Canada - Halifax

Halifax is a city of beauty, tradition and charm.

Sent by Stephanie from Nova Scotia, Canada.

This is from Wikipedia : Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It and was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996. It is no longer an incorporated city and is a community of Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM).

The Town of Halifax was founded by British government under the direction of the Board of Trade and Plantations under the command of Governor Edward Cornwallis in 1749. The founding of Halifax marked the beginning of Father Le Loutre's War, in which Halifax was raided several times by the Mi'kmaq.

Halifax was founded below a glacial drumlin that would later be named Citadel Hill. The outpost was named in honour of George Montague-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, who was the President of the British Board of Trade. Halifax was ideal for a military base, with the vast Halifax Harbour, among the largest natural harbours in the world, which could be well protected with batteries at McNab's Island, the North West Arm, Point Pleasant, George's Island and York Redoubt. In its early years, Citadel Hill was used as a command and observation post, before changes in artillery which could range out into the harbour.

After a protracted struggle between residents and the Governor, the City of Halifax was incorporated in 1841. On April 1, 1996, the government of Nova Scotia dissolved the City of Halifax, and amalgamated the four municipalities within Halifax County and formed Halifax Regional Municipality, a single-tier regional government covering that whole area.

Today the area of the former City of Halifax is now referred to as an unincorporated "provincial metropolitan area" by the provincial government's place name website and the area is referred to as "Halifax, Nova Scotia" for civic addressing and as a placename.

The area is now administered as two separate community planning areas by the regional government for development, Halifax Peninsula and Mainland Halifax. It forms a significant part of the Halifax urban area. Residents of the former city are referred to as "Haligonians".