For thousands of years, the native Mi’kmaqs hunted and fished the bountiful lands and waters of present-day Nova Scotia. Soon after John Cabot’s exploration of North America in 1497, European fishermen sailed to the shores of the new land, eager to take advantage of the seemingly endless cod stocks.

In 1605, the French established the first permanent European settlement in what is now Canada. They named their small settlement Port Royal, and named the vast lands surrounding it, Acadie. However, the British wanted the land for their own. In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht gave the British a strong foothold in this part of the New World they gave it their own name, Nova Scotia, Latin for New Scotland.

In 1749, the Hon. Edward Cornwallis landed with some 2,500 settlers on the Chebucto peninsula to establish a permanent fortified settlement. The little community was soon christened 'Halifax' in honour of Lord Halifax, President of the British Board of Trade at that time. In 1750, 'Dartmouth' was founded, named for the town of Dartmouth, England, and in honour of Sir William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth, keeper of the privy seal. In 1752 the first ferry between Halifax and Dartmouth was established.

The French and English vied for dominance, moving people to and fro as chess pieces in the battle. The British recruited a large number of German and Swiss Protestants to come to this untamed land as farmers. In 1755, they also ordered the deportation of 10,000 French Acadians, who wandered across North America, dispossessed of all they knew. Over the years, more settlers came, for reasons as diverse as their heritage.

Despite many hardships the community grew and was not long in becoming the site of several Canadian "firsts". The first newspaper in Canada, the Halifax "Gazette", appeared in 1752 and Canada's first Post Office began operations in Halifax in 1755. The year 1758 saw the first representative assembly meet in Halifax, while in the some year began the community's long association with naval affairs when a dockyard was completed. In 1759 Halifax served as a base for the British operations against the French fort at Louisbourg.

Wars and periods of international unrest contributed a good deal towards the development and prosperity of Halifax over the years. The Seven Years' War (of which the siege of Louisbourg was one campaign) was the first such instance. Close on its heels in the 1770's followed the War of American Independence which saw Halifax again a base of military and naval operations. Many Loyalists flocked to the Greater Halifax area during this period.

The rise to power in France of Napoleon Bonaparte caused Britain to keep her Atlantic bastion alert and ready to repulse possible attack. Once again, in 1812, Halifax was brought to the state of readiness to meet assault this time from the fledgling United States of America.

The early years of the 19th Century saw HRM developing in the ways of peace as well as war. To touch only a few of the highlights one notes the formation of the Halifax Insurance Company in 1809, the first steamship crossing of the Atlantic by the 'Royal William' from Halifax in 1837, and the founding on one of Canada's leading institutions, the Bank of Nova Scotia, in 1832. The inauguration of regular transatlantic Steamship service via the Cunard liner S.S. 'Britannia' took place in 1840. A telephone system was installed in 1882. City Hall opened its doors in 1890. During the World War I years Halifax was a major centre of naval operations and few will forget the dreadful explosion of 1917 that devastated a major part of Halifax peninsula. The Trans-Atlantic telegraph was anchored at Halifax in 1925 and Trans Canada Airways commenced operations between Halifax and Vancouver in 1941.

While the threat of attack disappeared with the passing of the years, no one will forget the extremely important role played by Halifax from 1914 to 1918 and again from 1939 to 1945 as the western anchor of the vital war convoy routes which spanned the Atlantic.

At approximately 9:05a.m. on December 6th, 1917, Halifax was changed forever. The French single-screw freighter Mont Blanc erupted into a tower of blazing light which consumed almost a cubic mile of air. A hail of red-hot steel rained down on the cities of Halifax and Dartmouth, remains of the Mont Blanc.