by land
title disputes and factional conflict. In an attempt to attract
settlers from Ireland, in one of his first acts (1770) Patterson
led the island's colonial assembly to rename the island "New
Ireland," but the British Government promptly vetoed this as
exceeding the authority vested in the colonial government; only the
Privy Council in London could change the name of a colony.
Charlottetown was raided in 1775 by a pair of American-employed
privateers during the
American Revolutionary War.
During and after the
American
Revolutionary War from 1776–1783, the colony's efforts to
attract exiled
Loyalist
refugees from the rebellious American colonies met with some
success. Walter Patterson's brother, John Patterson, one of the
original grantees of land on the island, was a temporarily-exiled
Loyalist and led efforts to persuade others to come.
The 1787 dismissal of Governor Patterson and his recall to London
in 1789 dampened his brother's efforts, leading John to focus on
his interests in the United States (one of John's sons, Commodore
Daniel Patterson, became a noted
United States Navy hero, and
John's grandsons, Rear Admiral
Thomas H. Patterson and Lt.
Carlile Pollock Patterson USN,
achieved success).
Edmund
Fanning, also a Loyalist exiled by the Revolution, took over as
the second governor, serving until about 1806. His tenure was more
successful than Walter Patterson's.
On
November 29, 1798, during Fanning's administration, Great Britain
granted approval to change the colony's name from St. John's Island
to Prince Edward Island to distinguish it from similar names in the
Atlantic, such as the cities of Saint
John
and St.
John's
. The colony's new name honoured the fourth
son of King George
III, Prince
Edward Augustus, the Duke of Kent (1767–1820), who was in
charge of all British military forces on the continent as Commander-in-Chief, North
America and was headquartered in Halifax
. Prince Edward was also the father of
Queen Victoria.
During the 19th century, the colony of Prince Edward Island began
to attract "adventurous Victorian families looking for elegance on
the sea. Prince Edward Island became a fashionable retreat in the
nineteenth century for British nobility".
The island is known in
Scottish
Gaelic as
Eilean a' Phrionnsa (lit. "the Island of the
Prince", the local form of the longer 'Eilean a' Phrionnsa
Iomhair/Eideard') or
Eilean Eòin for some Gaelic speakers
in Nova Scotia though not on PEI (lit. "John's Island" in reference
to the island's former name of St. John's Island: the English
translation of Île Saint Jean); in
Míkmaq as
Abegweit or
Epikwetk roughly translated "land cradled in the
waves".
Joining Canada
In September 1864, Prince Edward Island hosted the
Charlottetown Conference, which was
the first meeting in the process leading to the Articles of
Confederation and the
creation of Canada in 1867.
Prince Edward Island did not find the terms
of union favourable and balked at joining in 1867, choosing to
remain a colony of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland
. In the late 1860s, the colony examined
various options, including the possibility of becoming a discrete
dominion unto itself, as well as entertaining delegations from the
United
States
, who were interested in Prince Edward Island
joining the United States of America.
In 1871, the colony began construction of a
railway and, frustrated by
Great Britain's Colonial Office, began negotiations with the United
States.
In 1873,
Prime Minister Sir
John A. Macdonald, anxious to thwart American
expansionism and facing the distraction of the
Pacific Scandal, negotiated for Prince
Edward Island to join Canada. The Federal Government of Canada
assumed the colony's extensive railway debts and agreed to finance
a buy-out of the last of the colony's absentee landlords to free
the island of leasehold tenure and from any new migrants entering
the island. Prince Edward Island entered Confederation on 1 July
1873.
Confederation Bridge, PEI and NB
As a
result of having hosted the inaugural meeting of Confederation, the
Charlottetown Conference,
Prince Edward Island presents itself as the "Birthplace of
Confederation" with several buildings, a ferry vessel, and the
Confederation Bridge
using the term "confederation" in many ways.
The most
prominent building in the province with this name is the Confederation Centre of the
Arts
, presented as a gift to Prince Edward Islanders by
the 10 provincial governments and the Federal Government upon the
centenary of the Charlottetown Conference, where it stands in
Charlottetown as a national monument to the "Fathers of
Confederation".{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}
Demographics
According to the 2001 Canadian Census, the largest ethnic group
consists of people of
Scottish
descent (38.0%), followed by
English
(28.7%),
Irish (27.9%),
French (21.3%),
German (4.0%), and
Dutch (3.1%) descent. Almost half of all
respondents also identified their ethnicity as "Canadian."
Population of Prince Edward Island since
1851
| Year |
Population |
Mean annual |
5-year |
10-year |
Rank* |
| |
Percentage change |
|
| 1851 |
62,678 |
– |
– |
– |
5 |
1861 |
80,857 |
2.6 |
– |
29.0 |
1871 |
94,021 |
1.5 |
– |
16.3 |
1881 |
108,891 |
1.5 |
– |
15.8 |
1891 |
109,078 |
0.017 |
– |
0.2 |
6 |
1901 |
103,259 |
−0.55 |
– |
−5.3 |
7 |
1911 |
93,728 |
−0.96 |
– |
−9.2 |
9 |
1921 |
88,615 |
−0.56 |
– |
−5.4 |
1931 |
88,038 |
−0.065 |
– |
−0.7 |
1941 |
95,047 |
0.77 |
– |
8.0 |
1951 |
98,429 |
0.35 |
– |
3.6 |
10 |
1956 |
99,285 |
0.17 |
0.9 |
– |
1961 |
104,629 |
1.1 |
5.4 |
6.3 |
1966 |
108,535 |
0.74 |
3.7 |
9.3 |
1971 |
111,635 |
0.56 |
2.9 |
6.7 |
1976 |
118,225 |
1.2 |
5.9 |
8.9 |
1981 |
122,506 |
0.7 |
3.6 |
9.7 |
1986 |
126,640 |
0.67 |
3.4 |
7.1 |
1991 |
129,765 |
0.49 |
2.5 |
5.9 |
1996 |
134,557 |
0.73 |
3.7 |
6.3 |
2001 |
135,294 |
0.11 |
0.5 |
4.2 |
2006 |
135,851 |
NA |
0.4 |
NA |
Source: Statistics
Canada
Language
The
2006 Canadian census showed a
population of 135,851. Of the 133,570 singular responses to the
census question concerning 'mother tongue' the most commonly
reported languages were:
|
|
|
|
| 1. |
English |
125,260 |
93.8% |
| 2. |
French |
5,345 |
4.0% |
| 3. |
Dutch |
865 |
0.6% |
| 4. |
German |
275 |
0.2% |
| 5. |
Spanish |
220 |
0.2% |
| 6. |
Chinese |
190 |
0.1% |
| 7. |
Arabic |
150 |
0.1% |
| 8. |
Hungarian |
120 |
0.1% |
| 9. |
Mi'kmaq |
90 |
0.1% |
| 10. |
Japanese |
80 |
0.1% |
| 11. |
Polish |
70 |
0.1% |
| 12. |
Korean |
65 |
~ |
In addition, there were also 105 responses of both English and a
'non-official language'; 25 of both French and a 'non-official
language'; 495 of both English and French; 10 of English, French,
and a 'non-official language'; and about 1,640 people who either
did not respond to the question, or reported multiple non-official
languages, or else gave some other unenumerated response. (Figures
shown are for the number of single language responses and the
percentage of total single-language responses.)
Religion
The largest denominations by number of adherents according to the
2001 census were the
Roman
Catholic Church with 63,240 (47 %); the
United Church of Canada with 26,570
(20 %); the Presbyterian Church with 7,885 (6 %) and the
Anglican Church of Canada with
6,525 (5 %).
Economy
Fisheries form one of the major
industries of Prince Edward Island.
The provincial economy is dominated by the seasonal industries of
agriculture, tourism, and the
fishery. The
province is limited in terms of heavy industry and manufacturing.
Although commercial deposits of minerals have not been found,
exploration for
natural gas beneath the
eastern end of the province has resulted in the discovery of an
undisclosed quantity of gas.
Agriculture remains the dominant industry in the provincial
economy, as it has since colonial times. During the twentieth
century, potatoes replaced mixed farming as the leading
cash crop, accounting for one-third of provincial
farm income. The province currently accounts for a third of
Canada's total potato production, producing approximately 1.3
billion kilograms annually.
Comparatively, the state of Idaho
produces
approximately 6.2 billion kilograms annually, with a population
approximately 9.5 times greater. The province is a major
producer of seed potatoes, exporting to more than twenty countries
around the world.
As a legacy of the island's colonial history, the provincial
government enforces extremely strict rules for non-resident land
ownership. Residents and corporations are limited to maximum
holdings of 400 and 1,200 hectares respectively. There are also
restrictions on non-resident ownership of shorelines.
Many of the province's coastal communities rely upon shellfish
harvesting, particularly
lobster
fishing as well as
oyster fishing and
mussel farming.
The provincial government provides consumer protection in the form
of regulation for certain items, ranging from apartment rent
increases to petroleum products including
gas,
diesel,
propane and
heating oil.
These are all regulated through the
Island Regulatory and
Appeals Commission (IRAC). IRAC is authorised to limit the
number of companies who are permitted to sell petroleum
products.
The sale of carbonated beverages such as
beer
and
soft drinks in non-refillable
containers, such as aluminum cans or plastic bottles, was banned in
1976 as an environmental measure in response to public concerns
over litter. Beer and soft drink companies opted to use refillable
glass bottles for their products which were redeemable at stores
and bottle depots. The introduction of recycling programs for cans
and plastic bottles in neighbouring provinces in recent years (also
using a redemption system) has seen the provincial government
introduce legislation to reverse this ban with the restriction
lifted on May 3, 2008.
Prince Edward Island has Canada's highest provincial retail
sales tax rate, currently (2008)
established at 10%. The tax is applied to almost all goods and
services except some clothing, food and home heating fuel. The tax
is also applied to the Federal
Goods and Services
Tax.
At present, approximately fifteen percent of all
electricity consumed on the island is generated
from
renewable energy (largely
wind turbines); the provincial
government has set renewable energy targets as high as 30-50% for
electricity consumed by 2015. Until wind generation, the province
relied entirely on electricity imports on a submarine cable from
New Brunswick. A thermal oil-fired generating station in
Charlottetown is also available.
Persons employed on Prince Edward Island earn a minimum wage of
$8.00/hour as of October 1, 2008.
Transportation
Prince
Edward Island's transportation network has traditionally revolved
around its seaports of Charlottetown, Summerside, Borden, Georgetown
, and Souris — all linked to its railway system, and
airports (Charlottetown and Summerside) for communication with
mainland North America. The railway system was abandoned by
CN in 1989 in favour of an
agreement with the federal government to improve major highways.
Until
1997, the province was linked by two passenger-vehicle ferry services to the mainland: one, provided by
Marine Atlantic, operated year-round
between Borden
and Cape Tormentine, New
Brunswick
; the other, provided by Northumberland Ferries
Limited, operates seasonally between Wood
Islands
and Caribou, Nova Scotia
. A third ferry service provided by CTMA
operates seasonally between Souris
and Cap-aux-Meules, Quebec
, in the Magdalen Islands
.
On June
1, 1997, the Confederation Bridge opened, connecting Borden-Carleton to Cape
Tormentine, New Brunswick. The longest bridge over ice
covered waters in the world, it replaced the Marine Atlantic ferry
service. Since then, the Confederation Bridge's assured
transportation link to the mainland has altered the province's
tourism and agricultural and fisheries export economies.
The province has very strict laws regarding use of road-side signs.
Billboard and the use of
portable signs are banned. There are standard direction information
signs on all roads in the province for various businesses and
attractions in the immediate area. Some municipalities'
by-laws also restrict the types of permanent signs
that may be installed on private property.
Government
Province House, PEI
Prince Edward Island has a high level of political representation,
with four
Members of
Parliament, four
Senators, 27
Members of
the Legislative Assembly and two cities, seven towns and sixty
incorporated rural communities yielding over five hundred municipal
councilors and mayors. This gives a total of 566 elected officials
for a population (as of 2006) of 135,851.
Communities
Ten largest municipalities by population
| Municipality |
2001 |
1996 |
Charlottetown |
32,245a |
32,531 |
Summerside |
14,654b |
15,525 |
Stratford |
7,083 |
2,180 |
Montague |
1,945 |
1,995 |
Lot 1 c |
1,900 |
1,936 |
Lot 65 |
1,829 |
1,595 |
Lot 19 |
1,775 |
1,759 |
Lot 2 d |
1,720 |
1,766 |
a Agglomerated population: 58,358.
b Agglomerated population: 16,200.
c Tignish and surrounding area.
d St. Louis/Elmsdale area. |
Education
Prince
Edward Island is home to one university, the University of Prince Edward
Island (UPEI), located in Charlottetown. The university was created by the Island
legislature to replace Prince of Wales College and St. Dunstan's
University. UPEI is also home to the
Atlantic Veterinary College,
which offers the region's only veterinary medicine program.
Holland
College
is the provincial community college, with campuses across
the province, including specialised facilities such as the Atlantic
Police Academy, Marine Training Centre, and the Culinary Institute
of Canada.
Prince Edward Island's public school system has two Anglophone
school districts,
Eastern
and
Western, as well as a
Francophone district, the
Commission scolaire
de langue française. The Anglophone districts have a total of
10 secondary schools and 54 intermediate and elementary schools
while the Francophone district has 6 schools covering all
grades.
Prince Edward Island, along with most rural regions in North
America, is experiencing an accelerated rate of youth emigration.
The provincial government has projected that public school
enrollment will decline by 40% during the 2010s.
Health care
The province has seven hospitals:
The
Hillsborough Hospital in
Charlottetown is the province's only psychiatric hospital.
In recent decades, the province has shown statistically significant
and abnormally high rates of diagnosed rare cancers. Health
officials,
ecologists and environmental
activists point to the use of
pesticides for industrial
potato farming as a primary
contaminant.
Culture
The island's cultural traditions of art, music and creative writing
are all supported through the public education system.
There is an annual
arts festival, the Charlottetown
Festival, hosted at the Confederation Centre of the
Arts.
Lucy Maud Montgomery, who was
born in Clifton (now New London) in 1874, wrote some 20 novels. Her
first
Anne book was published in 1908. The musical play
Anne of Green
Gables has run every year at the Charlottetown festival
for more than four decades.
The sequel, Anne & Gilbert, premiered in the
Playhouse in Victoria
in 2005.
Elmer Blaney Harris founded an artists
colony at Fortune Bridge
and set his famous play Johnny Belinda on the
island.
Prince Edward Island's documented music history begins in the 19th
century with religious music, some written by local pump and block
maker, and organ-importer, Watson Duchemin. Several big bands
including the Sons of Temperance Band and the Charlottetown Brass
Band, were active. Today, Acadian, Celtic and rock music prevail,
with exponents including
Gene
MacLellan,
Lennie Gallant and
Two Hours Traffic.
The celebrated
singer-songwriter Stompin' Tom
Connors spent his formative years in Skinners
Pond
. Robert
Harris was a well-known artist.
Sport
Gallery
Image:Newglasgowpano2.jpg|Panorama of the
banks of the River Clyde in New
Glasgow
Image:prince edward island sandstone
arch.jpg|Sandstone archImage:prince edward island
zz.jpgFile:panmure island lighthouse.JPG|Lighthouse on Panmure
Island
See also
Notes
- Info:PEI Quick Facts, 2008-07-14. Retrieved on
2009-03-18.
- Brendan O'Grady, Exiles and Islanders: The Irish Settlers
of Prince Edward Island, p. 15)
- PEI history Government of Canada
- PEI population trend (Statistics Canada).
- Population urban and rural, by province and territory
(Statistics Canada, 2005).
- Detailed Mother Tongue (186), Knowledge of Official
Languages (5), Age Groups (17A) and Sex (3) (2006 Census)
- Religions in Canada
- PEI Potato , potato production figures.
- Idaho Potator Production
- Lobster Fishing (PEIonline)
- Island
Regulatory and Appeals Commission (PEI Government).
- The Confederation Bridge (official website).
References
- Also under
- A very broad look at the historical geography of P.E.I.
External links
in Charlottetown
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