Prince Edward
Island!
Geography…
 The island's landscape is pastoral: rolling
hills, pristine forests, reddish white sand
beaches, ocean coves and the famous red soil
have given Prince Edward Island a reputation
as a province of outstanding natural beauty.
 The maritime province is the smallest in the
nation in both land area and population.
 Known as the Garden of the Gulf, the Island
is located in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence west of
Cape Breton Island, north of the Nova Scotia
peninsula, and east of New Brunswick. Its
southern shore forms the Northumberland
Strait.
 The coastline of the island consists of a
combination of long beaches, dunes, red
sandstone cliffs, salt water marshes and
numerous bays and harbours.
History…
 Prince Edward Island was originally
inhabited by the Mi'kmaq people. They named
the island Abegweit, meaning Land Cradled on
the Waves.
 As part of the French colony of Acadia, the
island was called Île Saint-Jean. Roughly one
thousand Acadians lived on the island.
However, many fled to the island from
mainland Nova Scotia during the Britishordered expulsion of Acadians in 1755.
 In 1798, Great Britain changed the colony's
name from St. John's Island to Prince Edward
Island to distinguish it from similar names in
the Atlantic, such as the cities of Saint John
and St. John's. The colony's new name
honoured the fourth son of King George III,
Prince Edward Augustus, the Duke of Kent
Prince Edward Island entered
Confederation on July 1, 1873.
$ Economy $
The provincial economy is dominated by the
seasonal industries of agriculture, tourism, and
the fishery. The province is limited in terms of
heavy industry and manufacturing. Although
commercial deposits of minerals have not
been found, exploration for natural gas
beneath the eastern end of the province has
resulted in the discovery of an as yet
undisclosed quantity of gas.
Agriculture remains the dominant industry
in the provincial economy, as it has since
colonial times. During the twentieth century,
potatoes have replaced mixed farming as the
leading cash crop, accounting for one-third of
provincial farm income.
Spud Island!
The province currently
accounts for a third of
Canada's total potato
production, producing
approximately 1300 million
kg annually. Comparatively,
the state of Idaho
produces approximately
6200 million kg annually,
with a population
approximately 9.5 times
greater than PEI. PEI is a
major producer of seed
potatoes, exporting to
more than twenty
countries around the world
 Just as connoisseurs of fine wine say they can
taste the soil in which the grapes are grown, the
Prince Edward Island potato has a flavour that is
unique because of the Island's rich red soil.
 If you could visualize the perfect place for
growing potatoes, it would be Prince Edward
Island. The Island's rich sandy soil, clean air and
water, and its long cold winters that naturally
cleanse the soil, provide the perfect
environment for growing high quality potatoes.
Random Facts…..
Currently 15% of all electricity consumed on
the island is generated from renewable energy
(largely wind turbines); the provincial
government has set renewable energy targets
as high as 30-50% for electricity consumed by
2015.
In recent decades, the province has shown
statistically significant and abnormally high
rate of diagnosed rare cancers. Health officials,
ecologists and environmental activists point to
the use of pesticides for industrial potato
farming as a primary contaminant.
There are twenty-seven Canadian cities with a
larger population than Prince Edward Island,
fourteen in Ontario alone.
It is also the first province in Canada to elect a
female Premier (Catherine Callbeck) in 1993
• Author Lucy Maud Montgomery was
born in Clifton, P.E.I., in 1874. She began
earning money with her writing in the
late 1890s, but it was her first novel,
Anne of Green Gables - published in
1908 - that put her on the literary map.
In 1911, she married Rev. Ewan
Macdonald and moved to Ontario.
Montgomery published seven more
Anne stories, as well as the
autobiographical Emily trilogy and some
500 short stories and 450 poems.
Montgomery's ear for dialogue and
insight into human nature has made her
Canada's most enduring literary export.
She died in Toronto on April 24, 1942.