What New Brunswick is known for

New Brunswick is one of Canada's four original provinces. This province is located on the eastern seaboard of North America. New Brunswick is Canada's only bilingual province. Both French and English are spoken equally throughout the region. The state of Maine sits to the west of the province, and Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island to the east.[11] The land was chartered by King George III and was named after the royal house of Brunswick.[9] While New Brunswick is smaller than Canada's other provinces, it is the largest of the land's Maritime Provinces. The capital city of New Brunswick is Fredericton. Fredericton was named after King George III's son Fredrick. There are currently around 58,000 people living in Fredericton. The city is known to be Canada's main craft beer brewing town, with the highest concentration of breweries, meaderies, and cideries in Atlantic Canada. Although it's the capital, Fredericton is not the largest city in New Brunswick.[1]

Saint John rivals Fredericton in both population and size with over 70,000 residents. The city is located along the infamous Bay of Fundy and is bordered by the Saint John River. The collision of the bay tides and the river waters take place in Saint John. This process is called "the reversing rapids" and results in some of the highest tides in the world.[11] Both Saint John and Fredericton were established around 1785. The largest city in New Brunswick is Moncton, with over 108,000 residents. This large city is home to a large number of the province's overall population of 776,000 people. Other prominent cities and towns within the province include Bathurst, Edmundston, and Woodstock.[1] The majority of New Brunswick's population are descended from Scottish, Irish, and English settlers from the 18th and 19th centuries. These citizens speak both English and French alike. The median age of the resident population in New Brunswick is around 40 years old.[10]

Around 3 million people visit New Brunswick every year. The tourism industry is a large part of New Brunswick's economy and generates around 1 billion dollars of revenue annually, providing somewhere near 47,000 tourism-related jobs. Tourism rates are highest between the months of June and August; during these months, temperatures are comfortable, making outdoor activities possible. Typical activities visitors spend time doing in New Brunswick include hiking, whale watching, bird watching, mountain biking, kayaking, camping, and driving along the coastline. Most of those who visit New Brunswick come from neighboring provinces or the United States.[4] There are thousands of acres of untouched wilderness in New Brunswick and numerous salmon-filled rivers, pristine beaches, and lobster tours guests can explore and participate in.[1]

The main attraction to New Brunswick is the Bay of Fundy and Fundy National Park. The Bay of Fundy is home to the highest tides in the world and can rise up to 39 feet twice a day. Because of the shoreline's high tides, the beaches and rocky seashore have rugged landscapes unlike anywhere around the world. Visitors can explore the bay walking on the ocean floor during low tide, rappelling down cliffs into Cape Enrage, or taking boat tours into the water for whale watching or fishing excursions. The Hopewell Rocks are located along the Bay of Fundy and feature rock formations created through thousands of years of erosion. The area is covered in a network of hiking trails, scenic lookout points, small creeks, and coves. Other commonly visited areas and attractions in New Brunswick include Historic Saint John House, Grand Manan Island, Parlee Beach, Kouchibouguac National Park, and Cape Enrage. Hundreds of camping sites are located in the province, along with historic markets, fresh seafood, and seaside resorts.[2]

New Brunswick's economy is almost entirely resource-based, largely depending on forestry, mining, and fishing. Tourism, small-scale manufacturing, and agriculture are additional points of industry. Sawmills produce lumber, plywood, fuel, and Christmas trees. Elements such as zinc, copper, lead, silver, lead, and coal are mined frequently in the province. The Saint John River supplements a hydroelectric system that moves a natural gas pipeline carrying gas to and from New England and the Province. Hundreds of trolling boats line the New Brunswick shoreline as they fish for Sea-Run Atlantic salmon, arctic char, shark, lobster, trout, mussels, and oysters.[3]

Geography

New Brunswick, Canada, is part of the four original provinces and the maritime provinces. The province is almost rectangular, with two of its sides exposed to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the Bay of Fundy. The provinces of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island are nearest to the southeast, while the larger province of Quebec lies north of New Brunswick. To the west of the province lies the United State's state of Maine. Due to the Bay of Fundy’s record high tides, the landscape along the shoreline of New Brunswick is abrupt with rocky cliffs, large marshlands, and exposed ocean floor at some points. Further inland, the province is covered in rolling hills, rocky outcroppings, flatlands, and forests. Cutting through the state is the Saint John River, Saint Croix River, and the Restigouche River.[11] The Saint John River feeds into the Bay of Fundy, causing reverse rapids at the river’s mouth that cause major flooding into the land surrounding the river.[1]

Forests cover a majority of the province, and most of the plant life within them are coniferous trees found in northern climates such as balsam fir, pine, hemlock, red and black spruce. Common plant life in the river valleys and seashores are the red maple, trembling aspen, and white birch. Wild berries grow well in the thin soil of the province, including blueberries and cranberries.[7] Only one-fifth of the land in New Brunswick is suitable for agriculture. A majority of the soil is acidic and low in nutrients. Most of this land is privately owned by farmers. These farms grow mainly potatoes and feed for dairy cattle, hogs, and sheep.[3] Within the forested areas, there are white-tailed deer, moose, porcupines, and raccoons. Along the coastline and rivers, hundreds of migrating birds reside during the mid-spring and late summer. Some of these birds include new world warblers, sandpipers, American black duck, black-legged kittiwake, loons, and Bicknell’s thrush.[8] 

The climate in New Brunswick has clearly distinguishable seasons. The winters are snowy and frigid, while the summers are mild and warm. The fall and spring have warm days and cold nights with colorful foliage. Near the coast, rainfall is common, falling in the often daily occurrences of small storms; the temperatures in these southern areas are more moderate. The entire province sustains around 30 inches of rain annually and 115 inches of snow. In total, the annual precipitation average is around 43 inches. The winter season lasts four months with an average daily temperature of 32 degrees Fahrenheit. January is the coldest month of the year. During the warmer months, the weather averages at around 68 degrees Fahrenheit, and July is the hottest time of the year.[6]

History

New Brunswick was first inhabited by its native people, the Maliseet and Mi'kmaq people. These native groups lived along the rivers and coasts, fishing for the majority of their food and using the nearby forests for timber to build their villages. The first European settlers began to explore the area in the 1600s. Samuel de Champlain was among the first French pioneers to establish settlements in New Brunswick. The people built their new homes at the head of the Bay of Fundy and along the Saint John River. In the coming century, the newly settled land would be the capital city of the province, Fredericton.[1] 

For almost a century, the land was a fighting ground for French and British empires until it seceded to Great Britain in 1710. Due to this conflict, over 5,000 Acadians who had recently settled in the area had to flee. In 1783, many refugees loyal to Britain came to New Brunswick and the land that would be Nova Scotia. Most of these refugees were escaping the aftermath of the American Revolution.[9]

Over the next decade, hundreds of refugees began entering the area from Germany, the Netherlands, and even Russia. Because of the increase in the population of New Brunswick, the King granted a charter to his newly proclaimed city, Saint John. In 1785, Saint John was the first incorporated city in Canada, shortly after the capital city, Fredericton, was established. Scottish and Irish settlers came to New Brunswick in the early 1800s, most escaping from hardships in their home countries.[9] 

Jewish immigrants, as well as Danish settlers, established communities within the province which later evolved into the cities of Moncton and Miramichi. New Brunswick was established along with the other provinces of Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia, joining together the Dominion of Canada in 1867. Since its establishment, New Brunswick has been an entry point for thousands of immigrants and hosts an increasingly multicultural population today.[1]