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Halifax is a Canadian city, the provincial capital and largest population centre in Nova Scotia, and the economic centre of the Atlantic Provinces. In 1995, the city of Halifax was amalgamated with a number of neighbouring authorities to create the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM). As of 2001, the HRM had a population of 359,111 Haligonians.1 History
- Originally named Chebucto - or biggest harbour - by the Mi'kmaq people who lived there, Halifax was founded by British General Edward Cornwallis on July 9, 1749 as a military outpost for the British with a handful of farming settlers. The outpost was named in honour of George Montague-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, who was the President of the British Board of Trade. Halifax was ideal for a military base, as it has the second largest natural harbour in the world, and could be well protected with batteries at McNab's Island , the North West Arm , Point PleasantPoint Pleasant Park is a large, forested area at the southermost tip of the peninsula on which the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia is built. It was formerly a military battery, and ruins of eighteenth century martello towers can be found there. The park is a, George's Island and York Redoubt . There is also a large hill overlooking the harbour, on which was built a citadelCitadel Hill was the first massive British Empire military base in Nova Scotia. It began an era of history which has made Halifax known as the "Warden of The North". The first fortification on the Hill began in 1761 by Bastie, and has been rebuilt several.
- On July 17th, 1749 the first liquor license to be issued in Nova Scotia was given to John Shippey and his tavern The Spread Eagle
- The town of DartmouthDartmouth is the smaller cross-harbour twin city to Nova Scotia's capital of Halifax, now joined through municipal amalgamation into the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM). Residents of Dartmouth are reffered to as Dartmouthians, and resist being referre was soon after settled on the opposite side of the harbour and a ferryA ferry is a boat or a ship carrying passengers, and possibly their vehicles, on a relatively short-distance, regularly-scheduled service. Ferries form an important part of the public transport systems of many waterside cities, allowing direct transit bet system between Halifax and Dartmouth began that still operates today. It is the oldest saltwater ferry in North America.
- The city's first University, Saint Mary'sMary's University or St. Mary's College is the name of several universities: in Canada: St. Mary's College, Calgary, Alberta Saint Mary's University, Halifax, in Nova Scotia in the Philippines: Saint Mary's University of Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya in the Un was founded in 1802Events March 16 West Point is established. March 25/ 27 Treaty of Amiens between France and United Kingdom ends the War of the Second Coalition. March 28 H. Olbers discovers the asteroid Pallas. May 19 Napoleon Bonaparte establishes the French legion d'ho. The second, Dalhousie UniversityDalhousie University Motto: ora et labora ( Latin: "Pray and work" Founded 1818 School type Public President Tom Traves Location Halifax, Nova Scotia Enrollment 8,900 Undergraduates. 2,900 Graduates Campus surroundings Urban Sports teams Tigers Dalhousie, was founded in 1818.
- The City of Halifax was incorporated in 1842 and elected its first mayor, Stephen Binney .
- When the Titanic sank in 1912, the search effort was coordinated in Halifax and 150 of the 328 recovered bodies were buried there in the Fairview Lawn Cemetery, the Mount Olivet Cemetery, and the Baron de Hirsch cemetery.
- During the First and Second World Wars, convoys of ships would assemble in the Bedford Basin, in Halifax harbour, before heading across the Atlantic Ocean. On December 6, 1917, a particularly foggy morning during World War I, the largest man-made explosion prior to nuclear weapons, the Halifax Explosion, occurred. An incoming Belgian ship, the Imo, laden with armaments, struck an outgoing French ship, the Mont Blanc, at the mouth of the harbour. Both caught fire and were abandoned, and minutes later the arms ship exploded, flattening a large portion of the city, leaving over 2000 dead and 9000 injured. The explosion was heard 420 km away.
- During the 1960's the Black community of Africville was demolished and its residents displaced to clear land for industrial use as well as the A. Murray MacKay bridge (Halifax's "north" bridge).
- The 1960s, 70s, and 80s saw less suburban sprawl than in many comparable Canadian cities. This was partly as a result of a weaker economy and smaller population base than, for example, central Canada, but also because of a deliberate government policy to limit suburban growth. In the 1990s private developers were given more licence to build as they wished. Today Halifax is more compact than most Canadian cities, although large expanses of suburban growth have occured in Dartmouth and Bedford. One development in the late 1990s was the Bayers Lake Business Park, a large grouping of warehouse style retailers, which has become an important centre of commerce for the city, and even the province.
- In the 1990's, like many other Canadian cities, Halifax amalgamated with its suburbs to become the responsibility of a single government, the Halifax Regional Municipality, rather than several individual city governments. Although cities in other provinces affected by amalgamation retained their original names, Halifax is often referred to as "HRM" especially in the media.
- On September 29, 2003, Halifax was hit by Hurricane Juan, the largest hurricane to hit the city directly since 1893. The storm caused serious disruption in the city for more than a week. The entire city lost power for a brief period, and it took up to two weeks to restore power to all areas. Several people were killed during the storm or in the aftermath: A mother and two of her children were killed in a house fire thought to be caused by a burning candle, a paramedic was killed in downtown Halifax when a falling tree landed on his ambulance, and a man from Hants County was also killed by a falling tree.
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