Cape Breton Island in the context of "Newfoundland (island)"

Nova Scotia is a province in The Maritimes region of Canada, located on the nation's east coast. With an estimated population of over 1 million as of 2025, Nova Scotia is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. Nova Scotia is also the second-most densely populated province in Canada, and the second smallest province by area. The province comprises the Nova Scotia peninsula and Cape Breton Island, as well as 3,800 other coastal islands. The province is connected to the rest of Canada by the Isthmus of Chignecto, on which the province's sole land border, with New Brunswick, is located.

Nova Scotia's capital and largest city is Halifax, which is home to over 45% of the province's population as of the 2021 census. Halifax is the twelfth-largest census metropolitan area in Canada, the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada, and Canada's second-largest coastal municipality after Vancouver.

The siege of Louisbourg (8 June – 26 July 1758) was fought during the French and Indian War on Cape Breton Island between an attacking British force and defending French and Mi'kmaq troops. The French attempted to send reinforcements by sea, but were not able to as the fleet was blockaded and defeated by the British. The battle ended French colonial dominance in Atlantic Canada and led to the subsequent British campaign to capture Quebec in 1759 and the remainder of New France the following year.

Cabot Strait (/ˈkæbət/; French: détroit de Cabot, French: [kabo]) is in Atlantic Canada between Cape Ray, Newfoundland, and Cape North, Cape Breton Island. The strait, approximately 110 kilometres wide, is the widest of the three outlets for the Gulf of Saint Lawrence into the Atlantic Ocean, the others being the Strait of Belle Isle and Strait of Canso. It is named for the Italian explorer Giovanni Caboto.

The quadrille is a dance that was fashionable in late 18th- and 19th-century Europe and its colonies. The quadrille consists of a chain of four to six contredanses. Latterly the quadrille was frequently danced to a medley of opera melodies.

Performed by four couples in a rectangular formation, it is related to American square dancing. The quadrille also gave rise to Cape Breton Square Dancing via American square dancing in New England. The Lancers, a variant of the quadrille, became popular in the late 19th century and was still danced in the 20th century in folk-dance clubs. A derivative found in the Francophone Lesser Antilles is known as kwadril, and in Jamaica, quadrille is a traditional folk dance which is done in two styles i.e. ballroom and campstyle. The dance is also still found in Madagascar as well as old Caribbean culture.

João Álvares Fagundes (born c. 1460, Kingdom of Portugal – died 1522, Kingdom of Portugal) was an explorer and ship owner from Viana do Castelo in Northern Portugal. He organized several expeditions to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia around 1520–1521.

Fagundes, together with his second captain Pero de Barcelos, and accompanied by colonists (mostly from the Azores and some from mainland Portugal), explored the islands of St Paul near Cape Breton, Sable Island, Penguin Island (now known as Funk Island), Burgeo, and Saint Pierre and Miquelon. He named the latter islands as the Eleven Thousand Virgins, in honor of Saint Ursula.

Île-Royale (French pronunciation: [il ʁwajal], lit. 'Royal Island') was a French colony in North America that existed from 1713 to 1763 as part of the wider colony of Acadia.

It consisted of two main islands, Île Royale (present-day Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia), Île Saint-Jean (present-day Prince Edward Island) and the Magdalen Islands archipelago. It was ceded to the British Empire after the Seven Years' War, and is today part of Canada.

The Strait of Canso (also Gut of Canso or Canso Strait, also called Straits of Canceau or Canseaux until the early 20th century) separates mainland Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island, in eastern Canada.

It is a channel approximately 27 kilometers long and averaging 3 kilometers wide (1 km at its narrowest). The strait connects Chedabucto Bay on the Atlantic Ocean to St. George's Bay on the Northumberland Strait, a subbasin of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The Canso Causeway (Scottish Gaelic: Cabhsair Chanso)45°38′38″N 61°25′11″W / 45.64389°N 61.41972°W / 45.64389; -61.41972 is a 1,385 m (4,544 ft) rock-fill causeway crossing the Strait of Canso, which provides access by road between Cape Breton Island and the Nova Scotia peninsula.

Its crest thickness is 40 m (130 ft), carrying the two vehicle traffic lanes of the Trans-Canada Highway, Nova Scotia Highway 104 on the mainland side, and Nova Scotia Highway 105 on the Cape Breton side, as well as the single track mainline of the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway.