Coordinates: 45°13′N 62°42′W / 45.217°N 62.7°W / 45.217; -62.7 (Nova Scotia)

Nova Scotia (/ˌnoʊvə ˈskoʊʃə/; Latin for "New Scotland"; French: Nouvelle-Écosse; Scottish Gaelic: Alba Nuadh) is one of Canada's three Maritime Provinces, and one of the four provinces that form Atlantic Canada. Its provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the second-smallest of Canada's ten provinces, with an area of 55,284 square kilometres (21,300 sq mi), including Cape Breton and another 3,800 coastal islands. As of 2016, the population was 923,598. Nova Scotia is Canada's second-most-densely populated province, after Prince Edward Island, with 17.4 inhabitants per square kilometre (45/sq mi).^[1]

The province includes regions of the Mi'kmaq nation of Mi'kma'ki(mi'gama'gi).^[5] Nova Scotia was already home to the Mi'kmaq people when the first European colonists arrived. In 1604, French colonists established the first permanent European settlement in Canada and the first north of Florida at Port Royal, founding what would become known as Acadia.

The British Conquest of Acadia happened in 1710. At this time the Capital Port Royal was renamed Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. The capital of Nova Scotia moved from Annapolis Royal to the newly established Halifax in 1749.

In 1763 Cape Breton Island and St. John's Island (now Prince Edward Island) became part of Nova Scotia. In 1769, St. John's Island became a separate colony. Nova Scotia included present-day New Brunswick until that province was established in 1784.^[6]

In 1867 Nova Scotia was one of the four founding provinces of the Canadian Confederation.^[7] Along with a large population who descended from Scotland, there are also Mi'kmaq, English, Irish, Acadian, African-Nova Scotians, German, Italian and many other peoples in Nova Scotia.