The Great Escape

Halifax, Nova Scotia was originally inhabited by the Mi'kmaq. The first European settlers to arrive in the future Halifax region were French, in the early 1600s, establishing the colony of Acadia. The British settled Halifax in 1749, which sparked Father Le Loutre's War. To guard against Mi'kmaq, Acadian, and French attacks on the new Protestant settlements, British fortifications were erected in Halifax , Bedford , Dartmouth , and Lawrencetown . St. Margaret's Bay was first settled by French-speaking Foreign Protestants at French Village, Nova Scotia who migrated from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia during the American Revolution. All of these regions were amalgamated into the Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996. While all of the regions of HRM developed separately over the last 250 years, their histories have also been intertwined. The City of Halifax was an incorporated city in Nova Scotia, Canada, which was established as the Town of Halifax in 1749, and incorporated as a city in 1842. On April 1, 1996, the government of Nova Scotia dissolved the City of Halifax, and amalgamated the four municipalities within Halifax County and formed Halifax Regional Municipality, a single-tier regional government covering that whole area. The city was the capital of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was also the largest city in Atlantic Canada.The Town of Halifax was founded by the Kingdom of Great Britain under the direction of the Board of Trade under the command of Governor Edward Cornwallis in 1749. The British founding of Halifax and the influx of British Protestant settlers led to Father Le Loutre's War. During the war, Mi'kmaq and Acadians raided the capital region 13 times. Halifax was founded below a drumlin that would later be named Citadel Hill. The outpost was named in honour of George Montague-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, who was the President of the Board of Trade. Halifax was ideal for a military base, with the vast Halifax Harbour, among the largest natural harbours in the world, which could be well protected with artillery battery at McNab's Island, the Northwest Arm, Point Pleasant, George's Island and York Redoubt. In its early years, Citadel Hill was used as a command and observation post, before changes in artillery that could range out into the harbour. After a protracted struggle between residents and the Viceroys of Nova Scotia, the City of Halifax was incorporated in 1842. Since the creation of HRM in 1996, the area of the former City of Halifax is referred to as an unincorporated provincial community by the provincial government's place name website and the civic addressing office of HRM, the area is referred to as Halifax, Nova Scotia for civic addressing and as a placename. The area is administered as two separate community planning areas by the regional government for development, Halifax Peninsula and Mainland Halifax. It forms a significant part of the Halifax urban area. Residents of the former city are called Haligonians.
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