Cape Breton Regional Municipality: History
=== Early history ===
The glaciers began their retreat from the Maritimes approximately 13,500 years ago, with final deglaciation, post-glacial rebound, and sea level fluctuation ending and leaving the New England-Maritimes region virtually ice free 11,000 years ago. The earliest evidence of Paleo-Indian settlement in the region follows rapidly after deglaciation. Evidence of settlement found in the Debert Palaeo-Indian Site dates to 10,600 before the present. However, settlement seems likely to have occurred earlier, following large game animals such as the caribou as they expanded into the land revealed by the retreating glaciers. The record of continuous habitation through the paleo and archaic period over ten thousand years culminated in the development of the culture, traditions, and language of the First Nations people now known as the Mi'kmaq.
The Palaeoindians inhabiting the area before European arrival lived a semi-nomad lifestyle, following the cycle of the seasons in search of food and resources, which required frequent moving from place to place. The area known as Cape Breton Island has been a part of the territory of the Mi'kmaq nation of Mi'kma'ki. Mi'kma'ki included what is now the Maritimes, parts of Maine, Newfoundland and the Gaspé Peninsula.
The French were the first Europeans to claim the region, which was named Acadia. Control passed back and forth between the English and French throughout the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Under the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713, France retained control of "Île Royale". In 1719, France began construction on a fortified town located along the sheltered southwestern shore of Havre Louisbourg, naming the settlement Louisbourg.
The fortress was captured by British colonial forces, then returned by the British to France. It was captured again during the Seven Years' War which saw the inhabitants expelled and the fortress completely destroyed by British Army engineers in 1760.
By proclamation of October 17, 1763, after termination of the Seven Years' War, Île Royale was renamed Cape Breton Island and was formally annexed to Nova Scotia. For a time thereafter Cape Breton Island was part of Halifax County. On December 10, 1765, Cape Breton Island was set apart as a separate county. In 1784, the island was made a separate colony with its capital at Sydney however by 1820 the colony was remerged into Nova Scotia. …