This map shows the extent of the eighteenth-century colonial empires of Great Britain and France in eastern North America. Halfway along the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia lay the port known to the local Micmacs as "Chebucto", a name meaning "the biggest harbour." Indians from the interior summered here, fishing and trading with itinerant Europeans. Despite its geographic attractions, Chebucto lacked permanent European settlement prior to 1749, essentially because it was situated in an exposed no-man's-land where Britain and France fought for ascendancy. Legally, Chebucto had belonged to Britain since 1713 but the prospect of being massacred by France's Indian allies frightened away prospective settlers. War in the 1740s abruptly altered Chebucto's destiny. Louisbourg, France's major military base in the region, fell to British and New England forces in 1745 but subsequent diplomatic manoeuvring returned the fortress to France. This strategic reversal convinced Britain it would have to build a military bastion of its own in Nova Scotia. The site chosen was Chebucto, which lay close to the North Atlantic shipping lanes, possessed a large and protected anchorage, and appeared to be readily defensible against enemy attack. Chebucto abruptly emerged from wilderness into urbanity in June 1749 when Lord Edward Cornwallis arrived with 2,576 British colonists in thirteen transports and began construction of what was to become Britain's "warden of the north."
