New Brunswick, a province of the Dominion of Canada, is bounded on the N. and NW. by the province of Quebec, from which it is separated by the river Restigouche; on the N. by the Chaleur Bay; E. by the Gulf of St Lawrence and Northumberland Straits—the latter separating it from Prince Edward Island; S. by the Bay of Fundy and part of Nova Scotia; and on the W. by the state of Maine, the boundary with the latter being the St Croix and St John rivers. It has an area of 27,322 sq. m.—rather smaller than Scotland. Its coast-line is 500 miles in length, interrupted only at the point of juncture with Nova Scotia, where an isthmus not more than 11 miles broad connects the two provinces, and divides the waters of Northumberland Straits from those of the Bay of Fundy, across which isthmus is the (unfinished) Clignecto Ship-railway. The surface of the country is generally undulating. There are low hills skirting the Bay of Fundy and the rivers of St John and Restigouche. A feature of the coast-line is the number of fine harbours, which have been of great value as a means for exporting the timber for which the country is famous.
Several important rivers traverse the province; among the principal is the St John, 450 miles in length, and navigable for vessels of 100 tons to Fredericton, the capital of the province, 90 miles from the sea. Above this point smaller vessels and steamboats ascend for 125 miles. The country drained by the St John and its tributaries comprises about nine million acres in New Brunswick, as well as eight million in Quebec and the state of Maine. The Miramichi River, 220 miles long and 7 miles wide at its mouth, is also navigable for some distance. The Restigouche is 3 miles wide at its entrance into the Chaleur Bay, and over 200 miles in length. The lakes are numerous, but of small extent, the largest being Grand Lake, 30 miles long and 3 to 7 miles wide, communicating with the St John River, 50 miles from the sea.
The population of the province at the census of 1881 was 321,129; of 1891, 321,294. In 1881 there were 109,091 Catholics, 81,092 Baptists, 46,768 Church of England, 42,888 Presbyterians, and 34,514 Methodists. The population included 93,387 persons of English origin; 101,284 Irish; 49,829 Scotch; 1401 Indian; 6310 German; French, 56,335. The principal cities and towns are St John (including Portland), (44,000), Fredericton, the capital (6700), Moncton (6000). The provincial government is administered by a lieutenant-governor, assisted by an executive council, a legislative council of eighteen, and a legislative assembly of forty-one members, elected by the people. The province sends ten members to the senate, and sixteen to the Dominion House of Commons.
Like that of many other parts of Canada, the climate of New Brunswick is subject to extremes of heat and cold. The mean temperature for the year 1885 was 40.3° F. at St John; the highest and lowest temperatures for the year being 81° and -15° respectively. If, however, the climate of a country is to be judged by its effects on animal life, that of New Brunswick may be pronounced one of the best in the world.
The revenue is largely made up of subsidies from the Dominion government and from what is called 'territorial revenue,' including the proceeds of land and timber sales. The educational institutions supported by law are the Provincial University, the training or normal school for teachers, and a complete system of free common schools.
The provincial revenue in 1890-95 was about 750,000 a year, rather more than covering the expenditure. The imports have a value of about 7,000,000, nearly half from the United States. The exports reach a somewhat higher value, timber being the chief item. The fisheries of the Bay of Fundy, as also the river fisheries, are very valuable.
Agriculture is the chief industry in New Brunswick. Except in a portion of country adjacent to the coast of the Bay of Fundy, the soil is very fertile, and every kind of grain and roots produced in England is grown, as well as others. Attention has been paid to live-stock both by the government and private breeders; and recently the government has established a stock farm. The province, owing to its cheap coal and proximity to the markets of the world, has also many advantages as a manufacturing country. The principal articles manufactured are sawn lumber, leather, cotton and woolen goods, wooden-ware, paper, iron-castings, nails, and mill machinery, bolts and nuts, railway engines and carriages. There are indications of considerable mineral wealth, and a number of mines are being successfully worked. Shipbuilding is still extensively prosecuted, although it has been much interfered with by the substitution of iron and steel for wooden vessels.
Land may be obtained in the province by settlers on reasonable terms—in fact, practically free, if the conditions of settlement are carried out, requiring the improvement of the land to a small extent, reasonable cultivation, and residence for three years. Land is also put up to auction at an upset price of $1 per acre. Improved farms can be had in most parts of the province at reasonable prices; many farmers having moved to Manitoba and the North-west, as they can there start their families with less capital.
There is plenty of sport of all kinds in the province, and some of the finest trout and salmon fishing in the world is to be had. Close times for animals and birds are strictly observed.
It is generally held that New Brunswick, as a part of Nova Scotia, was ceded by France to Great Britain by the treaty of Utrecht in 1713. The boundaries of Nova Scotia, however, were not well defined at that time, and the country along the St John River remained a subject of dispute which was not finally settled until the treaty of Paris in 1763 conceding and guaranteeing to Great Britain, in full right, Canada with all its dependencies. When in 1755 the memorable expulsion of the Acadians from Nova Scotia took place many of these people retired to what is now known as New Brunswick, and settled along the upper St John River, the Miramichi, and in the eastern parts of the province. The first British settlers in the province emigrated from Scotland to the Miramichi district in 1764; and in 1783, at the close of the American revolution, when the exodus of the loyalists from the United States took place, a large body settled near the present city of St John and along the St John River. For the map, see