Welcome to Prince Edward Island!
Prince Edward Island (or PEI) draws visitors from around the world who come for its beaches, golf courses, pastoral beauty, relaxed pace, and, of course, to see the island that inspired Lucy Maud Montgomery to write the Anne of Green Gables books.
Prince Edward Island is Canada's only island province, and also the smallest one by both area and population, with only a mere 150,000 inhabitants. A rich farmland, the island was one of the first parts of Canada to be settled by Europeans.
PEI has three counties: Prince, the western third of the province. Queens, the central third of the province, and Kings, the eastern third of the province
Prince Edward Island (abbreviated as PEI) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", "Birthplace of Confederation" and "Cradle of Confederation". Its capital and largest city are Charlottetown. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces.
Part of the traditional lands of the Miꞌkmaq, it was colonized by the French in 1604 as part of the colony of Acadia. The island was ceded to the British at the conclusion of the French and Indian War in 1763 and became part of the colony of Nova Scotia, and in 1769 the island became its own British colony. Prince Edward Island hosted the Charlottetown Conference in 1864 to discuss a union of the Maritime provinces; however, the conference became the first in a series of meetings that led to the Canadian Confederation in 1867. Prince Edward Island initially balked at Confederation but, facing bankruptcy from the Land Question and construction of a railroad, joined as Canada's seventh province in 1873.
According to Statistics Canada, the province of Prince Edward Island has 158,717 residents. The backbone of the island economy is farming; it produces 25% of Canada's potatoes. Other important industries include fisheries, tourism, aerospace, bio-science, IT, and renewable energy. As Prince Edward Island is one of Canada's older settlements, its population still reflects some of the earliest settlers, with Canadien, Scottish, Irish, and English surnames being dominant.
Prince Edward Island is located in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) north of Halifax and 600 kilometers (370 miles) east of Quebec City, and has a land area of 5,686.03 km2 (2,195.39 sq mi). The main island is 5,620 km2 (2,170 sq mi) in size. It is the 104th-largest island in the world and Canada's 23rd-largest island.