The Halifax Peninsula is a peninsula within the

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

area of the Municipality of Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

History

The town of Halifax was founded by the

British government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

under the direction of the

Board of Trade and Plantations The Commissioners for Trade and Plantations was a body formed by the British Crown on 15 May 1696 to promote trade and to inspect and improve the plantations of the British colonies. It was the successor of various previous bodies set up in the seve ...

under the command of

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Edward Cornwallis Edward Cornwallis ( – 14 January 1776) was a British career military officer and member of the aristocratic Cornwallis family, who reached the rank of Lieutenant General. After Cornwallis fought in Scotland, putting down the Jacobite r ...

in 1749. The founding of the town sparked

Father Le Loutre's War Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755), also known as the Indian War, the Mi'kmaq War and the Anglo-Mi'kmaq War, took place between King George's War and the French and Indian War in Acadia and Nova Scotia. On one side of the conflict, the Kingdo ...

. The original settlement was clustered in the southeastern part of the peninsula along The Narrows, between a series of forts (Fort Needham to the north, Fort George (Citadel Hill) in the middle, and Fort Massey to the south) and the harbour. With time, the settlement expanded beyond its walls and gradually encroached over the entire peninsula, creating residential neighbourhoods defined by the peninsula's geography. From 1749 until 1841, Halifax was a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

. After a protracted struggle between residents and the Executive Council, the town was incorporated into a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

in 1841. From 1841 until 1969, the entire Peninsula was home to the former City of Halifax. In 1789, the

University of King's College The University of King's College is a public university, public Liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia.Roper, Henry. "Aspects of the History of a Loyalist College: King's College, Windsor, and ...

was founded. Roughly thirteen years later, Saint Mary's University was founded in 1802. Subsequently,

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia, Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus ...

was founded 1818.

NSCAD University NSCAD University, also known as the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD), is a public art university in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university is a co-educational institution that offers bachelor's and master's degrees. The unive ...

was founded in 1867. In 1867, the

Halifax Public Gardens The Halifax Public Gardens are Victorian-era public gardens formally established in 1867, the year of Canadian Confederation. The gardens are located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the Halifax Peninsula near the popular shopping district of Spri ...

and Victoria Park, Halifax were created, with many Victorian Era monuments. Builders such as George Lang created many landmark buildings. During 1916–1919 a mega construction project was undertaken by

Canadian Government Railways Canadian Government Railways was the legal name used between 1915–1918 for all federal government-owned railways in Canada. The principal component companies were the Intercolonial Railway of Canada (IRC), the National Transcontinental ...

(later

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

) along the peninsula's Northwest Arm shoreline which saw a long rock cut blasted up to deep for a railway line running from Fairview Cove to serve the new Halifax Ocean Terminals which were built at the southeastern end; the rock from blasting work in the cut being used as infill for a portion of The Narrows.

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...

paid homage to Halifax in his poem ''The Song of Cities'': In 1969, adjacent rural areas within the former County of Halifax (that at this time were beginning to urbanize) west of the isthmus were annexed into the city. The city annexed Armdale, Clayton Park, Fairview, Rockingham and

Spryfield Spryfield is a community within the urban area of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. History The land now known as Spryfield was first occupied by the Miꞌkmaq people, who hunted and fished at Beaver Lake (now called Long Lake Provincial Park (Nov ...

. On 1 April 1996, Halifax County was dissolved and all of its places (cities, suburbs, towns, and villages) were turned into communities of a single-tier municipality named ''Halifax Regional Municipality''. Subsequently, the Halifax Peninsula was included in the new ''community'' of Halifax, within the new Municipality of Halifax. Today, the Peninsula is the bustling region of the community of Halifax.

Geography

Provincial electoral districts

Halifax Chebucto Halifax Chebucto is a provincial electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that elects one member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. It is one of several ridings within the Halifax Regional Municipality. It encom ...

* Halifax Citadel-Sable Island *

Halifax Needham Halifax Needham is a provincial electoral district in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, that elects one member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. It has existed since 1967, though its boundaries have changed periodically. Halifax Needham encompa ...

Colloquial neighbourhoods

* Convoy Place *

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

Hydrostone Hydrostone is a neighbourhood in the North End of the Halifax Peninsula in the Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada. It consists of ten short parallel streets and is bordered by Duffus Street to the north, Young Street to the south, ...

* Mulgrave Park * North End * Quinpool * South End * Spring Garden * West End *

Westmount Westmount () is a city on the Island of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is an enclave of the city of Montreal, with a population of 19,658 as of the 2021 Canadian census. Westmount is home to schools, an arena, a pool, a public li ...

Historic neighbourhoods

Africville Africville was a small community of predominantly African Nova Scotians located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It developed on the southern shore of Bedford Basin and existed from the early 1800s to the 1960s. From 1970 to the present, a pro ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

Stratigraphy

The bedrock of this peninsula is

Precambrian The Precambrian ( ; or pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pC, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of t ...

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

. Glaciers during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

era converted the rock surface to an olive-colored loamy

till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

. Glaciation also removed reddish till from sedimentary rock to the north and redeposited it as a drumlin to form Citadel Hill. The stony loam to sandy loam soils are mapped as Bridgewater series on olive till and Wolfville series on the Citadel Hill drumlin.

Topography

According to the 2021 Census, the Halifax Peninsula covers approximately 1,894.9 hectares (18.949 km²). Peninsular Halifax extends from the western shore of

Halifax Harbour Halifax Harbour is a large natural harbour on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, located in the Halifax Regional Municipality. Halifax largely owes its existence to the harbour, being one of the largest and deepest ice-free natural har ...

, and is connected to the much larger

Chebucto Peninsula The Chebucto Peninsula is a peninsula located in central Nova Scotia, Canada, entirely within the Halifax Regional Municipality on the Atlantic coast. It is bordered by St. Margarets Bay in the west, the open Atlantic Ocean to the south, and ...

by an

isthmus An isthmus (; : isthmuses or isthmi) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea count ...

measuring , defined by Fairview Cove and the

Bedford Basin Bedford Basin is a large enclosed bay, forming the northwestern end of Halifax Harbour on Canada's Atlantic coast. It is named in honour of John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford. Geography Geographically, the basin is situated entirely within th ...

to the north and the

Northwest Arm The Northwest Arm, originally named Sandwich River, is an inlet in eastern Canada off the Atlantic Ocean in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality. Geography Part of Halifax Harbour, it measures approximately 3.5 km in length and 0.5 ...

to the southwest. Down the length of this isthmus is Joseph Howe Drive, generally considered to be the boundary between

mainland Halifax Mainland Halifax is the remaining portion of the community of Halifax, without the Halifax Peninsula. History For thousands of years and currently, Mainland Halifax has been be on the unceded ancestral lands of the Mi'kmaq. On 21 June 1749, ...

and peninsular Halifax. The Halifax Peninsula creates

The Narrows The Narrows is the tidal strait separating the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City. It connects the Upper New York Bay and Lower New York Bay (of larger New York Bay) and forms the principal channel by which the Hudson Ri ...

, a constriction of Halifax Harbour to its east. The peninsula measures approximately at its widest and approximately at its longest, the peninsula's topography is relatively flat near the

where Chebucto Field, an

aerodrome An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes inc ...

that preceded

Halifax Stanfield International Airport Halifax Stanfield International Airport is a Canadian airport in Goffs, Nova Scotia, a rural community of the Halifax Regional Municipality. It serves the Halifax region, mainland Nova Scotia, and adjacent areas in the neighbouring Maritime p ...

was located. The northern part of the peninsula rises to approximately above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

as a glacial drumlin at Fort Needham, with the central area of the peninsula being a plateau roughly . in elevation. Another drumlin approximately above sea level is located at Citadel Hill and immediately offshore to the east at Georges Island.

Parks and Recreation

Arenas *

Scotiabank Centre Scotiabank Centre (formerly known as Halifax Metro Centre) is the largest multi-purpose facility in Atlantic Canada, located in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The main entrances to the building are located on Brunswick Street, at the c ...

Art Galleries *Art Gallery of Nova Scotia Community Centres *Children's Aid Society of Halifax *Citadel Community Centre *Community YMCA *George Dixon Centre *Halifax and Region Military Family Resource Centre *Mi'kmaq Child Development Centre *Mi'kmaq Native Friendship Centre *Needham Pool and Recreation Centre *Olympic Hall Community Centre *Salvation Army Open Arms Centre Libraries *Anchor Archive Zine Library *Halifax Central Library *Halifax North Memorial Public Library *Left-Leaning Library *Library and Archives Canada Regional Service Centre *Nova Scotia Barristers Library *Vernon Street Community Library Museums *Africville Museum *Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 *Maritime Museum of the Atlantic *Naval Museum of Halifax *Thomas McCulloch Museum *Museum of Natural History *Sea Turtle Centre Parks *Conrose Park *Flinn Park *Horseshoe Island Park *Hydrostone Park *Marlborough Woods Park *Nick Meagher Community Park *Fort Needham Memorial Park *Larry O'Connell Park *Peace and Friendship Park *

Point Pleasant Park Point Pleasant Park is a large, mainly forested municipal park at the southern tip of the Halifax peninsula. It once hosted several artillery batteries, and still contains the Prince of Wales Tower - the oldest Martello tower in North America (1 ...

*Merv Sullivan Park *Raymond Taavel Park *Victoria Park *Murray Warrington Park Pools *Centennial Pool *Dalplex *John W. Lindsay YMCA *Needham Pool and Recreation Centre *The Waegwoltic Club Trails *Africville Trails *Point Pleasant Park

Demographics

The Peninsula's population grew to a high of 92,511 in 1961—and decreased thereafter. However, in recent years, the population has increased. In

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, the population was 63,210 people. By

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, the population increased to 72,169 people—an increase of 14.1% from 2016.

Economy

Being a very populated area, the peninsula hosts many businesses, government services, hospitals, post-secondary institutions, and more.

Transportation

Rail

The Halifax Station is operated by

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via (stylized as VIA Rail), is a Canadian Crown corporation that operates intercity passenger rail service in Canada. As of December 2023, Via Rail operates 406 trains per week across eight ...

, and is the easternmost station for ''the Ocean''. ''The Ocean'' travels from Halifax to

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

three times per week.

Road

There are many kilometres of avenues, lanes, roads, and streets that criss-cross throughout the Peninsula. The main thoroughfare is Robie Street. Robie Street runs approximately , then continues on as ''Massachusetts Avenue''.

Public Transit Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of wh ...

Source:

Halifax Transit Halifax Transit is a Canadian public transport service operating buses and ferries in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Founded as Metro Transit in March 1981, the agency runs two ferry routes, 66 conventional bus routes (including corridor, local, and expre ...

provides many transit routes that traverse the peninsula. There are two terminals located within the area; the Scotia Square Terminal in the South End; and the Mumford Terminal in the West End.

Bus

''Wheelchair – Uses Accessible Low Floor (ALF) buses only.
Clock simple

''Rush Hour Service Only''
''Designated Bike Route''
''MetroLink Service''
''MetroX Service''

Ferry

There is a ferry service that runs from

Downtown Halifax Downtown Halifax is the primary central business district of the Municipality of Halifax. Located on the central-eastern portion of the Halifax Peninsula, on Halifax Harbour. Along with Downtown Dartmouth, and other de facto central business di ...

. It is located at the ''Halifax Ferry Terminal'' in

. It connects to either the Alderney Terminal in

Downtown Dartmouth Downtown Dartmouth is the main central business district of Dartmouth in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is part of the Capital District of the Province. Business and buildings Located in downtown Dartmouth are Alderney Gate which houses a b ...

, or the Woodside Terminal in Woodside.

Education

There are many colleges, private-and-public schools, and universities on the peninsula. Colleges *Academy of Learning Career College *Apex Language and Career College *Eastern College - Halifax Campus * Nova Scotia College of Early Childhood Education * Nova Scotia Community College Institute of Technology Campus Inclusive Education The Halifax School for the Blind is administered by the Atlantic Provinces Special Education Authority (APSEA). *

Halifax School for the Blind Halifax commonly refers to: *Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada *Halifax, West Yorkshire, England * Halifax (bank), a British bank Halifax may also refer to: Places Australia *Halifax, Queensland, a coastal town in the Shire of Hinchinbrook * Halifax ...

Private Schools * Armbrae Academy *

Halifax Grammar School The Halifax Grammar School (HGS) is a private, educational day school in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is located in south-end Halifax, near Saint Mary's University. Since 2016, the Head of School is Steven Laffoley. Admission The schoo ...

Halifax Independent School The Halifax Independent School (HIS) is an independent, coeducational day school with a curriculum from pre-school through grade 9. It is located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Programme Theme-based learning curriculum Theme-based learnin ...

*Maritime Muslim Academy *

Sacred Heart School of Halifax Sacred Heart School of Halifax is Catholic school in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The school offers co-ed education for JP-Grade 6 and single-gender education for grades 7–12. Sacred Heart School of Halifax is part of a global network of List of Schoo ...

*St. Thomas Acquinas Elementary School * Shambhala School Public Schools All public schools on the peninsula are administered by the

Halifax Regional Centre for Education The Halifax Regional Centre for Education (formerly the Halifax Regional School Board) is the public school district responsible for 136 elementary, junior high, and high schools located in the Halifax Regional Municipality. The current Regional E ...

. *

Citadel High School Citadel High School is a high school in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The school opened in September 2007 on the site of the former Bell Road Campus of the Nova Scotia Community College. Its location bordering Bell Road, Trollope Street, and Ah ...

*École St. Catherine's Elementary School *Gorsebrook Junior High School *Halifax Central Junior High School *Highland Park Junior High School *Inglis Street Elementary School *Joseph Howe Elementary School *LeMarchant-St. Thomas Elementary School *St. Mary's Elementary School *Sir Charles Tupper Elementary School Universities *

* Université Sainte-Anne Campus de Halifax * Saint Mary's University

References

{{Portal bar, Canada, Nova Scotia, Geography Landforms of Halifax, Nova Scotia Peninsulas of Nova Scotia Landforms of Halifax County, Nova Scotia