The Municipality of the County of Victoria is a county municipality on
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada.
The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...
,
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. It provides local government to about 7,000 residents of the eponymous historical county except for the
Wagmatcook 1 reserve. The municipal offices are in the village of
Baddeck
Baddeck () is a village on Cape Breton Island in northeastern Nova Scotia, Canada. It is situated in the center of Cape Breton, approximately 6 km east of where the Baddeck River empties into Bras d'Or Lake.
Baddeck is the shire-town of t ...
.
History
Prior to European settlement, the area was sparsely inhabited by the
Miꞌkmaq
The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...
, who hunted in the area.
French
Jesuit
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
s settled at
St. Anns in 1629.
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
settlement began in the 1700s after the territory was had been by France.
In 1839, a property containing an inn, a tavern, and a post office was built in Baddeck. In 1841,
Charles James Campbell
Charles James Campbell (November 6, 1819 – April 17, 1906) was a Scottish-born merchant and political figure in Nova Scotia, Canada. He represented Victoria in the House of Commons of Canada from 1874 to 1875, from 1876 to 1878 and from 18 ...
opened a store, began shipbuilding, and developed coal mining.
In 1851, Victoria County was split from Cape Breton County, and Baddeck became the site for the new county's jail and court house, and later the site of
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell (; born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born Canadian Americans, Canadian-American inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He als ...
's
Beinn Bhreagh
( ) is the name of the former estate of Alexander Graham Bell, in Victoria County, Nova Scotia, Canada. It refers to a peninsula jutting into Cape Breton Island's scenic Bras d'Or Lake approximately southeast of the village of Baddeck, for ...
, a summer residence and research centre,
and the
Bell Boatyard
The Bell Boatyard was a boatbuilding facility which operated as part of Alexander Graham Bell's laboratories in Baddeck, Nova Scotia from 1885 to 1928. The boatyard built experimental craft, lifeboats and yachts during the first part of the twenti ...
. Bell is commemorated at the
Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site
Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site is a property in Baddeck, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada, overlooking the Bras d'Or Lakes. The site is a unit of Parks Canada, the national park system, and includes the Alexander Graham Bell N ...
.
The county is named for
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
.
Demographics
As a
Census divisions of Canada
The census geographic units of Canada are the census subdivisions defined and used by Canada's federal government statistics bureau Statistics Canada to conduct the country's quinquennial census. These areas exist solely for the purposes of stat ...
in 2016, Victoria County had a population of 7,089 in 4,437 dwellings, a change of from its 2011 population of 7,115.
Economy
Fishing and tourism are the main industries.
See also
*
Communities in Victoria County, Nova Scotia
*
Cabot Trail
The Cabot Trail is a scenic highway on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a loop around the northern tip of the island, passing along and through the Cape Breton Highlands and the Cape Breton Highlands National Park.
It is named ...
: a scenic drive that circles
Cape Breton Highlands National Park
Cape Breton Highlands National Park is a Canadian National Parks of Canada, national park on northern Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia.
The park was the first national park in the The Maritimes, Atlantic provinces of Canada and covers an ar ...
in the north of the municipality.
References
External links
Municipality of Victoria County website
{{Authority control
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India
* Victoria (state), a state of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital
* Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...