What were the Atlantic colonies, Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively called?
- British North America
- New France
- The Dominion of Canada
- The Thirteen Colonies
Answer: British North America
The Atlantic colonies and the two Canadas (Upper and Lower Canada) were known together as British North America. In 1867 some of these colonies united in Confederation to form the Dominion of Canada. New France was the earlier French colony.
Learn more: The Loyalists and the beginnings of democracy
- In 1776 the 13 British colonies south of Quebec declared independence and formed the United States.
- More than 40,000 Loyalists, people loyal to the Crown, fled the American Revolution and settled in Nova Scotia and Quebec.
- Joseph Brant led thousands of Loyalist Mohawks into Canada.
- Loyalists had Dutch, German, British, Scandinavian, Aboriginal and other origins, and many religions: Presbyterian, Anglican, Baptist, Methodist, Jewish, Quaker and Catholic.
- About 3,000 black Loyalists, freedmen and slaves, came north for a better life. In 1792 some black Nova Scotians, given poor land, left to found Freetown, Sierra Leone (West Africa).
- Sir Guy Carleton supervised the Loyalist migration to Nova Scotia and Quebec in 1782–83.
- First elected representative assemblies: Halifax, Nova Scotia (1758); Prince Edward Island (1773); New Brunswick (1785).
- The Constitutional Act of 1791 split the Province of Quebec into Upper Canada (later Ontario: mainly Loyalist, Protestant, English-speaking) and Lower Canada (later Quebec: mainly Catholic, French-speaking).
- The 1791 Act gave the Canadas, for the first time, legislative assemblies elected by the people.
- The name Canada became official in 1791 and has been used ever since.
- The Atlantic colonies and the two Canadas together were called British North America.