Cape Breton Island

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Cape Breton Island (French: île du Cap-Breton, Scottish Gaelic: Eilean Cheap Breatuinn, Mi'kmaq: U'namakika, simply: Cape Breton) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. Its name likely derives from the term "Breton", referring to Brittany.

Cape Breton Island is part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada, although physically separated from the peninsular Nova Scotian mainland by the Strait of Canso. The island is located east-northeast of the mainland with its northern and western coasts fronting on the Gulf of St. Lawrence; its western coast also forming the eastern limits of the Northumberland Strait. The eastern and southern coasts front the Atlantic Ocean; its eastern coast also forming the western limits of the Cabot Strait. Its landmass slopes upward from south to north, culminating in the highlands of its northern cape. A saltwater estuary, Bras d'Or Lake, dominates the centre of the island.

The population of Cape Breton Island as of the 2001 census numbers approximately 147,454 "Cape Bretoners"; this is approximately 16% of the provincial population. Cape Breton Island has experienced a decline in population of approximately 7% since the previous census in 1996. Approximately 75% of the island's population is located in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) which takes in all of Cape Breton County and is commonly termed "Industrial Cape Breton", given the history of coal mining and steel manufacturing in this area.

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History

Cape Breton Island's first residents were likely Maritime Archaic Indians, ancestors of the Mi'kmaq Nation, who later inhabited the island at the time of European discovery. Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) reportedly visited the island in 1497 to become the first Renaissance European explorer to visit present-day Canada. However, historians are unclear as to whether Caboto first visited Newfoundland or Cape Breton Island. This discovery is commemorated by Cape Breton's Cabot Trail.

The island saw active settlement by France with the island being included in the colony of Acadia. A French garrison was established in the central eastern part at Ste-Ann in the early 18th century before relocating to a much larger fortification at Louisbourg so as to improve defences at the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and defend France's fishing fleet on the Grand Banks. The French named the island "Île Royale." It remained part of colonial France until it was ceded to the Britain under the Treaty of Paris in 1763. Britain merged the island with its adjacent colony of Nova Scotia (present day peninsular Nova Scotia and New Brunswick).

Some of the first British-sanctioned settlers to the island following the Seven Years' War were Irish, although upon settlement, they merged with local French communities to form a culture both rich in music and tradition. From 1763 to 1784 the island was administratively part of the colony of Nova Scotia and governed from Halifax.

In 1784, Britain split the colony of Nova Scotia into three separate colonies: New Brunswick, Cape Breton Island, and present-day peninsular Nova Scotia, in addition to the adjacent colonies of Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. The colony of Cape Breton Island had its capital at Sydney on its namesake harbour fronting on Spanish Bay and the Cabot Strait. Its first Lieutenant-Governor was Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres (1784–1787) and his successor was William Macarmick (1787).

An order forbidding the granting of land in Cape Breton, issued in 1763, was removed in 1784. The mineral rights to the island were given over to the Crown by an order-in-council. The British government had intended that the Crown take over the operation of the mines when Cape Breton was made a colony, but this was never done, probably because of the rehabilitation cost of the mines. The mines were in a neglected state, caused by careless operations dating back at least to the time of the final fall of Louisbourg.

In 1820, the colony of Cape Breton Island was merged for the second time with Nova Scotia; this being present-day peninsular Nova Scotia. This development is one of the factors which led to large-scale industrial development in the Sydney Coal Field of eastern Cape Breton County (see Industrial history of Cape Breton Island). By the late 19th century, as a result of the faster shipping, expanding fishery and industrialization of the island, exchanges of people between the island of Newfoundland and Cape Breton increased beginning a cultural exchange that continues to this day.

During the first half of the 19th century, Cape Breton Island experienced an influx of Highland Scots numbering approximately 50,000; a result of the Highland Clearances. Today the descendants of the Highland Scots dominate Cape Breton Island's culture, particularly in rural communities. To this day Gaelic is still the first language of a number of elderly Cape Bretonners. A campaign by the provincial government during the 19th and early 20th centuries aimed to eradicate the use of Gaelic among school children. The growing influence of English-dominated media from outside the Scottish communities saw the use of this language erode quickly during the 20th century.

Tourism promotions beginning in the 1950s recognized the importance of the Scottish culture to the province (although it wasn't dominant throughout Nova Scotia), and the provincial government started encouraging the use of Gaelic once again. The establishment of funding for the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts and formal Gaelic language instruction in public schools are intended to address the near-loss of this culture to English assimilation.

The turn of the 20th century saw Cape Breton Island at the forefront of scientific achievement with the now-famous activities launched by inventors Alexander Graham Bell and Guglielmo Marconi.

Following his successful invention of the telephone and relatively wealthy, Bell acquired land near Baddeck in 1885, largely due to surroundings reminiscent of his early years in Scotland. He established a summer estate complete with research laboratories, working with deaf people - including Helen Keller - and continued to invent. Baddeck would be the site of his experiments with hydrofoil technologies as well as the Aerial Experiment Association, financed by his wife, which saw the first powered flight in the British Empire when the AEA Silver Dart took off from the ice-covered waters of Bras d'Or Lake. Bell also built the forerunner to the iron lung and he experimented with genetically modified sheep.

Marconi's contributions to Cape Breton Island were somewhat less than Bell's as he merely used the island's geography to his advantage in transmitting the first trans-Atlantic radio message from a station constructed at Table Head in Glace Bay to a receiving station at Poldhu in Cornwall, England.

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Geography

The island measures 10,311 km2 in area (3,981 square miles), making it the 75th largest island in the world and Canada's 18th largest island. Cape Breton Island is composed mainly of rocky shores, rolling farmland, glacial valleys, barren headlands, mountains, woods and plateaus. Geological evidence suggests that at least part of the island was originally joined with present-day Scotland and Norway, now separated by millions of years of continental drift.

Cape Breton's landscape is dominated by the Bras d'Or Lake system which the island wraps around, Boularderie Island, the Strait of Canso, and the Cape Breton Highlands, which are considered a continuation of the Appalachian chain. Principal freshwater features are Lake Ainslie, the Margaree River system, and the Mira River. Innumerable smaller rivers and streams drain into the Bras d'Or Lake estuary and onto the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Atlantic coasts. Cape Breton Island is divided into four counties: Cape Breton, Inverness, Richmond, and Victoria.

Cape Breton Island is now joined to the mainland by the Canso Causeway, completed in 1955, enabling direct road and rail traffic to and from the island, but constraining marine traffic to pass through the Canso Canal at the eastern end of the causeway.

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Demographics

The five main cultures are Scottish, Mi'kmaq, Acadian, Irish, and English, with respective languages Scottish Gaelic, Mi'kmaq, French,and English. English is now the primary spoken language, though Mi'kmaq, Gaelic and Acadian French are still heard.

Later migrations of black Loyalists, Italians, and Eastern Europeans enriched the eastern part of the island around Industrial Cape Breton. Cape Breton has been seeing a population exodus in recent years.

According to the Census of Canada, the population of Cape Breton Island in 2001 was 147,454, a -6.8% decline from 158,260 in 1996.

Racial Composition

  • 95.0% Caucasian
  • 3.6% Indian (Canadian First Nations)
  • 0.7% Black
  • 0.1% Arab

Religious Groups

Other religious groups also exist.

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Economy

Sydney on the east coast of the island has traditionally been the main port, with various facilities in a large sheltered natural harbour. The Marine Atlantic terminal at North Sydney is where some of Canada's largest ferries have daily departures year-round to Channel–Port aux Basques and seasonally to Argentia on the island of Newfoundland.

Point Edward on the west side of Sydney Harbour is the location of Sydport, a former navy base now converted to commercial use, as well as the Canadian Coast Guard College. Petroleum, general cargo, bulk coal, and cruise ship facilities are also located in Sydney Harbour.

Glace Bay is the second largest community in population and was the island's main coal mining center until its last mine ceased operation in the 1980s. Glace Bay served as the hub of the Sydney & Louisbourg Railway and also as a major fishing port. At one time Glace Bay was known as the largest town in Canada.

Port Hawkesbury has risen to prominence since the completion of the Canso Causeway and Canso Canal created an artificial deep-water port, allowing extensive petrochemical, pulp and paper, and gypsum handling facilities to be established. The St. Peters Canal is no longer used by commercial shipping on Cape Breton Island but is an important waterway for recreational vessels.

The Strait of Canso is completely navigable to seaway-max vessels, and Port Hawkesbury is open to the deepest-draught vessels on the world's oceans. Large marine vessels may also enter Bras d'Or Lake through the Great Bras d'Or channel whereas small craft have the additional use of the Little Bras d'Or channel or St. Peters Canal.

The primary east-west road on the island is Nova Scotia Highway 105, the Trans-Canada Highway, although the Nova Scotia Highway 104 expressway is scheduled to be extended from Port Hawkesbury along the south side of Bras d'Or Lake to the Sydney area and will likely see the Trans-Canada designation switched to this route when completed. Nova Scotia Highway 125 is an important arterial route around Sydney Harbour in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Nova Scotia Highway 4, as well as the Cabot Trail, are important secondary roads. Railway connections between the port of Sydney to Canadian National Railway in Truro are maintained by the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway.

The industrial Cape Breton area faces several challenges with the closure of the Cape Breton Development Corporation's (DEVCO) coal mines by 2001 and the Sydney Steel Corporation's (SYSCO) steel mill. In recent years a federal agency Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation has been attempting to diversify the area economy by investing in tourism developments, call centres, and small businesses.

While the Cape Breton Regional Municipality is in transition from an industrial to a service-based economy, the rest of Cape Breton Island outside of the industrial area surrounding Sydney has been more stable, with a mixture of fishing, forestry, small-scale agriculture, and tourism.

Tourism in particular has grown throughout the post-Second World War era, especially the growth in vehicle-based touring, which was furthered by the creation of the Cabot Trail scenic drive. The scenery of the island is rivalled in northeastern North America only by Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island tourism marketing places a heavy emphasis on its Scottish Gaelic heritage through events such as the Celtic Colours Festival, held each October, as well as promotions through the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts.

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Notable Facts

  • Cape Breton Island has two major coal deposits: the Sydney Coal Field in the southeastern part of the island along the Atlantic Ocean drove the Industrial Cape Breton economy throughout the 19th and 20th centuries - until after World War II its industries were the largest private employers in Canada; the Inverness Coal Field in the western part of the island along the Gulf of St. Lawrence is signficantly smaller but hosted several mines.
  • The Men of the Deeps are a male choral group composed of miners and former miners from the Industrial Cape Breton area.
  • The Cabot Trail is a scenic road circuit around and over the Cape Breton Highlands with spectacular coastal vistas; over 400,000 visitors drive the Cabot Trail each summer and fall. Coupled with Fortress Louisbourg, it has driven the growth of the tourism industry on the island in recent decades. The Conde Naste travel guide has rated Cape Breton Island as one of the best island destinations in the world.
  • Cape Breton fiddle music refers to a two-century-old Scottish fiddle style of music, drawing on Irish and Acadian musical influences as well. A step dance form preserved by Irish and Scottish descendants usually accompanies performances at what are known as "ceilidhs". Inverness County's Ceilidh Trail derives its name from these performances and celebrations in its rural communities.
  • Fortress Louisbourg is Canada's largest National Historic Site and the largest historic restoration in North America - it depicts the 18th-century fortified French harbour town of Louisbourg.
  • Alistair MacLeod is a noted fiction writer and winner of the IMPAC Dublin Prize. Born in Saskatchewan to Cape Breton parents, he summers near Inverness and bases some of his writing on the island's influences.
  • Angus MacAskill was the world's largest natural giant and was raised on Cape Breton Island. He later became a strongman performer with P.T. Barnum's circus before returning to his family home at Englishtown on St. Ann's Bay.

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See also

de:Cape Breton fr:Île du Cap-Breton ja:ケープブレトン島 no:Cape Breton pt:Ilha Cape Breton sv:Kap Bretonön zh-min-nan:Breton Hái-phīⁿ Tó

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