Canadian province. The port city of
Charlottetown is the island’s center of
government, business, and culture. It is
also home to the University of Prince
Edward Island. Every summer the city
stages a musical based on the children’s
novel Anne of Green Gables, which is set
on Prince Edward Island.
Economy
Government services are the largest part
of Prince Edward Island’s economy.
Finance, health care, and retail services
The red cliffs of East Point line
the shore at the eastern end of
Prince Edward Island.
150 Prince Edward Island BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
are also important. Technological and
scientific services are growing, as is tourism.
Manufacturing, especially food
processing, is the chief industry.
Farmers grow potatoes, grains, and vegetables.
They also raise cattle, pigs, and
poultry. Fishers catch lobsters, oysters,
fish, and other seafood. The province’s
forests provide wood for lumber and
paper.
History
In early times Micmac Indians from the
mainland used the island for fishing,
hunting, and planting. The Italian
explorer John Cabot may have become
the first European to see the island in
1497. The French explorer Jacques
Cartier definitely saw the island in 1534.
Another French explorer, Samuel de
Champlain, claimed the island for
France in 1603. Settlers from France did
not arrive until 1720. French speakers
from the mainland also set up small
communities on the island. The French
called the island Ile Saint-Jean.
In 1758 British forces occupied the
island, and most of the French settlers
left. The British governed the island as a
part of Nova Scotia. In 1769 they made
the island a separate colony. They later
renamed it Prince Edward Island.
In 1864 representatives of several provinces
met on the island, at Charlottetown,
to discuss a plan of confederation,
or union. A new country called
the Dominion of Canada was formed in
1867. For its early role in the union of
Canada, the island is sometimes called
the Cradle of Confederation. However,
Prince Edward Island did not join the
union until 1873.
At that time many of the island’s landowners
lived in England. They charged
rent to their tenants, or the people living
on the land. A law passed in 1875 made
it possible for tenants to buy the land.
However, the island’s economy
remained poor. Many people moved
away to find work.
Many changes came to Prince Edward
Island in the 1900s. Roads, cars, ferries,
a radio station, and air service arrived by
the 1950s. Tourism helped the economy
to grow. The Confederation Bridge to
the mainland opened in 1997.
..More to explore
American Revolution • Cabot, John
• Canada • Cartier, Jacques
• Champlain, Samuel de • New
Brunswick • Nova Scotia
The Confederation Bridge crosses the
Northumberland Strait to connect Prince
Edward Island with New Brunswick. The
bridge is 8 miles (12.9 kilometers) long.
Facts About
PRINCE EDWARD
ISLAND
Flag
Population
(2006 census)
135,851
Area
2,185 sq mi
(5,660 sq km)
Capital
Charlottetown
Motto
Parva sub Ingenti
(The Small Under
[the Protection of]
the Great
When Prince
Edward
Island
Became a
Province
1873
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Prince Edward Island 151
Printing
Printing is a way to make many identical
copies of texts and images on paper.
Printing began as a way to speed up the
process of making copies of books. At
first this was a very slow process because
it involved copying the text by hand.
With the invention of a machine called
the printing press, printing became
faster and easier. Modern printing by
computers can produce hundreds of
pages in minutes. People use printing to
create books, magazines, money, stamps,
maps, posters, billboards, and labels.
Printing Methods
The most common type of printing is
electronic printing. It is also known as
computer or digital printing. In this
method, a writer, editor, or designer
creates pages on a computer screen.
Next, laser printers (photocopiers controlled
by laser beams) use heat and
powdered ink to form an image of the
page on a sheet of paper.
Most books are printed from printing
plates. In this method, printers transfer
the image of several pages to a metal or
plastic plate. They may do this by computer
or by hand. Next they place the
plate in a printing press and put ink on
it. Then they feed paper into the printing
press. The press transfers the ink
onto the paper.
On older kinds of printing plates, all the
words and pictures are reversed, as if
seen in a mirror. On some older plates,
the words and pictures are raised above
the surface of the plate. Ink applied to
the plate sticks to the raised areas. On
other plates, the words and pictures are
engraved on, or cut into, the plate. Ink
then collects in the cut-out areas.
On newer kinds of printing plates, the
image is flat. Special ink sticks to the
image but not to the rest of the plate.
The inky image is transferred onto a
An artist of the 1800s imagined Johannes
Gutenberg and a printer in their workshop.
A huge press prints many copies
of a newspaper on a long roll of
paper. Other machines will cut
the roll into sheets.
152 Printing BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
sheet of rubber. The rubber sheet then
