Origins of the African-Nova Scotian Community

http://www.bcaans.com/history.html

Black Settlement in Nova Scotia dates back to at least 1608, when Mathieu da Costa is recorded as a member of Governor de Mont's household. Costa was a translator for French and Mi'Kmaq Trade.

Both free Blacks and slaves were found in several parts of Nova Scotia in the early Eighteenth Century. The influx of Loyalist after the American Revolution included Black Soldiers and black crafts people who had served with the British, as well as, many slaves who came to Nova Scotia with Southern White Loyalist.

The Black settler's land grants were few, small, and limited to marginal and infertile areas.

Disappointed by the poverty and the social and economic discrimination they found in Nova Scotia, more than one thousand Black Loyalist moved to Sierra Leone in Africa in the year 1792, including clergy, school teachers, and other community leaders Exiled Jamaican rebels called The Maroons built most of the Halifax Citadel, and then because of unkept promises, most relocated with their families to Sierra Leone.

The War of 1812 brought 2000 American-born Black People, attracted by the promise of freedom and land. These Black refugees found freedom (although not officially recognized until 1834 slavery began to gradually lose its control), but again the land grants were too small to provide support for a family.