Nineteenth-century Cape Breton : a historical geography / Stephen J. Hornsby.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hornsby, Stephen J. (Stephen John), 1956-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cape Breton Island (N.S.)--History.

Cape Breton Island (N.S.).

Cape Breton Island (N.S.)--Historical geography.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (301 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Montreal ; Buffalo : McGill-Queen's University Press, c1992.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

During the North American colonial period, the expansion of European capital and labour into North America created two broad patterns of regional development: agricultural settlement and the exploitation of raw materials or staples. Hornsby examines the development of nineteenth-century Cape Breton in light of these patterns, focusing on the impact of Scottish immigration on the island's settlement and agricultural development, and on the role of mercantile and industrial capital in developing Cape Breton's two great staple industries, cod fishing and coal mining. Hornsby also outlines the reasons for the massive exodus from Cape Breton during the late nineteenth century. The intersection of these two patterns of development gave rise to a distinctive regional geography. Over the course of a hundred years, a complex mosaic of different settlements, economies, and cultures emerged on the island. While the details and circumstances of these developments were unique to the island, elements of the Cape Breton experience were found in other areas of Maritime Canada. Viewed more generally, Hornsby suggests that the historical geography of this small, peripheral island offers a simple, somewhat stark encapsulation of some of the salient developments in the rest of settled Canada during the nineteenth century.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Figures

Tables

Preface

Introduction

Cape Breton Island at the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century

The Scottish Background of Immigrants to Cape Breton

Agricultural Settlement in the Early Nineteenth Century

The Staple Industries in the Early Nineteenth Century

The Potato Famine, 1845-1849

Agricultural Settlement in the Late Nineteenth Century

The Staple Industries in the Late Nineteenth Century

The Exodus

Cape Breton Island at the End of the Nineteenth Century

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [251]-267) and index.

Contains:

19th century Cape Breton.

ISBN:

1-282-85580-8

9786612855801

0-7735-6325-3

OCLC:

243587626