Prince Edward Island (Charlottetown, Canada)

Prince Edward Island (aka Ile-du-Prince-Edouard) is a Canadian province that consists of the main island plus 231 smaller isles. The island's largest port is Charlottetown (located on its south-central coast).

The island has a total land area (no internal waterways) of 2190 ml2 (5660 km2) and total population around 150,000. The province's entire land area (including all islands) is 5696 km2 (2195 ml2). By area, Prince Edward Island is Canada's 13th largest and the world's 104th largest island. The island is located approx 200 km (125 ml) north of Halifax NS and aprox 600 km (370 ml) east of Quebec City.

• Informally, the island is called "Garden of the Gulf" and "Cradle of Confederation" (Cunabula Foederis), the latter referring to the Charlottetown Conference (1864). This province is part of Canada since 1873, joining the independent country as its 7th province.
• Local economy is ;argely based on farming (producing 25% of the country's potatoes) but also on short-break vacation travel and tourism.
• The list of "Canada top 10" largest islands (world rank in brackets) includes: Baffin Island (5), Victoria Island (8), Ellesmere Island (10), Newfoundland (16), Banks Island (24), Devon Island (27), Axel Heiberg Island (32), Melville Island (33), Southampton Island (34) and Prince of Wales Island (40). All of them (excepting Newfoundland - in Newfoundland-Labrador) are located in the Nunavut- Northwest Territories of Arctic Canada.

Prince Edward Island is in the Gulf of St Lawrence and neighbouring with Cape Breton Island (to the east), with Nova Scotia peninsula (to the south), with New Brunswick (to the west) and with Northumberland Strait (to the south). There two urban areas on the island:

• Charlottetown Harbour (centrally on the southern coast) consists of Charlottetown City and the towns Cornwall and Stratford.
• Summerside Harbour (on the southern coast) is approx 25 ml (40 km) west of Charlottetown. It consists Summerside City.
• To the question of mother tongue, around 94% of the population responses English, and around 4% - French. As demographics (ethnic origin), around 42% are Scottish, 36% Canadian, 33% English, 33% Irish, 19% French, 6% German.

The island's coastline features long beaches, red sandstone cliffs, large sand dunes, marshes, numerous bays and natural harbours.

• Charlottetown has city population around 35,000 and metropolitan population around 65,000. The city is the province's capital (incorporated as a city in 1855) and the Queens County's seat. The city is named after the British queen Sophia Charlotte (Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, 1744-1818), wife of King George III. The present-day Charlottetown was created as a merger with the following towns and villages (now neighbourhoods) - Brighton, East Royalty (with Hillsborough Park), Parkdale, Sherwood, West Royalty, Winsloe and the Spring Park.
• Charlottetown has a new cruise ship terminal (opened in September 2007) which, made the city an attractive travel destination for New England cruise ships sailing in the Gulf of St Lawrence.
• Summerside (population around 15,000) is the island's second largest city located on the western shore. It was first incorporated in April 1877 (as a town) and as a city - in April 1995. Just like the capital Charlottetown, Summerside is a merger of the main city with the towns of Sherbrooke, St Eleanors and Wilmot. Among the city's attractions is the Summerside Raceway (harness racing trac) - the Canada's oldest, operating since 1886. [It is located next to the Credit Union Place and has capacity of around 4,000 seats, plus a bowling alley, a large swimming pool, fitness, meeting rooms.

Port Charlottetown's cruising season is early May throuugh early November.

• In 2018, the cruise port had a record year with scheduled 92 ship calls (28% increase over 2017) and expected around 117,000 passengers plus 51,000 crew. Cruise shipping business generated around USD 19,5 million impact to the Canadian economy.
• During season 2018, maiden calls were booked for 7 liners. October 2 was the port's ever first 4-ship day (MS Black Watch, Norwegian Dawn, Royal Princess, MS Rotterdam).

Prince Edward Island cruise terminal