The Halifax Regional Municipality, commonly known as Halifax,
formerly in French Chibouctou (Micmac: K'jipuktuk), is the
capital of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It is also the
seat of the provincial Crown of Nova Scotia and the largest
municipality in the Atlantic Provinces.
The city is a
major economic center with many government departments and
private sector businesses. The major employers are the
Department of National Defence, various services of the Canadian
federal government and the Port of Halifax.
The city's population is 390,000 in 2011. It is one of the
largest fishing ports in the world and the largest Canadian
military naval base. Halifax is the most populous city on
Canada's Atlantic coast. It is the second largest coastal city
in the country, after Vancouver, British Columbia. The city has
about 40% of the population of Nova Scotia and 15% of that of
the Atlantic provinces.
Halifax is one of the oldest
cities in Canada since it was founded on June 21, 1749, Edward
Cornwallis arriving in the port of Chebucto, preceding 2,567
settlers. The city is then a British outpost. It is the
headquarters of the Royal Navy's North America and West Indies
Station.
In 1917, Halifax was the site of the largest
man-made explosion before the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in
1945: the explosion of Mont Blanc, a French munitions ship.
Hurricane Juan hits Halifax on September 29, 2003. It is the
largest hurricane to hit Halifax since 1893. The storm is
causing a lot of problems for the city as it is one of the most
powerful and destructive ever seen in Canada.
By plane
1 Halifax Robert L. Stanfield International Airport
(IATA: YHZ, Halifax Stanfield International Airport) Enfield – Modern
airport located 35 km north of Halifax. It is the largest airport in the
Maritime Provinces with direct flights from Toronto, Montreal, New York,
Chicago, Ottawa, Calgary, Boston, Philadelphia and London as well as
other flights from cities in the region. Direct flights from Europe are
offered by Air Canada to London (Heathrow). Additionally, Canadian
Affair and Icelandair make stops in Reykjavik. Seasonally, ASL Airlines
France connects with Dublin and Condo with Frankfurt.
MetroX
Route 320 5:45 a.m. - 12:15 a.m. C$3.5 (~€2.65 - rate on 09/29/2022). –
Express bus service from the airport to downtown Halifax with stops in
Fall River and Dartmouth as well. The journey takes 55 minutes and there
are departures every 30 minutes during peak hours and every 60 minutes
outside of peak hours. Remember to ask the driver for a "transfer" when
boarding so that you can continue your journey on another bus.
Taxis and limousinesC$63 (~€47.65 - rate on 09/29/2022). – Flat rate
service to downtown Halifax. Can be reserved in advance at no additional
cost
Sunshine Cabs, +1 902-429-5555, +1 800-565-8669 (toll free)
C$26 (~€19.67 - rate 09/29/2022) per person leaving and C$28 (~€21.18 -
rate on 09/29/2022) per person arriving. – Door to door taxi service.
You have to book a day in advance.
Halifax was originally called Chebucto (largest port) (also
Chibouctou in French) by the Micmac Native Americans who lived there.
Being part of Acadie but several times contested between New France and
New England, many fights took place in the region. In 1746, Louisbourg
had been captured by the English, the missionary priest Jean-Louis Le
Loutre had become the liaison between the Acadian settlers and the
French expeditions by sea or land. The authorities had given
instructions to receive the French fleet in Chibouctou Bay. Le Loutre
was the only person capable of knowing the signals that could identify
the French squadron of the Duc d'Anville's expedition, which reached
Chibouctou with great difficulty before being decimated by typhus and
scurvy: eight thousand men perish in the disaster known as the
"Chibouctou campaign".
After a few years, the city of Halifax was
founded by General Edward Cornwallis on July 9, 1749 as a military
outpost for the British to attract settlers and compete with the French
port of Louisbourg on the island of Cape Breton. The seat of government
of Nova Scotia had been transferred from Annapolis Royal to Halifax on
July 12, 1749.
The outpost was named for George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd
Earl of Halifax (a county town in West Yorkshire, northern England), who
was the chairman of the office of British commerce. In 1758, promoted
rear-admiral of the blue squadron, Philip Durell remained in America for
the winter as commander-in-chief. His mission was to choose a suitable
place in Halifax to shelter and repair the ships of the Royal Navy.
Halifax was an ideal military base, being located one of the largest
natural harbors in the world, and being well protected by batteries
located on McNabs Island, in the North-West Arm. ), on the cape where
present-day Point Pleasant Park is located, and on the site that became
York Redoubt. There is also a large hill overlooking the port, on which
a citadel has been established. Halifax becomes one of the most
important ports in the world.
Halifax City Hall was built between
1890.
After the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, the search effort
was coordinated in Halifax: 121 of the 328 bodies recovered were buried
in Fairview Cemetery, 19 other victims were buried in Mount Olivet
Cemetery as well as 10 in Baron de Hirsch Cemetery .
During WWI
and WWII (HX convoys), boat convoys would meet in Bedford Basin in
Halifax Harbor before heading out to the Atlantic Ocean. On December 6,
1917, on a particularly foggy morning, the largest man-made explosion
before nuclear weapons, the Halifax explosion, occurred in the harbour:
a Norwegian ship, the Imo, struck a loaded French ship of ammunition,
Mont Blanc, which exploded and caused more than 2,000 deaths and 3,000
injuries (other sources report 9,000 injuries), 3,000 buildings
destroyed, 25,000 homeless. The detonation is heard more than 400
kilometers away.
During the 1960s, the black community
neighborhood of Africville, north of Halifax, was demolished and its
residents relocated to free up new space for industrial use and for the
development of the A. Murray Mackay Bridge. .
In the 1960s, 70s
and 80s, suburban growth in Halifax was much slower than in many
comparable Canadian cities. This was partly due to a weaker economy and
smaller population base than, say, central Canada, but also due to a
deliberate local government policy to limit suburban growth . In the
1990s, private developers got more building permits, as they had long
wanted. Today, Halifax is denser than most Canadian cities, although
large suburban sprawls have developed in Dartmouth and Sackville.
Towards the end of the 1990s, the Bayers Lake Industrial and Commercial
Park was developed, which houses warehouse-style businesses. This park
became an important commercial center for the city and the province.
In the 1990s, like many other Canadian cities, Halifax merged with
its suburbs under a single municipal government, the Halifax Regional
Municipality, rather than several separate municipal governments.
Although towns in other provinces affected by the consolidation have
retained their original names, Halifax is often referred to as HRM
(Halifax Regional Municipality), particularly in the media.
The
city hosts the 1995 G7 summit.
After decades of discussion, an
agreement was reached in 2003 for the construction of several sewage
treatment facilities around the port. Wastewater was treated for the
first time in 2006. In August 2009, the treatment plant was damaged
following torrential rains and it remained out of service until June
2010.
On September 29, 2003, Halifax was hit by Hurricane Juan,
the city's strongest hurricane since 1893. The storm caused serious
problems for the city for a week. The entire town was without power for
a brief period and it took two weeks to restore power to all areas.
During the hurricane several people were killed: a mother and two
children were killed in a house fire caused by a candle, a paramedic
worker was killed in central Halifax when a tree crashed into his
ambulance and a Hants County man was killed by a falling tree. Five
months later, the city was buried under 95 cm of snow by a winter storm
nicknamed the White Juan.
Halifax hosted the XXIX final of the
Jeux de l'Acadie in 2008.
Perhaps the city's most recognizable symbol is the clock that dominates the city center from Citadel Hill. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent had it built in 1800 when he was commander of the British armed forces in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Being very exact himself, he demanded that the inhabitants of the town be as well, which is why the clock was situated to be visible from anywhere in the old town.
Halifax, officially the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), is the
capital and largest municipality in Nova Scotia, Canada. Situated on the
southeastern coast of the province, it lies approximately halfway
between the Equator and the North Pole at latitude 44°N. The region
spans a vast area of about 5,475.57 km² (2,114.13 sq mi), making it
larger than the province of Prince Edward Island. Its geography is
defined by its coastal position along the Atlantic Ocean, featuring a
rugged, glacially influenced landscape that includes deep harbors, rocky
shorelines, inland forests, and a mix of urban and rural zones. The
municipality stretches roughly 165 km (103 mi) from east to west, with a
northern boundary typically 50-60 km inland from the coast. This creates
a diverse environment shaped by post-glacial processes, including
drowned river valleys forming fjord-like coastlines.
Physical
Features and Coastline
The coastline of HRM is highly indented and
measures about 150 km (93 mi) in a straight line, but driving along it
from the southwestern community of Hubbards to the northeastern Ecum
Secum takes around 3 hours and covers 195 km (121 mi) due to the
numerous bays and inlets. Predominantly rocky with occasional isolated
sandy beaches in sheltered areas, the shore is characterized by
fjord-like features resulting from glacial erosion and post-glacial
sea-level rise. Key indentations include St. Margarets Bay to the west
and several eastern harbors such as Cole Harbour, Musquodoboit Harbour,
Jeddore Harbour, Ship Harbour, and Sheet Harbour.
A defining feature
is the Chebucto Peninsula, formed by St. Margarets Bay and Halifax
Harbour (including the Bedford Basin), which creates the western
coastline's shape. The Halifax Peninsula extends as a sub-peninsula into
the harbor, hosting much of the urban core. Halifax Harbour itself is
one of the world's largest and deepest natural ice-free harbors,
spanning about 10 square miles where ships can anchor safely. It was
carved by rivers, enlarged by glaciers, and deepened by rising sea
levels, making it a strategic naval and commercial asset. The harbor
divides the city, with Halifax on the western side and Dartmouth on the
eastern, connected by bridges.
Other notable bodies of water include
the Bedford Basin (an inner extension of the harbor), numerous
freshwater lakes scattered across the glaciated terrain, and
medium-sized rivers like the Sackville and Musquodoboit Rivers. The
Musquodoboit River valley in the northeast is the region's primary
agricultural area, with fertile soils supporting around 150 farms, many
family-owned. Offshore, Sable Island—about 180 km (110 mi) from the
mainland and 300 km from the urban core—is administratively part of HRM,
adding a unique sandy, crescent-shaped barrier island to its geography.
Topography and Geology
HRM's topography is varied and heavily
influenced by glaciation during the last Ice Age. The landscape includes
exposed bedrock, drumlins (elongated hills formed by glacial deposits),
low hills, and plateaus. Elevation ranges from sea level along the coast
to around 300 m inland on the Atlantic Uplands—a broad, relatively flat
peneplain (an eroded surface) sloping toward the ocean. This upland was
shaped by multiple cycles of uplift and erosion, with the most recent in
the Tertiary period when it was exhumed from beneath Cretaceous
sediments.
Coastal areas feature rugged, low-relief fjords, while
inland zones support dense mixed Acadian forests (hardwoods and
softwoods) or coniferous stands. The urban core, particularly the
Halifax Peninsula, is built on drumlin-dominated hills, with Citadel
Hill being a prominent example at about 70 m elevation. East of
Dartmouth, the terrain includes glacial lakes and former mining areas,
while the Shubenacadie and Musquodoboit Valleys offer flatter, more
fertile lowlands. The region's geology is rooted in the Paleozoic rocks
of the Meguma Terrane, which form the bedrock foundation. Thin soils
limit widespread agriculture, confining it mostly to valleys, and
contribute to the area's rocky, forested appearance outside urban zones.
Climate
Halifax experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen
Dfb), moderated by the Atlantic Ocean, resulting in milder conditions
than inland Canada but with unpredictable microclimates due to oceanic
influences like the cold Labrador Current in spring/summer and the
warmer Gulf Stream in fall/winter. Winters are relatively mild, with
average January temperatures around -5°C (23°F), while summers are warm,
averaging 19°C (66°F) in July. The seasonal lag means August is often
the warmest month, and September remains mild.
Annual precipitation
is high at nearly 1,510 mm (59.4 in), distributed fairly evenly but
slightly drier in summer. Snowfall averages 152 cm (60 in) from November
to April, with rare occurrences outside this period. The city sees about
1,962 sunshine hours annually (43% of possible). Weather can be
variable, with fog common in spring, sunny early autumns, and occasional
hurricanes or post-tropical storms, such as Hurricane Fiona in 2022.
Urban vs. Rural Areas and Metropolitan Landscape
The metropolitan
area (Census Metropolitan Area or CMA) covers 7,276.22 km² (2,809.36 sq
mi), including HRM and parts of East Hants Municipality, with a
population of 465,703 (density 64/km²). This reflects growing exurban
commuting from formerly rural zones.
Within HRM, urban development is
concentrated around Halifax Harbour and the Bedford Basin, extending
along the Sackville River valley and Highway 102 corridor northeastward.
The urban population center spans 238.29 km² (92 sq mi) with 348,634
residents (density 1,463/km²), featuring hilly, drumlin-based terrain in
the core. The Regional Centre (core urban area inside the
Circumferential Highway) is about 33 km² with over 96,000 people. Key
urban hubs include the Halifax Peninsula (on the west side, with rocky
hills and streets following contours), Dartmouth (east side, with
glacial lakes), and Bedford. Suburban growth has incorporated former
mining, farming, and fishing communities, such as those in the
Musquodoboit Valley (agriculture) and along the Atlantic coast.
Rural
areas dominate the periphery, including the Eastern Shore (fishing
villages), South Shore, and inland valleys supporting forestry, mining,
and natural gas extraction. Over 200 communities exist, blending
urbanized suburbs like Cole Harbour and Lower Sackville with truly rural
spots. The 1996 amalgamation unified former cities (Halifax, Dartmouth),
towns (Bedford), and counties, excluding Mi'kmaq reserves, creating a
mix where urban cores contrast with forested, low-density rural
expanses.
Advice
Halifax City Council is made up of the mayor and 16
councillors. Currently, the mayor is Mike Savage.
City Hall
City Hall is located at 1841 Argyle Street. It was built between 1887
and 1890.
Federal representation
The city of Halifax is
included in two federal electoral districts:
Halifax: the current MP
for this constituency is Andy Fillmore
Halifax West: the current MP
for this constituency is Geoff Regan
Demography
According to Statistics Canada's 2016 Census of
Population, the Halifax Regional Municipality has a population of
403,131 people living in 173,324 of its 187,338 private dwellings, a
change of 3.3% from its population of 390. 086 inhabitants in 2011. With
an area of 5,490.35 km2, the city has a population density of 73.4 /km2
in 2016. In 2016, 15% of the population was 14 years old or younger,
while 16% had 65 and over.
The city of Halifax is overwhelmingly English-speaking (89.6%). In January 2018 the city had 40,000 French-speaking inhabitants, including 10,000 whose mother tongue (2.6%) and 345 whose only language. The municipality decides on this date to publish all of its municipal notices in French. The third mother tongue of the inhabitants is Arabic (1.6%).
85% of the city's population is Christian while 13% declare themselves to have no religious affiliation. 1% is Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu or Sikh. Catholics fall primarily under the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth while Anglicans (Protestants) fall under the Anglican Diocese of Nova Scotia & PEI. Among the city's notable religious buildings is the Halifax Cathedral of All Saints.
The Halifax Chamber of Commerce has 16,000 members and its main objective is to promote local economic interests.
The Halifax area is served by Halifax Stanfield International Airport and the Port of Halifax.
Halifax enjoys a continental climate on the eastern sides that is both cold and humid (type Dfb according to the Koppen classification). Winters are generally less severe than in most cities in Canada, and conditions are often wet in winter, when the majority of Canada is very cold and snowy. However, Halifax is normally snowy from December to March. On average, 261 cm of snow falls per year. Spring and fall are mild, with lots of fog. Autumn is often very pleasant. Hurricanes are rare, but known. However, severe storms are frequent, and rain more, mainly due to the location of the city on the Atlantic coast.
There are six universities in Halifax: Dalhousie University, Saint Mary's University, University of King's College, Mount Saint Vincent University, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and the University's Halifax campus. Saint Anne.
Hockey: The Halifax Mooseheads play in the QMJHL (Quebec Major Junior
Hockey League), in the Maritimes Division, along with the Charlottetown
Islanders, Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, Saint-Jean Sea Dogs,
Acadie-Bathurst Titan and Moncton Wildcats.
Basketball: The
Halifax Rainmen are part of the National Basketball League of Canada, in
the Atlantic Division, along with the Island Storm of Prince Edward
Island, the Miracles of Moncton, the Jazz of Montreal and the Mill Rats
of Saint-Jean.
Box Lacrosse: The Halifax Thunderbirds play in the
NLL (National Lacrosse League), North Division, along with the Toronto
Rock, Buffalo Bandits and Rochester Knighthawks.
Gilbert Stuart Newton (September 2, 1795 – August 5, 1835)
Halifax-born British painter
William Annand (1808-1887), former
Premier of Nova Scotia;
Sharon Carstairs (1942-), politician;
Philip Carteret Hill (1821-1894), former Premier of Nova Scotia;
Michael Hannan (1821-1882), Archbishop of Halifax;
Cornelius O'Brien
(1843-1906), Archbishop of Halifax;
Sidney Crosby (1987-),
professional hockey player;
Darrell Dexter (1957-), former Premier of
Nova Scotia;
John Valentine Ellis (1835-1913), journalist and
politician;
Hal Foster (1892-1982), designer of Prince Vaillant and
Tarzan;
Leslie Hope (1965-), actress;
Alexander Keith (1795-1873),
businessman;
Nathan MacKinnon (1995-), professional hockey player;
Brad Marchand (1988-), professional hockey player;
Sarah McLachlan
(1968-), singer and musician;
Peter North (1957-), pornographic
actor;
Craig Olejnik (1979-), actor;
Elliot Page (1987-), actor;
John Sparrow David Thompson (1845-1894), former Prime Minister of
Canada;
Denny Doherty (1940-2007), lead singer of The Mamas & The
Papas;
Henri-Dominique Paratte (1950-), writer, literary critic,
professor emeritus and cultural agent.
Harry Wickwire Foster
(1902–1964), Canadian Army general
Edward Joseph McCarthy
(1850–1931), Archbishop of the Catholic Church
Eli Goree (1994-),
actor;
Lindell Wigginton (born 1998), basketball player
Nancy
Garapick (1961-), swimmer, Olympic medalist