Nova Scotia is one of Canada's Maritime Provinces - the others being New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. It comprises the Nova Scotia peninsula, Cape Breton Island, and some adjacent islands. It has a population of around 899,900 (in 1991) and Halifax is the provincial capital. The name of the province was applied by Scottish settlers.

Nova Scotia was the site of the first permanent North American settlement north of Spanish Florida. It was established at Port Royal (now Annapolis Royal) in 1605 by the French, although the territory was also inhabited by the semi-nomadic Algonquian Indian tribes of the Abnaki and the Micmac. Colonial rivalries between France and Britain throughout the 17th and 18th centuries led to instabilities in Nova Scotia and it passed backwards and forwards between the two until the Peace of Utrecht 1713 when it was retained by Britain. Cape Breton Island was kept by France. The opportunity of acquiring free land attracted many new settlers from Britain, especially from Scotland, and from New England to the south of the territory. During the American Revolution and afterwards, many United Empire Loyalists from New England came to the province.

In 1769, Prince Edward Island split away from Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick followed in 1784. In 1820, Cape Breton Island was reunited with Nova Scotia. It was one of the four British colonies federated into the Dominion of Canada in 1867 - Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario.

In today's Nova Scotia, only around one eighth of the population can claim descent from the French settlers. The bulk of the population is descended from British or New England settlers, though there is a very small percentage descended from Irish and German settlers. Other minorities include small numbers of Dutch, Italians, and Hungarians, who arrived after 1945. English is spoken by some 90 per cent of the population. Around 8 per cent are bilingual with French and English.

Nova Scotia has been something of a pioneer in Canadian history with the country's first printing press in 1751, the first newspaper in 1752 (theHalifax Gazette), the first university in 1788-1789 (King's College, Windsor), and the first British colony to achieve cabinet government responsible to the people through elected representatives.