NOVA SCOTIA, a province of the Dominion of Canada, lying between 43° 25' and 47° N. and 59° 40' and 66° 25' W., and composed of the peninsula proper and the adjoining island of Cape Breton (q.v.), which is separated from the mainland by the Strait of Canso. The extreme length from south-west to north east is 376m. (N.S. 268, C.B. 108) ; breadth 6o to loom. ; area 21,428 sq. miles. The isthmus of Chignecto, 112m. wide, con nects it with the province of New Brunswick.
Nova Scotia may be de scribed as an ancient mountain land almost completely worn down. The original folds apparently ran either east or north east and were complicated by intrusive granite in the country south-west of Halifax. The fact that some Carboniferous beds, at any rate, transgress upon the worn folds, indicates that the folding is either Carboniferous or earlier in date. The general disposition of the folds seems to be indicated in the coast-line and in the lines of higher land, which, however, rarely reach above the i,000ft. level, save in the Cobequid mountains, which rise to a few feet above this figure. They occupy the neck between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and represent the axis of a fold. The Chignecto bay to the north-west, and the Minas basin and Cobequid bay to the south, indicate by their directions the divergence of the old worn folds of Nova Scotia on the one hand, and of St. John, New Brunswick, on the other. Around the south-east of the Bay of Fundy are horizontal Triassic de posits including volcanic elements, which give rise to a pre cipitous coast from Brier island to Cape Split. The western railway of Nova Scotia runs on low ground between this struc tural feature and the main mountain fold-axis farther south east. This feature is broken at Digby Gut, and a portion of the lowland within it is submerged as the long Annapolis basin (called the garden of Nova Scotia).
One of the last geological changes has been a land-sinking, which has given rise to the remarkable succession of cliff-fringed rias, with islands offset along the Atlantic coast, Halifax harbour being the most famous of these. The north shore is, as a rule,
low, and Pictou has its chief harbour.
Cape Breton island is essentially a continuation across the narrow strait of Canso. The granitic south-west is rugged and barren, with many small lakes and peat bogs. The coasts of the province are famous for their tides. Though they rarely exceed 8ft. at Halifax, they are said to average 42.3ft. in the Bay of Fundy, and, at the top of the funnel in Cobequid bay, they even reach 53 feet.
The maritime influences are more marked in this province than in New Brunswick (q.v.). The average rainfall is between 4o and 45in., except along the southern coast-line, where it is nearly loin. greater. The winter snowfall is slight. At Yar mouth, in the extreme south-west, the temperature ranges from 25.4% (February) to 60-70 (July).
The area of the province is 21,428 sq.m., of which 21,068 are land area and 36o water area. The population (1921) was 523,837. In 1871 it was 387,800, the percentage increase over the 5o years being 35.08%. In 1931 the population was 522,846. a loss of 10,991. The great mass of the people are of British descent, but in parts of Cape Breton are found descendants of the early French settlers; in Lunenburg and the south-east is a large German colony; near Halifax are a number of negroes from the West Indies, and scattered through the province are a few Micmac Indians. Few are of absolutely pure Indian blood. The settlers of English and Scottish descent are about equal in numbers, but the latter have been more prominent in the development of the province. The Irish are found chiefly in Halifax and in the mining towns of Cape Breton. Roman Catholics, Presbyterians and Baptists predominate, though the Church of England is strong in Halifax, as in most administrative centres.