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See also: Timeline of Port-Royal - Annapolis Royal history and History of Nova Scotia
Early history: before the Europeans[edit]
The location of the present town was named Nme'juaqnek meaning "the place of bountiful fish" by the Mi'kmaq. The area served as a strategic hub for seasonal migration and governance, functioning for generations as a primary gathering place for Chiefs and leaders. The flat, elevated escarpment at the confluence of the Annapolis and Allain rivers provided an ideal campsite for travellers navigating the canoe routes connecting the Bay of Fundy to Nova Scotia's South Shore via the interior waterways of Kejimkujik.
Map by Champlain (1609)
Port Royal: founding of Canada's oldest permanent settlement[edit]
Main article: Port-Royal (Acadia)
The original French settlement of Port Royal was centred on the habitation and was founded in 1605 by Pierre Dugua, François Gravé Du Pont and Samuel de Champlain. The habitation was 10 km (6.2 mi) west of present-day Annapolis Royal and was abandoned after being destroyed by attackers from Virginia in 1613. The Port Royal settlement, which included the habitation, mill and surrounding agricultural land, comprised the first year-round European settlement in Canada. It was also likely the site of the introduction of apples to Canada in 1606.
In August 1629, Scottish settlers, under the auspices of Sir William Alexander, established a settlement known as Charles Fort, at the site of present-day Fort Anne. Charles Fort was established under the Royal Charter of Nova Scotia, granted by King James I to Alexander in 1621 and was the only Scottish settlement of any permanence in Nova Scotia granted under the charter.Map for Jacques de Meulles, Intendant of New France (1686)
The French had been actively farming the land that Charles Fort occupied from as early as 1606, but it was in 1629 that the Scottish made the Fort and the adjacent lands the centre of their activity. The nascent Scottish settlement was transferred to the French under the terms of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1632 and 47 Scottish settlers, including men, women and children were removed, although some settlers remained.
After 1632, Charles Fort, known again by its French name, Port Royal, soon became self-sufficient under the French and grew modestly for nearly a century. It was subject to frequent attacks and capture by English military forces or those of its New England colonists, only to be restored each time to French control by subsequent recapture or treaty stipulations. By 1671, the population grew to around 400. Port Royal and Acadia remained in French hands throughout most of the 17th century.
The basis of land settlement by the French was through the Seigneury of Port Royal, which was granted to Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt in 1604. This semi-feudal status of Port Royal, and later Annapolis Royal, remained in effect until 1733.
British conquest and renaming: the new capital of Nova Scotia[edit]
Main articles: Siege of Port Royal (1710), Battle of Bloody Creek (1711), and Siege of Annapolis Royal (1711)
In 1710, Port Royal was captured a final time from the French at the siege of Port Royal during Queen Anne's War, marking the British conquest of peninsular Nova Scotia. The British named the town Annapolis Royal after Queen Anne (1665–1714), the reigning monarch.
In 1711, despite a successful skirmish at Bloody Creek (near modern-day Bridgetown, Nova Scotia), a combined force of Acadians and Indigenous warriors led by Bernard-Anselme d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin failed to recapture Annapolis Royal and Fort Anne during a siege because they lacked artillery.
Under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, Acadia was formally granted to Great Britain; however, the vague boundary definitions saw only the peninsular part of Nova Scotia granted to Great Britain. The next half-century would see great turbulence as Britain and France vied for dominance.
From 1710 to 1749, the Governor of Nova Scotia was based at Annapolis Royal. In 1720, the Nova Scotia Council, the forerunner of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, was formed at Annapolis Royal by Governor Richard Phillips. The Governor and Council would continue to govern from Annapolis Royal until the founding of Halifax in 1749.
Dummer's War: the struggle to hold the capital[edit]
In July 1722, during the Drummer's War, Abenaki and Mi'kmaq forces attempted a blockade of Annapolis Royal in an attempt to starve the capital, which was countered by Lieutenant Governor John Doucett taking Mi'kmaq hostages. A key event of the war was the raid on Annapolis Royal in July 1724, where Mi'kmaq and Maliseets killed soldiers, burned houses, and took prisoners, prompting the British to retaliate by executing a Mi'kmaq hostage and burning three Acadian houses. Consequently, the town built blockhouses and moved the Acadian church nearer to the fort for better security.
King George's War: the final attempts by France to re-take the capital[edit]
Main articles: Siege of Annapolis Royal (1744), Siege of Annapolis Royal (1745), and Duc d'Anville expedition
During King George's War (1740–1748), French forces, Acadians, and Mi'kmaq launched four attempts to retake Annapolis Royal.
Plan of the fort at Annapolis Royal (c. 1744)The first attempt was the Siege of Annapolis Royal in July 1744, when Jean-Louis Le Loutre led 300 Mi'kmaq warriors, outnumbering the New England regulars three-to-one. After four days, the assault failed when the fort received reinforcements from New England.
The second siege occurred in September 1744, when French officer François Dupont Duvivier gathered 200 men to attack the fort. The week-long siege ended when a New England ship carrying Ranger John Gorham and Indigenous allies arrived from Boston, forcing Duvivier to retreat.
In May 1745, Paul Marin de la Malgue led a large French force, allied with hundreds of Mi'kmaq, in a third siege, during which the English destroyed nearby buildings to deny the attackers cover. This siege was abandoned when Marin was recalled to aid in the defense of Louisbourg.
The final attempt, the 1746 siege, was led by Ramezay, whose French land forces waited twenty-three days for naval support from the ill-fated Duc d'Anville Expedition. As no naval aid arrived, Ramezay was forced to retreat.
Seven Years' War: deportation of the Acadians[edit]
Main article: Bay of Fundy Campaign (1755)
The main effect of the Seven Years' War (1756–1763) on Annapolis Royal was the expulsion of the Acadian population. In December 1755, from the wharf at Fort Anne, 251 men, 263 women and 1,150 children were loaded onto seven ships to be forcibly removed from the land they had lived in for six generations. They were to be taken to Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and North Carolina. The deportations, which had started at the Minas Basin about seven weeks earlier, had finally descended into the historic Acadian heartland.Annapolis Royal by John Hamilton (c. 1753)By one account, 48 Acadian families fled the Annapolis Royal area while the rest waited to be deported. The general British plan was forced assimilation of the Acadians by separating the families throughout the American colonies. In one exception, the Le Blanc family of Annapolis Royal, sent to Massachusetts, was permitted to stay together.
In a daring and successful attempt at escape, the Acadians aboard the ship "Pembroke" overpowered the crew and sailed the ship to the Saint John River where 232 passengers escaped. It was not until 1764 that Acadians were legally allowed to live again in the Annapolis Royal area, and then, only with restricted liberties - very few returned.
In 1759, Governor Lawrence invited planters from New England to come to Nova Scotia and settle the empty farms. From 1759 to 1768, 8,000 New Englanders moved into the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia and Saint John River Valley of New Brunswick.
American Revolutionary War: arrival of the Loyalists[edit]
Main article: Nova Scotia in the American Revolution
Although invited to take part in the revolution by the Continental Congress, Nova Scotia remained largely loyal to Great Britain.
Annapolis Royal (c. 1781)
During the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), the 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants) were stationed at Annapolis Royal to guard Nova Scotia against American Privateers. On October 2, 1778, the 84th Regiment was involved in the defeat of an American privateer at Annapolis Royal. Captain MacDonald sailed into the town only to find a large privateer ship raiding the port, which he destrtoyed.
On August 29, 1781, two large American privateer schooners attacked the undefended town. They imprisoned the men of the community in the fort and systematically looted houses in the town, even stealing window-glass from the church. The privateers fled when reports arrived that the militia was assembling outside the town. The only death took place when the privateers accidentally shot their own pilot. Two town residents were taken as hostages and later released on parole on promise of exchange for an American prisoner at Halifax.Officer's Quarters (1798) at Fort AnneAfter the American Revolution, more than 30,000 United Empire Loyalists migrated to the maritimes, many of them arriving in Annapolis Royal, severely taxing the resources of the town. Many later moved to found settlements such as Digby and Clementsport.
Some Loyalists, such as Anglican minister Jacob Bailey, remained in Annapolis Royal and became members of the town's elite. Many escaped slaves who fought for the British known as Black Loyalists were also part of the migration, including Thomas Peters, a member of the Black Pioneers regiment and an important Black Loyalist leader who later took land near Digby. Another notable Black Loyalist, Rose Fortune, founded a freight business and policed the Annapolis Royal waterfront. The Loyalists remaining in Annapolis Royal brought an injection of professions and capital that strengthened the town as a regional centre beyond its status as a military outpost.
19th century: decline of military importance and economic shift[edit]
Annapolis Royal, circa 1851-1871
Owing to the extreme tidal range, relatively shallow waters of the Annapolis Basin, and the small population of its hinterland, the port of Annapolis Royal, despite having a good harbour, carried on only a small trade through the 19th century. Along with Granville Ferry across the river, however, it was a local centre for shipbuilding. Among the notable local mariners was Bessie Hall. Following the replacement of sailing ships by steam in the 1880s, Annapolis Royal served as a coaling station between Saint John and Boston.
The fort, to which the town largely owed its existence in the first place, ceased to be an active military post in 1854. In that year, the British Garrison departed and moved to the new citadel in Halifax.
The town had a minor boom in 1869 when the Windsor and Annapolis Railway arrived, with two large railway piers built along the waterfront and several factories constructed in the area. The population reached 1,500 in the 1870s. Incorporation as a town under the Nova Scotia Municipalities Act took place in 1893. However, the completion of the railway to Digby in 1893, followed by the creation of the Dominion Atlantic Railway to Yarmouth, shifted most of the steamship commerce to those cities as steel-hulled vessels began to require deeper and deeper waters. By 1901, Annapolis Royal's population had shrunk to 1,019 and it became a small country town whose principal export was apples.
20th century and beyond[edit]
A ferry service ran from Lower Saint George Street across the river to Granville Ferry from the early 19th century, but a bridge was built in 1921 to link the two sides of the estuary. This bridge collapsed in 1961 and was replaced by a causeway, already under construction.
The Annapolis Royal Generating Station, near Annapolis Royal on the Annapolis River, was North America's only tidal power station, producing up to 20 MW twice daily using the Annapolis Basin's tides. It operated from 1984 until 2019.
In 1984, Annapolis Royal elected the first female black mayor in Canada, Daurene Lewis.
