HALIFAX PROFILE

Halifax: Population: 372,679 (2006 census)

Halifax is the capital of Nova Scotia, and seat (1759) of Halifax county. Located on Halifax Harbour, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, in the central part of the outer (south) shore of the province. Halifaxoccupies 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.

Incorporated in 1842, 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, accounting for forty percent of provincial GDP, and about twenty percent of Atlantic Canadian GDP.

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 (1800-05), 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 1828-50 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).