Essay on Charlottetown: Prince Edward Island and Charlottetown

Submitted By Svetlannna
Words: 1385
Pages: 6

Charlottetown

Background: Introduction

Charlottetown city, formerly known as one of the Canadian cities, has an interesting history and beautiful scenery that everyone should visit one day . It is located on the south shore of Prince Edward Island and is called the "Birthplace of Confederation" after the historic 1864 Charlottetown Conference which led to Confederation.
The city is located on the three rivers. The shoreline is low and capped with moist grasslands and patches of woodland. The water is cold because the scouring action of the tides has prevented the build-up of shallows. The land rises gently from the water's edge, reaching a height of 32 meters one and a half kilometers inland before flowing onwards through softly undulating countryside to the warm sandy beaches on the Island's north shore. The site is not dramatic, however it is beautiful and breathtaking, combining the vastness of the sea and the neatness and order of well-managed farms. It is a unique place with its peace and stability.
Charlottetown has a humid continental climate moderated partially by Prince Edward Island's location in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Cool on-shore breeze moderate much of the summer heat. Bright clear days give autumn scenery a visual crispness that contrasts with the mellow haze of late summer. Winters, however, can be harsh, with violent snowstorms and a stabbing coldness that can linger well into spring if northerly winds push gulf ice into the strait. The climate is moderate with average daily temperatures of 18 degrees of Celcium in July and -7 degrees Celcium in January, an average annual precipitation of 113 cm and a yearly total of 1,803 hours of sunshine.
Talking about the newcomers to the area, it was not the weather and the scenery that attracted them to settle here, but the search of food. After the last ice age, when the glaciers melted, the freshly exposed landscape developed into rich grasslands that become a source of food for grazing animals such as caribou. Early aboriginal people, now called Paleo-Indians, have been presented on Prince Edward Island around 10,600 years ago. As the land became forested, other natives, the Shellfish People, appeared about 3,500 years ago and harvested marine line, birds and small animals. Approximately 2,000 years ago an Algonquian people, the Mi'kmaq, occupied much of the Maritimes and established a presence on Prince Edward Island, which they called "Abahquit" , meaning "lying parallel with the land." They founded a well-forested landscape rich in wildlife and fruit-bearing shrubs. Early in the 19th century, natives supplied fish, fowl and vegetables to the inhabitants, and later the Mi'kmaq became an important supplier of firewood. As time passed, these services were less in demand, although they earned some income through the sale of baskets and other handicrafts. Agriculture on a piece of land was traditionally used as an encampment on the east side of the harbour, and in 1862 a society was formed in Charlottetown.

History

The first Europeans to appear in the Charlottetown area were French; personnel from Fortress Louisbourg founded a settlement in 1720 named Port La Joye on the southwestern part of the harbour opposite the present-day city. This settlement was led by Michel Haché-Gallant, who used his sloop to ferry Acadian settlers from Louisbourg. During King Georges War, the British had taken over the Island. French officer Ramezay sent 500 men to attack the British troops in the Battle at Port-la-Joye. The French were successful in killing or taken prisoner forty British troops. In August 1758, at the height of the French and Indian War, a British fleet took control of the settlement and the rest of the island, promptly deporting those French settlers that they could find in the Ile Saint-Jean Campaign (this being fully three years after the original Acadian Expulsion in Nova Scotia). British forces built Fort Amherst near the site of the