Hants County
| Hants County | |
|---|---|
| County | |
 Location of Hants County, Nova Scotia |
|
| Coordinates: 45°06′N 63°54′W / 45.1°N 63.9°WCoordinates: 45°06′N 63°54′W / 45.1°N 63.9°W | |
| Country |
 Canada
|
| Province |
 Nova Scotia
|
| District municipalities |
East Hants / West Hants |
| Towns | Hantsport / Windsor |
| Established | June 17, 1781 |
| Electoral Districts Federal |
Kings—Hants |
| Provincial | Hants East / Hants West |
| Area | |
| • Land | 3,049.08 km2 (1,177.26 sq mi) |
| Population (2006) | |
| • Total | 41,182 |
| • Density | 13.5/km2 (35/sq mi) |
| • Change 2001-06 |
 1.7% |
| • Census Rankings - District municipalities East Hants West Hants - Towns Hantsport Windsor - Reserves Indian Brook 14 |
21,387 (179 of 5,008) 13,881 (272 of 5,008) 1,191 (1,839 of 5,008) 3,709 (862 of 5,008) 1,014 (2,039 of 5,008) |
| Time zone | AST (UTC-4) |
| • Summer (DST) | ADT (UTC-3) |
| Area code(s) | 902 |
| Dwellings | 17,277 |
| Median Income* | $49,630 |
|
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Hants County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.
The county of Hants was established June 17, 1781, on territory taken from Kings County and consisted of the townships of Windsor, Falmouth and Newport. The name Hants is an old abbreviation for the English county of Hampshire, from the Old English name Hantescire. In 1861, Hants County was divided for court sessional purposes into two districts named East Hants and West Hants.
The Mi'kmaq are the aboriginal people who lived on these lands for centuries. In the course of their historical relationship with the Acadian people, many Mi'kmaq became Catholic and therefore played an active role in the Acadian resistance to the Protestant British annexation of Hants County. They were clearly supporters of Abbe LeLoutre's work in protecting Acadian and Mi'kmaq and ultimately Catholic interests in the region. Within Hants County, they fought in the Battle at St. Croix on the St. Croix River.
There is a long history of missionary work in Hants County, such as the work of Silas Tertius Rand's work on a reserve near Hantsport. There are still Mi'kmaq communities in Hants County such as Indian Brook 14, Nova Scotia (the home of the famous activist Anna Mae Aquash) and Shubenacadie 13, Nova Scotia. Shubenacadie is the oldest community in Hants County. There is a significant monument in the middle of the reserve to Major Jean-Baptiste Cope, the signatory to the Peace Treaty of 1752 with the British, which was recently upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada (1985).
The first Acadians to settle in present-day Hants County (known as Pisiguit) established farms at (present day Falmouth) in the early 1680s, as the 1686 census shows a number of families on well established farms utilizing dyked pastures. More Acadian villages soon followed spreading along the shores of the Piziquid and St. Croix rivers. One of these was at present day Windsor, Nova Scotia. With an expanding population the region by 1722 was split into two parishes (see Pisiquit). The l'Assomption parish church was situated on a hill overlooking the confluence of the Pisiquit and Saint Croix rivers where in 1750 it was pulled down by the Acadians under orders from the British to make way for Fort Edward. By the early 1700s Acadians migrated all along the shore of Hants County to the Shubenacadie River. One of the most prominent Acadians from this area was Noel Doiron who is the namesake of the community of Noel. With the founding of both Halifax (1749) and Fort Edward, there was an Acadian Exodus that involved an emigration of most of the Acadians from the Municipality of East Hants (1750) and from West Hants (Pisiguit) as well. They left British Nova Scotia for French occupied Prince Edward Island. During the 1755 Expulsion of the Acadians the majority of those Acadians remaining were deported to various locations along the eastern seaboard of the Thirteen Colonies, most notably New England and Maryland. The Expulsion of the Acadians from Hants County began at exactly the same time as it happened at Grand-Pré, with the Acadian men being imprisoned within the walls of Fort Edward. Fort Edward was one of four British forts in Acadia to imprison Acadians throughout the nine years of the expulsion.
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