. First settlers to discover Nova Scotia were the Scots. The original name was New Scotland.  They settled on Cape Breton Island, the northern part of the province.  First permanent settlers in the southern end of the province were the French Acadiens. Arriving in 1650, they stayed for close to one hundred years. The population rose to 15,000 by the year 1750. Many rivalries originated over the land ownership between the French and the British, but the French Acadiens would not partake in any of the fighting. After the British took control of the land in 1755, the French Acadiens refused to pledge their allegiance to the British flag.  So the British expelled the French Acadiens by sailing ship all along the eastern seaboard of USA The British now offered the southern part of Nova Scotia to the people of Maine and Massachusetts for free because they knew the American people would pledge their allegiance to the British flag. In 1760, the fishermen from Cape Cod and Nantucket caught cod fish, salted and dried them on Nova Scotia beaches and took them back to market in Maine and Massachusetts. These fishermen and their families settled in Southern Nova Scotia in 1760. Years after the Americans had settled, the British loosened their laws and permitted the French Acadiens to trickle back into Nova Scotia. The British forced the Acadiens to construct their villages between two English communities thinking this was a way to control them. The Ross, Kenney, Nickerson, Newell, Smith are some of the old ancestral names remaining in the area today. Fishing remains our main industry in Nova Scotia today. Site Developed & Maintained by Triple W Design - Email Us Copyright © 2008 C & J’s Oceanview Tours Ltd. All Rights Reserved. No portion of this web site may be reproduced in whole or part without the expressed written consent of C& J’s Oceanview Tours Ltd.