#1 - Early History
Nova Scotia held strategic importance for early seafarers due to its location along key North Atlantic shipping routes. Positioned near where the warm Gulf Stream current meets the colder Labrador Current, its waters were rich in marine life, attracting fishing fleets from Europe as early as the 1500s.
The Gulf Stream also provided a natural boost for ships returning to Europe, while prevailing trade winds helped guide vessels westward toward the Americas. Nova Scotia's natural harbors and proximity to these currents made it an ideal stopover for resupply, shelter, and trade, cementing its role in early transatlantic navigation and commerce.
1000+ - The Norse settled in L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, and evidence found there, suggests they traveled further south to the place they called Vinland.
1520's - Portuguese explorer, Estêvão Gomes, explored the coast and a group of Portuguese fishermen from the Azores created a fishing station here.
1566 - Cartographer, Bolongnini Zaltieri, gave the name "Larcadia" to an area that includes Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
1604 - Samuel de Champlain settled what is now called Fort Le Héve, in the Lahave River, not far from Mahone Bay. In 1605, Champlain went on to build Port-Royal Habitation in the Bay of Fundy.
1621-1632 - Sir William Alexander created the Royal Charter of Nova Scotia in an attempt to create a New Scotland, with early attempts at settlement. The Order of the Knight Baronets of Nova Scotia was created in 1624, the Nova Scotia's coat-of-arms in 1626, and the Scottish occupation of Port-Royal in 1629-32.
1629-1632 - The French were holding on to their land claim at Fort St. Louis, near Port Latour, Nova Scotia. For a brief period, the French reestablished Fort Le Héve.
1654 - Nova Scotia was under English rule.
1667 - Nova Scotia was under French rule.
1671 - The first official French census
1690 - Nova Scotia was taken by New England adventurer, Sir William Phips and then returned to the French in 1697.
1713 - Nova Scotia passed to the English via the Treaty of Utrecht for good.
1749 - The English started to colonize Nova Scotia with Foreign Protestants.
1753 - First recorded owners of Oak island were New York fish merchants Richard Smith and John Gifford.
1755 - Captain Lewis included Oak Island on his chart.
1759 - British Governor of Nova Scotia, Charles Lawrence, approved the Shoreham Grant, which offered free land grants as a way to generate population growth.
1762 - Shoreham Grant land, which included Oak Island, was approved by Charles Morris, Surveyor General of Nova Scotia, and the island was subdivided into 32 four acre lots.
1783 - End of the American Revolution sent a wave of settlers, the United Empire Loyalists, to the area.
1791 - Poll tax record show Oak Island was inhabited and being farmed.