HALIFAX

town, metropolitan borough of Calderdale, metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, historic county of Yorkshire, England. An old market town for grain, wool, and cloth trades, it lost its preeminence to Bradford in the 19th century. Halifax lies in a hilly district on the Hebble, a tributary of the River Calder that flows just to the south. Beacon Hill rises sharply to an elevation of 850 feet (260 metres) and overlooks the town. Road and railway bridges span the valley. Extensive suburban development took place after World War II on the northern side of the town. In Anglo-Saxon times Halifax formed part of the extensive manor of Wakefield held by King Edward the Confessor. After the Norman Conquest the manor of Halifax (Feslei in Domesday Book) was granted to William, earl of Warenne and Surrey, who made a gift of Yorkshire churches, including Halifax, to the Cluniac priory at Lewes in Sussex. The church was dedicated to St. John the Baptist, patron saint of wool weavers. The cloth trade has been plied in Halifax from an early datethe first record of a weaver there was in 1275. In the account books for 147375, Halifax parish had the largest cloth production in the West Riding (a division of the historic county of Yorkshire), a position it retained for three centuries. Built largely in the 19th century, modern Halifax is a development of the industrial era, though some older buildings remain. The parish church is in the Perpendicular Gothic style, and two earlier churches are traceablethe first of Norman origin and the second of the Early English period. Features of the church are the western tower completed in 1482, unique commonwealth windows of plain glass with beautifully designed leading, and some fine woodwork. Among the public buildings are the town hall, designed by Sir Charles Barry in the Palladian style and opened in 1863; and the central library and Bankfield museum, both of which are housed in Victorian mansions. Halifax, an industrial town, is traditionally a centre of the woolen and worsted industries, but textile manufacture declined during the 20th century. The manufacture of carpets is important, and other industries include brewing and confectionery. Halifax also specializes in the production of machine tools. Pop. (1991) 91,069. city, capital of Nova Scotia, Canada, and seat (1759) of Halifax county. It lies on Halifax Harbour, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, in the central part of the outer (south) shore of the province. The city occupies a rocky peninsula, 4.5 miles (7.2 km) long and 2 miles (3.2 km) wide, that protrudes into the inlet and divides the harbour into an inner (Bedford) and outer basin. First visited by Samuel de Champlain about 1605, the site was occupied in the early 18th century by a French fishing station. Permanent British settlement did not begin until 1749, when Edward Cornwallis founded and fortified the town as a counterbalance to Louisbourg, the French stronghold in Cape Breton, naming it after the 2nd Earl of Halifax (George Montagu Dunk), president of the Board of Trade and Plantations. Halifax continually served as a British army and navy base, one of the most heavily fortified outside Europe, until its dockyard and defenses were taken over by the Canadian government in 1906. Although never besieged, the city suffered from a disastrous munitions ship explosion in 1917 that killed nearly 2,000 people and devastated much of the city's north side. During World Wars I and II, Halifax was Canada's largest and most important naval base. The city is Nova Scotia's leading commercial and industrial centre. Its ice-free harbour, one of the busiest in Canada, exports fish, lumber, and agricultural products. Halifax is an Atlantic terminus of two major railways; it is linked to other parts of the province by freeway and to Dartmouth, on the opposite side of the harbour, by ferry and the Angus L. Macdonald and A. Murray MacKay suspension bridges. An international airport is 20 miles (32 km) northeast of the city. Industries include foundries, oil refining, shipbuilding, fish processing, and the manufacture of automobiles, food products, rope and twine, paint and varnish, clothing, and furniture. As the largest city in the Maritime Provinces, Halifax is also an important cultural centre. Its educational institutions include Dalhousie University (founded 1818); University of King's College (Anglican, 1789); St. Mary's University (Roman Catholic, 1841); Mount St. Vincent University for women (Roman Catholic, 1925); and Technical University of Nova Scotia (1907). Its Nova Scotia Museum has historical, geographic, and marine exhibits. Historic buildings include St. Paul's Church (built 1750), the oldest Protestant church in Canada; the Old Dutch Church (1756), Canada's first Lutheran church; Government House (180005), official residence of the lieutenant governor; Province House (completed 1818), Canada's oldest parliament building and a notable example of Georgian architecture; Memorial Tower, commemorating the first Canadian elective assembly, in 1758; and Historic Properties, a restoration of 19th-century waterfront buildings. The city's military past is reflected in the Citadel (a hilltop fortress, built 182850 on the site of earlier fortifications and now within a national historic park) and Martello Tower and the York Redoubt (restored 18th-century fortifications guarding the sea approaches). Inc. 1842. Pop. (1991) city, 114,455; metropolitan area, 320,501. town, seat of Halifax county, northeastern North Carolina, U.S., on the Roanoke River. Settled about 1723, it was made a colonial borough in 1760 and named for George Montague, 2nd Earl of Halifax. It thrived as a river port and between 1776 and 1791 was an important political and social centre and a site of the Provincial Assembly. It was there that the Halifax Resolves, the first formal sanction of American independence, were adopted on April 12, 1776. Political activity declined after 1783, when the state assembly moved to Hillsborough. Constitution House, where tradition holds that the state constitution was drafted, and other colonial structures have been restored. The town was designated a state historic site in 1965. Pop. (1990) 327.