My teacher assigned a project for my class to do in pairs. We had to pick a Canadian city at random. My partner and I chose Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia. At first, I wasn`t too excited but I later really enjoyed it. I had to do the history of Halifax, and my partner was assigned to do modern day description of Halifax. I will share with you what I learned.

The Mi’kmaq’s were the original aboriginals that were the on the land of Halifax. They were there for hundreds of years (end of the last ice age, 13,000 years ago) before the settlers came. They hunted game in the great land, and fished in the waters. Halifax had great food sources. They called Halifax Chebucto which means biggest harbour. During the late 1400s, a few of the European settlers travelled to Halifax. For a whole two centuries, the French battled with Britain for the Maritimes. The British got Halifax in 1713. In 1746, the British government sponsored the first settlement plan in Halifax.

In 1749, Colonel Edward Cornwallis came to the shores of Chebucto bringing over 2500 settlers from Britain with him. He came because Halifax had the 2nd largest ice-free harbour in the world. He later founded Halifax. They settled there because of the harbour and the land was good to build houses on. Edward Cornwallis renamed Chebucto as Halifax in honour of his patron, George Montagu Dunk, Earl of Halifax. The aboriginals and Britain were having trouble getting along and they had war in 1749. Eventually, the Chiefs of the Mi’kmaq’s signed a peace treaty with the British. Soon the aboriginals had no more land left.

In 1758, Halifax became the first colony in Canada to have an elected legislature. That means they had an elected government. By the time it was 1752 Halifax had its first printed newspaper. It was Canada’s first newspaper. Also in 1749, the settlers wanted police. They selected people to be constables. Punishments were very severe compared to now. Once, a man was sentenced to death for being in possession of stolen clothes. In 1864 the Halifax Police Department (HPD) was formed. In 1934 the HPD became the first to use radio patrol cars In Canada. In 1841 Halifax was incorporated as a city. People from Ireland, Scotland, and England were present during the founding. Soon, Germans, Americans, and Africans came to Halifax after them. By the time of Canada’s Confederation (1867), Halifax was the fourth largest city In Canada! The confederation made Halifax the capital of Nova Scotia. In April 1st 1996, the Halifax Municipal Government was formed. The school system came in the 1960s. Halifax is very important to Canada because it has an interesting history.

On the morning of December 6th 1917, a terrible tragedy struck the city of Halifax. This was during World War I which was when Halifax was a military help to many countries. Many ships loaded with supplies would be at the Bedford Basin. That was where the boats were kept. One day, the French ship Mont Blanc was full of explosives and was coming into Bedford Basin. At the same time, a boat from Norway Imo was leaving. The two ships crashed making a huge fire that was impossible to control. Then, Mont Blanc was coming closer to the shore of Halifax. It reached the shore and it blew up, causing a massive explosion. Many people just watched the fire on the surface. They did not realize that the ship would blow up on the surface of Halifax too. About 2000 people were killed in the explosion and over 9000 people were injured. It also destroyed 325 acres of land. This took a long while to repair and only with massive help from international support. The Halifax explosion is the biggest manmade explosion before the nuclear age. Halifax was very unlucky. This only happened 6 years after the titanic sank on the coast of Halifax.

I had great time learning about Halifax and I hope one day I get to visit there. It has a very interesting history.

Maxine Mutasingwa.