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PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 346 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PRINCE See also:EDWARD See also:ISLAND , a See also:province of the Dominion of See also:Canada, lies between 45° 58' and 47° 7' N. and 62° and 64° 27' W. The underlying See also:geological formation is See also:Permian, though outliers of Triassic See also:rock occur. The See also:coal seams supposed to underlie the Permian formation are apparently too deep down to be of See also:practical value. The rocks consist of soft red micaceous See also:sandstone and shales, with interstratified but irregular beds of brownish-red conglomerates containing pebbles of See also:white See also:quartz and other rocks. There are also beds of hard dark-red sandstone with the shales. Bands of moderately hard reddish-See also:brown See also:conglomerate, the pebbles being of red shale and containing white See also:calcite, are seen at many points; and then greenish-See also:grey irregular patches occur in the red beds, due to the See also:bleaching out of the red See also:colours by the See also:action of the organic See also:matter of See also:plants. Fossil plants are abundant at many places. Beds of See also:peat, See also:dunes of drifted See also:sand, alluvial See also:clays and See also:mussel mud occur in and near the creeks and bays. See also:Physical Features.—The island lies in a See also:great semi-circular See also:bay of the Gulf of St See also:Lawrence, which extends from Point Miscou in New See also:Brunswick to Cape See also:North in Cape See also:Breton. From the mainland it is separated by See also:Northumberland Strait, which varies from 9 to 30 See also:miles in width. It is extremely irregular in shape, and deep inlets and tidal streams almost See also:divide it into three approximately equal parts; from the See also:head of Hillsborough See also:river on the See also:south to See also:Savage See also:Harbour on the north is only one and a See also:half miles, while at high See also:tide the distance between the heads of the streams which fall into Bedeque and See also:Richmond Bays is even less. North of Summerside the See also:land nowhere rises more than 175 ft. above See also:sea-level; but between Summerside and See also:Charlottetown, especially near north See also:Wiltshire, is a See also:ridge of hills, See also:running from north to south and rising to a height of nearly 500 ft.

From Charlottetown eastwards the land is See also:

low and level. The north See also:shore, facing the gulf, is a See also:long See also:series of beaches of See also:fine sand, and is a favourite resort in summer. On the south, low cliffs of crumbling red sandstone See also:face the strait. The See also:climate is healthy, and though bracing, milder than that of the neighbouring mainland. Fogs are much less See also:common than in either New Brunswick or Nova See also:Scotia. See also:Area and See also:Population.—The greatest length of the island is 145 m., its greatest breadth 34 m., its See also:total area 2184 sq. m. Great See also:Britain. The population in 1901 was 103,254, having sunk from 109,078 in 1891. It is thus much the most densely populated province in Canada, there being nearly fifty-two persons to the sq. m. Though very large families are not so common as in the province of See also:Quebec, the agricultural See also:character of the population makes the See also:average number of persons to a See also:family greater (5.51) than in any other province. As in all the maritime provinces, there is a steady See also:immigration to the See also:Canadian See also:West and to the See also:United States. The population is mainly of See also:British descent, but also comprises descendants of the See also:French Acadians and of the See also:American See also:loyalists.

About 200 See also:

Indians of the Mic-Mac tribe remain, and have slightly increased in See also:numbers since 1891. In 1901 the origin of the See also:people was: Scots, 41,753; See also:English, 24,043; Irish, 21,992; French, 13,867; all other nationalities, 1604. The See also:principal religious denominations and the number of their adherents were as follows: See also:Church of See also:Rome, 45,796; Presbyterians, 30,750; Methodists, 13,402; See also:Anglican, 5976; See also:Baptists, 5905. The Irish and French are almost entirely See also:Roman See also:Catholic, the Scots about two-thirds Presbyterian and one third Roman Catholic. See also:Jurisdiction over the Catholics is held by the See also:bishop of Charlottetown, and over the Anglicans by the bishop of Nova Scotia. The Presbyterians See also:form See also:part of the See also:synod of the Maritime Provinces. See also:Administration, &c.—Five members of the See also:House of See also:Commons and four senators are sent to the federal legislature. At its entry into federation in 1873, the number of members was six, and the reduction to five in 1901 was bitterly denounced. The See also:local See also:government now consists of a See also:lieutenant-See also:governor and of a legislative See also:assembly. This conducts not only the See also:general affairs of the province, but most of those of the towns and villages; legal See also:provision has, however, been made for the See also:establishment of a municipal See also:system, and Charlottetown and Summerside are incorporated municipalities, though with See also:powers of self-government much more limited than those of any other incorporated Canadian towns. The provincial revenues, which tend to prove inadequate, are largely made up of the See also:subsidy paid by the federal government, though there are numerous taxes, which See also:bear heavily on the small See also:industrial population. But for the increase in 1907 of the federal subsidy, See also:financial exigencies might have forced the See also:adoption of See also:direct See also:taxation, in spite of its unpopularity among the farmers.

See also:

Education.—See also:Primary education in the province has been given See also:free since 1852. Since 1877 it has been under the See also:control of a See also:minister of education with a seat in the provincial See also:cabinet. At Charlottetown is the Prince of See also:Wales See also:College, really a rather advanced secondary school, with which is affiliated the Normal School. St See also:Dunstan's College, another advanced high school in Charlottetown, is under Roman Catholic control. Advanced university education is not given in the province. Attendance at the primary See also:schools is by See also:law compulsory, but the exigencies of a farming population and the lack of adequate means of enforcement render the law inoperative. The salaries of the teachers are, as a See also:rule, low; and the school buildings cheerless and See also:ill-maintained. See also:Agriculture.—The See also:soil, an open sandy See also:loam, deep red in See also:colour, which was slightly exhausted at the beginning of the See also:century by repeated crops of cereals, has been renewed by the application of niussel mud dredged from the bays and tidal streams. All the See also:staple crops are grown—especially oats, potatoes and turnips. See also:Wheat is raised only for local See also:consumption. See also:Cattle and hogs flourish. In the last years of the 19th century the introduction of co-operation gave a great impetus to the manufacture of See also:butter and See also:cheese.

The first cheese factory was opened in 1892, and the first creamery in 1894. Of over 15,000 farmers all, See also:

save about 900, own their own farms, and are in nearly all cases well-to-do. Large quantities of See also:animal and See also:vegetable See also:food, amounting to about one-half of the total product, are exported, chiefly to Cape Breton, See also:Newfoundland, and the New See also:England states. See also:Fruit is raised less extensively than in Nova Scotia, but enough is grown to See also:supply the local See also:market, and apples of See also:good quality are exported. See also:Fisheries.—Though smaller in value than those of any othersea-See also:board province, the fisheries of Prince Edward Island are, in proportion to the total population, extremely productive. Of the catch of about 200,000, lobsters, most of which are canned, are See also:worth about £90,000, and oysters 20,000, in the latter See also:case about half the total value of the catch of the Dominion, which is compelled to import largely from the United States. There are signs of the approaching exhaustion of the See also:oyster beds, but no adequate remedy or new source of supply has been found. See also:Herring, See also:cod, See also:mackerel and smelts are also caught in large quantities in the See also:coast See also:waters. Other See also:Industries.—About one-third of the province is covered with See also:birch, See also:beech, See also:maple, See also:pine, spruce, See also:cedar and other See also:woods, but though a little See also:lumber is exported, the See also:industry is declining: The See also:building of wooden See also:ships, a flourishing See also:trade till about 1886, is now almost See also:extinct. The packing of pork and of lobsters is actively pursued near Charlottetown, and small factories have been established for the manufacture of boots and shoes, See also:tobacco, condensed See also:milk, &c., but the great bulk of the manufactured goods used are imported from the other provinces. Communications.—The Prince Edward Island See also:branch of the Intercolonial railway, owned and worked by the federal government, runs from Souris in the See also:east to Tignish in the north-west, with branches to See also:Georgetown, See also:Murray Harbour, Charlottetown and Cape See also:Traverse. Good See also:wagon roads intersect each other everywhere, and nearly all the villages and See also:country districts are connected by See also:telephone.

During See also:

spring, summer and autumn Charlottetown has daily communication with See also:Pictou in Nova Scotia and Shediac in New Brunswick, and a frequent service to other ports in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and See also:Massachusetts. The harbour of Charlottetown and the Northumberland Straits are closed by See also:ice from about the See also:middle of See also:December to the beginning of See also:April, after which there is a service by specially constructed ice-breaking boats between Georgetown and Pictou. The ice is often too thick to make a See also:regular service possible, and the island has long agitated for federal construction of a railway See also:tunnel between Cape Traverse in Prince Edward Island and the neighbouring shore of New Brunswick, 9 M. distant. See also:History.---Jacques See also:Cartier sighted Prince Edward Island on his first voyage in See also:June 1534, but mistook it for part of the See also:main-land. Succeeding voyagers discovered his See also:mistake, and toward the end of the 16th century it was called Isle St See also:Jean, which name it retained till 1798, when it was given its See also:present name out of compliment to the See also:duke of See also:Kent, at that See also:time commanding the British forces in North See also:America. In 1603 See also:Champlain took See also:possession of it for See also:France, and in 1663 it was granted by the See also:company of New France to See also:Captain Doublet, an officer in the See also:navy whose failure to make permanent settlements soon brought about the loss of his See also:grant. Little See also:attention was paid to the island until after the See also:Peace of See also:Utrecht, when the French made efforts to colonize it. In 1719 it was granted, en See also:franc alleu See also:noble, to the See also:count of St See also:Pierre, who tried to establish fisheries and a trading company. He spent large sums on his enterprise, but the See also:scheme proved unsuccessful and his grant was revoked. In 1758, soon after the See also:capture of Louisbourg, Isle St Jean was occupied by a British force under See also:Lord Rollo (see See also:Annual See also:Register, 1758). Its population at this time numbered about 4000, under a military governor with his headquarters at See also:Port la Joie (Charlottetown). After its final cession to Great Britain in 1763 it was placed under the administration of Nova Scotia, but later was made a See also:separate government, its first See also:parliament See also:meeting in 1773.

In 1764–1765 it was surveyed, and most of the present names given; in 1767 it was divided into townships of about 20,000 acres each, grants of which were made to individuals with claims on the government. They were to pay a small sum as quit rents, and the conditions imposed provided for the establishment of churches and wharves and See also:

bona-fide See also:settlement. On these terms practically the whole island was granted away in a single See also:day. The grantees were in most cases See also:mere speculators, and the lands See also:fell into the hands of a large number of non-residents. A continual agitation against the absentees was kept up by the settlers, who rapidly increased in numbers. During the See also:early loth century many Scottish immigrants settled in the island. A See also:commission appointed in 186o advised the compulsory See also:purchase of the lands, and their See also:sale in smaller holdings to genuine settlers, but a See also:bill passed with this See also:intent was disallowed by the imperial authorities. In 1864 a See also:conference to consider the question of maritime See also:union met at Charlottetown. The visit of delegates from Canada widened it into a general conference on federation, from which sprang the Dominion of Canada. Prince Edward Island's local patriotism forced its representatives to withdraw from the later conferences, but the See also:abrogation in 1866 by the United States of the See also:Reciprocity Treaty of 1854, financial difficulties connected with the building of an island railway, and the offer of better terms by the Dominion government, brought it into federation in 1873. A bill on the lines of that formerly disallowed was soon afterwards passed, and the land difficulty was finally settled. Since then the main See also:political issues have been the See also:quarrel with the federal government over the construction of a tunnel and the control of the liquor See also:traffic, which has been prohibited but by no means suppressed.

PRINCES' ISLANDS (anc. Demonesi; See also:

Byzantine, Papadonisia; See also:Turkish, Kizil Adalar, or " Red Islands," from the ruddy colour of the rocks), a cluster of nine islands in the Sea of See also:Marmora, forming a caza of the prefecture of See also:Constantinople. They figure in Byzantine history chiefly as places of banishment. A See also:convent in Prinkipo (now a See also:mass of ruins at the spot called Kamares) was a See also:place of See also:exile for the empresses See also:Irene, See also:Euphrosyne, Zoe and See also:Anna Dalassena. See also:Antigone was the See also:prison of the See also:patriarch See also:Methodius, and its See also:chapel is said to have been built by the empress See also:Theodora. In Khalki the monastery of the Theotokos (originally of St See also:John), which since 1831 has been a See also:Greek commercial school, was probably founded by John VI. or VII. See also:Palaeologus, was rebuilt about 168o, and again in the 18th century by See also:Alexander See also:Ypsilanti, See also:hospodar of See also:Moldavia. See also:Close beside it is the See also:tomb of Edward See also:Barton, second English See also:ambassador to the See also:Porte. Hagia Trias (a school of See also:theology since 1844) was rebuilt by the patriarch Metrophanes. On Prote were the monasteries to which Bardanes (See also:Philippicus), See also:Michael I. Rhangabes, See also:Romanus I., Lecapenus and Romanus IV. See also:Diogenes were banished.

The islands are a favourite summer resort; four are inhabited and noted for the mildness and salubrity of their climate. Prinkipo (Pityusa), See also:

altitude 655 ft.; Khalki (Chalcitis; Turkish Heibeli), 445 ft.; Prote (Turkish Kinali), 375 ft.; and Antigone (Panormus; Turkish Burgaz Adasi), 500 ft. The buildings on all the islands were injured by the See also:earthquake of 1894, especially the See also:naval college, and monastery of St See also:George on Khalki, and the monastery of See also:Christ on Prinkipo. The population is about 10,500, half being Greek. Khalki contains an See also:Ottoman naval school and Greek theological and commercial colleges. See G. Schlumberger, See also:Les Iles See also:des Princes (See also:Paris, 1884); A. Grisebach, Rumelien and Brussa (See also:Gottingen, 1839).

End of Article: PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

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