Halifax (Nova Scotia)

Situation

The population is of 350 000 inhabitants (urban area, figures of 2001). It is one of largest the port S of fishing in the world and the greatest Canadian military naval base. Halifax constitutes the city most populated on the Atlantic coast of Canada. It is the second plus coastal big city of the country, after Vancouver, in Colombia-British. The city gathers approximately 40% of the population of Nova Scotia and 15% of that of the Atlantic Provinces.

It is one of the more old cities of the Canada since it was founded the January 9th 1749. The city was then a British outpost .

In 1917, Halifax was the site of the greatest explosion created by the man before the atomic bombardment of Hiroshima in 1945: the explosion of the '' Mont Blanc '', ship of French ammunition.

The Ouragan Juan touched Halifax the September 29th 2003. It was largest hurricane which Halifax knew since 1893. The storm because much of problems at the city because it one of most powerful and most destroying was ever observed in Canada.

Climate and geography

Halifax is located on the southern part of Nova Scotia, in the south of the parallel 45e. Its Climat is maritime and continental. The winters are generally less severe than for the majority of the cities of Canada. Halifax is normally snow-covered from December to March. Spring and the autumn are lenient, with much fog. The Automne is often very pleasant. The hurricanes are rare, but known.

The city is built on a series of plates and hills around the port of Halifax; the downtown area is located on a central peninsula. The Faubourg S include many villages of fishing.

History

Halifax was called Chebucto (the largest port) at the origin by the Amerindians Micmac who lived there. Halifax was rested by the general Edward Cornwallis the July 9th 1749 like military outpost for the Britanniques with an aim of attracting colonists. The outpost was named in the honor of George Montague-Dunk, 2nd Earl d' Halifax, which was the president of the British office of trade. Halifax was ideal for a military base, being located on the second larger port natural at the world, and being able to be protected well by batteries located on the McNab island, on the arm of the sea of the North-West (Engl. North-West ARM), on the course where current Point Pleasant Park is, and on the site which became Redoute-York. There is also a large hill giving on the port, on which a Citadelle was established.

After the shipwreck of the Titanic in 1912, the research effort was coordinated in Halifax and 150 of the 328 bodies recovered there were buried.

During the First and the Second world war, the convoys of boats met in the Bassin of Bedford, in the Port of Halifax, before moving towards the Atlantic Ocean. The December 6th 1917, one morning particularly misty during the First World War, the greatest synthetic explosion before the nuclear weapons, the Explosion of Halifax, occurred in the port. A Norwegian boat entering the roads, Imo , ran up against the French boat Mont Blanc , charged with explosives, with the entry of the port. A fire is declared and the boats are given up and left with the drift. A few minutes later they explode, destroying most of the city, leaving more than 2000 died and 9000 wounded. The explosion was heard 420 away kilometers.

During the years 1960, the district of the black community of Africville, located at the north of Halifax, was demolished and its residents were moved in order to release from new spaces for industrial use and the installation of bridge A. Murray Mackay.

In years 60,70, and 80, the growth of the suburbs of Halifax was much weaker than in much of comparable Canadian cities. It was partly because of a weaker economy and a smaller base of population than, for example, in the center of Canada, but also because of a policy deliberated on the local government to limit the suburban growth. In the Nineties the private promoters obtained more license of construction as they wished it for a long time. Today Halifax is denser than the majority of the Canadian cities although great suburban extents developed in Dartmouth and Sackville. Towards end of the year 90 one developed the industrial and commercial park lake Bayers, where trade of style warehouse are gathered. This park became an important shopping mall for the city and the province.

In the Nineties, like much of other Canadian cities, Halifax amalgamated with its suburbs under a single municipal government, the regional municipality of Halifax, rather than several distinct municipal administrations Although the cities in other provinces affected by the regrouping maintained their names original, Halifax is often indicated under the name of " HRM" particularly in the media.

Although the discussions took place during decades, an agreement was finally concluded in 2003 for construction from several installations from treatment from sewages around the port. For the first time, as from 2006, of sewages will be treated before entering the port.

September 29th, 2003, Halifax was struck by the Ouragan Juan, the strongest hurricane which the city knew since 1893. The storm because of the serious problems at the city during one week. The whole city was private of electricity for a short period and it spent two weeks to restore electricity in all the sectors. During the hurricane several people were killed: a mother and two children were killed in a fire of house caused by a candle, an employee of the ancillary medical services was killed in the center of Halifax when a tree was crushed on its ambulance, and a man of the county of Hants was also killed by the fall of a tree. Five months later, the city was buried under 95 cm of snow by a called winter storm the white Juan.

The tower of the clock

Perhaps the most recognizable symbol of the city is the clock which dominates the downtown area of the hill of the Citadel. Prince Edouard, duke of Kent, made it build in 1800 when it was ordering British armed forces in Nova Scotia and in New Brunswick. Being very exact itself, it required that the inhabitants of the city be it also, reason for which the clock was located to be visible of everywhere in the old city.

Education

There are six Université S.A. Halifax: the University Dalhousie, the University Saint Mary' S, the University of King' S College, the University Holy Mount Vincent and the campus of Halifax of the University Holy-Anne Nova Scotia College off Art and Design. The technical university of the Scotland News became a college of Dalhousie.

External bonds

the account of the catastrophe of 1917 (in English)
the port of Halifax

Simple: Halifax, Nova Scotia Zh-min-nan: Halifax Tē-khu Chhī (Nova Scotia)

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