New Brunswick historical timeline

History

Three First Nations, the Mi'kmaq, Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) and Passamaquoddy, held the land when Europeans arrived. Jacques Cartier explored the Chaleur Bay coast in 1534, and in 1604 Samuel de Champlain and Pierre Dugua founded Acadia, the first colony of New France, with a settlement on Saint Croix Island; that June, Champlain named the river the Mi'kmaq and Wolastoqiyik called Wolastoq the Saint John. Acadia changed hands repeatedly between France and Britain until Queen Anne's War and the 1713 Utrecht Treaty gave it to Britain.

The defining trauma is the Expulsion of the Acadians. Between 1755 and 1764 the British deported about 11,500 of an estimated 14,100 Acadians, of whom some 5,000 died of disease, starvation or shipwreck; survivors scattered and many later returned to build the French-speaking north and east. After the American Revolution and the 1783 Paris Treaty, Loyalists resettled the Bay of Fundy, and New Brunswick was partitioned from Nova Scotia in 1784, named for King George III, prince-elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Saint John became Canada's oldest incorporated city by royal charter in 1785. New Brunswick joined Confederation in 1867, passed its Official Languages Act in 1969, and in 2003 Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed acknowledgement of the deportation.

Verified against Wikipedia, September 2026.

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Checked against Wikipedia — The province is about 83% forested and its northern half is occupied by the Appalachians, The province has a surface area of 72908 square kilometres and 775,610 inhabitants (2021 census), In 1969, New Brunswick passed the Official Languages Act which began recognizing French as an official language, along with English, New Brunswick was named in 1784 in honour of George III, King of Great Britain, King of Ireland, and prince-elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Upon its split from Nova Scotia, it was initially named New Ireland in April 1784; however the name of the province was changed to New Brunswick when it was…, The highest water level ever recorded occurred in October 1869, The first documented European exploration of New Brunswick was made by Jacques Cartier in 1534, when his party set foot in Miscou and explored the coasts of…, Acadia, a colonial division of New France covering the Maritimes, was founded in 1604 by Samuel de Champlain and Pierre Dugua de Mons with a settlement on…, Acadia would definitively fall into British hands following Queen Anne's War, formalized by the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713, The Expulsion of the Acadians was the forced removal of the French colonists of the North American region historically known as Acadia between 1755 and 1764…, In 1710, during the War of the Spanish Succession, the British captured Port Royal, the capital of Acadia, The Acadians are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries, the British, together with New England legislators and militia, carried out the Great Expulsion of the Acadians between 1755 and 1764, In 2003, at the request of Acadian representatives, Queen Elizabeth II issued a Royal Proclamation acknowledging the deportation, It is Canada's oldest incorporated city, established by royal charter on 18 May 1785, during the reign of George III, French explorer Samuel de Champlain landed at Saint John Harbour on 24 June 1604, the feast of St. John the Baptist, and named the Saint John River in his…, Vessel strikes and entanglement in fixed fishing gear, which together account for nearly half of all North Atlantic right whale mortality since 1970, are…, Its lineage can be traced back another 88 years to 1842 and to the work of Dr. Abraham Gesner, Opened on May 31, 1997, the 12.9 km bridge is Canada's longest bridge and the world's longest bridge over ice-covered water, Kings Landing is a New Brunswick living history museum with original buildings from the period of 1820-1920 (September 2026).