When Was Nova Scotia Founded? From Port-Royal to British Colony

1605 – French colonists establish Port-Royal, the first permanent European settlement in present-day Nova Scotia.

1710 – British forces capture Port-Royal, renaming it Annapolis Royal.

1763 – Treaty of Paris formally cedes the territory to Britain; Nova Scotia is established as a British colony with its current boundaries.

The region's Mi'kmaq inhabitants, of course, had lived there for millennia before European arrival.