NEW BRUNSWICK

Canadian province located on the eastern seaboard of the North American continent. It is Canada's only officially bilingual province, French and English having equal status. It was one of the four original provinces making up the national confederation in 1867. Together with Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, it forms the regional grouping known as the Maritime Provinces. New Brunswick has a roughly rectangular shape, about 210 miles (340 kilometres) from north to south and 185 miles (300 kilometres) from east to west, and it has an area of 28,355 square miles (73,440 square kilometres). It is bounded on the west by the U.S. state of Maine, on the north by the province of Quebec, on the east by the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Northumberland Strait, and on the south by the Bay of Fundy. The latter two bodies of water are separated by the narrow neck of the Chignecto Isthmus, which joins New Brunswick to Nova Scotia. Chartered by King George III, the province was named after the royal house of Brunswick, and its capital, Fredericton, for King George III's son. While New Brunswick has contributed significantly to the national life of Canada, it is one of the smaller provinces and has always occupied a lesser role in the national economy. Its beautiful forests, rivers, lakes, and seashoreattractions for tourists, hunters, and sports fishermenhave remained relatively unspoiled. one of the four Atlantic provinces of Canada and one of four original members of the Dominion of Canada (1867). Together with Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, it forms the regional grouping known as the Maritime Provinces. With an area of 28,355 square miles (73,440 square km), it is bounded on the west by the U.S. state of Maine, on the north by the province of Quebec, on the east by the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Northumberland Strait, and on the south by the Bay of Fundy. Its capital is Fredericton. New Brunswick was a part of the original Acadia, a seaward region inhabited by Micmac and Malecite Indians of the Algonquian-speaking group. Prior to the mid-18th century there were only a small number of French fur traders and settlers in the region. Acadia subsequently was the scene of a British-French struggle for control of the territory. Following the British capture of Fort Beausjour in 1755, the French-speaking Acadians were expelled to reduce French influence in the area. A British proclamation in 1763 incorporated the area now known as New Brunswick into Nova Scotia; a few hundred Acadians returned, and a small number of New Englanders settled in the area. It remained sparsely populated until the influx of some 14,000 loyalist refugees from the United States after the American Revolution; as a result the area was separated from Nova Scotia, and the province of New Brunswick was established in 1784. The British government gave very little encouragement to its new province until 1808, when Britain granted tariff preferences to the timber resources of the North American colonies, a move made when Napoleon's blockade cut off the Baltic supply of shipbuilding timber to the British. For New Brunswick, this historical incident provided an opportunity that helped usher in the so-called age of wood, wind, and water, an era of prosperity based on timber exports and a flourishing shipbuilding industry. Self-government was granted by Britain in 1848. In 1854 New Brunswick signed a reciprocity treaty with the United States. New Brunswick entered into confederation with Canada in 1867. New Brunswick's forest cover has been increasing since 1950 and now occupies about 90 percent of the province. The principal trees are balsam fir, red and black spruce, pine, and hemlock. There are increasing numbers of deer and moose. Several rivers are famous for their Atlantic salmon, while trout, bass, and pickerel also attract sport fishing. Forestry and lumbering are the province's largest industries, and pulp and paper production represents its largest single component, with many sawmills operating. The forests supply material for lumber, plywood, chipboard, fuel, and Christmas trees and provide wide employment. Fishing continues to be important in the provincial economy, with lobster, crab, scallops, cod, and various other North Atlantic species making up the bulk of the catch. In the second half of the 20th century, the mining of zinc, copper, lead, and silver in the northeast has become increasingly important. New Brunswick's industrial development has been spurred by the development of hydroelectric power, supplemented by coal- and oil-fired and nuclear generating stations. Saint John is a major port through which a high proportion of Canada's external trade passes. This is especially true during the winter months when traffic on the St. Lawrence Seaway is curtailed. The province is served by highways, airlines, and railways. New Brunswick's government since entering the Canadian Confederation in 1867 has comprised the unicameral Legislative Assembly, elected (by universal adult suffrage) generally to a four-year term. The leader of the majority party in the assembly becomes the premier and selects the Executive Council from the assembly. Another member of the executive branch is the lieutenant governor, chosen by Canada's governor-general as the British monarch's representative. Compulsory elementary and secondary public education is free through grade 12 and features bilingual English and French instruction. Vocational and technical training are offered in secondary school and also for adults. Higher education is available from the University of New Brunswick, renowned for forestry and engineering, with a campus (Canada's oldest, founded in 1785) at Saint John and another campus at Fredericton; l'Universit de Moncton, with three branch campuses, offering bilingual instruction; the private Mount Allison University at Sackville, founded 1842 as a Wesleyan institution; and St. Thomas University at Fredericton, a Roman Catholic institution. New Brunswick has a favourable cultural climate. The Acadians, against all odds, have preserved their French cultural inheritance, and the province has a large French-speaking minority. Fredericton is the home of the first native Anglo-Canadian school of poetry, that of William Bliss Carman (18611929) and Sir Charles Roberts (18601943). Lord Beaverbrook, the British newspaper magnate who grew up in New Brunswick, left as a legacy to his home province the Lord Beaverbrook Art Gallery, which houses treasures of English and Canadian painting. Many artists of national repute reside in the province. Fredericton is also famous for its Playhouse theatre. All four of the province's universities support creative arts. A pioneer village has been reconstructed at Kings Landing near Fredericton. The Fort Beausjour National Historic Park near Sackville reminds visitors of the French and British roots of the province. Pop. (1991) 723,900. city, seat of Middlesex county, eastern New Jersey, U.S. It lies on the Raritan River, at the terminus of the old Delaware and Raritan Canal, 21 miles (33 km) south-southwest of Newark. The site, first known as Prigmore's Swamp, was settled in 1681 by John Inian. Called Inian's Ferry (1713), it was renamed about 1724 for George I of England, who was also the duke of Brunswick. George II granted it a town charter in 1730. During the American Revolution, General George Washington's troops, retreating from New York, occupied the town in 1776, evacuating at the approach of the British under General William Howe, who remained there for about seven months. Washington returned after the Battle of Monmouth (1778) and, while there, issued orders for the march south culminating in the victorious Battle of Yorktown. Throughout the revolutionary period the town's port was a base for privateers who preyed upon British ships around Manhattan. The Camden and Amboy (later the Pennsylvania) Railroad reached New Brunswick in 1838. Since the late 19th century, when James W. and Robert W. Johnson established a firm (Johnson & Johnson) to make adhesive tape and surgical dressings, New Brunswick has been a major producer of hospital supplies and pharmaceuticals. The city's other manufactures include vitamins and health food, batteries, plastics, toys, packaging, and automobile parts. Rutgers University was founded there as Queen's College in 1766 and was made the state university in 1945. New Brunswick Theological Seminary (founded 1784), the oldest theological school in the United States, has been in the city since 1810. On November 6, 1869, New Brunswick was the scene of the first intercollegiate football game, between Rutgers and Princeton. Inc. city, 1784. Pop. (1990 est.) city 41,711; (1996 est.) city 41,534. Additional reading Information on the resources and the economy of New Brunswick is found in government reports, such as New Brunswick, Office of the Economic Advisor, The New Brunswick Economy (irregular). Early history is examined by Bona Arsenault, History of the Acadians (1966, reprinted 1988; originally published in French, 1965); and L.F.S. Upton, Micmacs and Colonists: IndianWhite Relations in the Maritimes, 17131867 (1979). Later history is explored in James Hannay, History of New Brunswick, 2 vol. (1909); W.S. MacNutt, New Brunswick, a History: 17841867 (1963, reprinted 1984); Ann Gorman Condon, The Loyalist Dream for New Brunswick: The Envy of the American States (1984); Graeme Wynn, Timber Colony: A Historical Geography of Early Nineteenth Century New Brunswick (1981); and P.A. Buckner and David Frank (eds.), Atlantic Canada Before Confederation, 2 vol. (1985). Ernest R. Forbes, Challenging the Regional Stereotypes: Essays on the 20th Century Maritimes (1989), treats the modern period. Stephen E. Patterson