PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

-PEI is one of the Atlantic provinces in Canada.
-It is the smallest province (224 km. long).
-In width it ranges from 6 to 64 km.
-Nova Scotia is south and New Brunswick is west.
-The Northumberland Strait separates P.E.I. from N.B. and N.S.
-The capital city is Charlottetown.
-flower - Lady's-slipper, tree - Northern Red Oak, bird - Blue Jay
-Motto : "the small under the protection of the great"

PEOPLE
-P.E.I. is the home of about 139,000 Canadians.
-Charlottetown is the largest city (about 33,000 people).
-The island was the home of the Mi'kmaq (Micmac).
-About 75 percent are of Scottish and Irish origin.

HISTORY
-The first people to live in P.E.I. were the Micmac .
-They moved from place to place living in huts of skin and bark.
-In the winter they hunted deer, in the summer they fished.
-In 1719 a French colony was formed.
-The English took over the island and drove the French farmers out.
-In 1799 The British named Prince Edward Island after Prince Edward.
-Loyalists from the U.S. came in the 1780s.
-P.E.I. became the seventh province in 1873.

THE LAND AND WATER
-The Confederation Bridge joins New Brunswick and P.E.I.
-The bridge was opened in 1997 and is almost 13 km long.
-Ferry boats travel from Nova Scotia to P.E.I.
-Prince Edward Island National Park has a large beach with reddish sand.
-There are over 90 sandy beaches for swimming and boating.
-The soil is red because it is made of red sandstone.

RESOURCES
-The main industry is tourism.
-Irish moss (a seaweed) is harvested by pulling a special rake along the rocks.
It is used to thicken ice cream, cheese and toothpaste.
-Factories bottle, can and freeze food products.
-Fishermen catch herring, tuna and mackerel. Lobsters are caught in traps.
-Clams, scallops, and mussels, and oysters are farmed (in underwater hatcheries)
-About 10 million oysters a year are harvested for Canada and the world.
-There are over 2000 farms.
-The largest potato crops in Canada are grown on P.E.I.

PLACES
-Charlottetown is the "birthplace of Canada" where leaders met in 1864 to discuss the formation of our country
-Tourists come from around the world to visit Green Gables House.
-It is a museum about L.M. Montgomery, author of the Anne of Green Gables books.