History of Prince Edward Island

Duncan Campbell's meticulously researched history transports readers to the rocky shores and rolling farmland of Prince Edward Island, tracing the island's remarkable transformation from contested French colony to Canadian province. Written in the late nineteenth century when the echoes of Confederation still resonated, Campbell anchors his narrative on the most urgent question of island life: the Land Question. This explosive issue, concerning the distribution of land grants and the broken promises of absentee proprietors, shaped every election, every protest, every life on the island for generations. Through Campbell's careful examination of unpublished documents and published sources alike, readers witness Captain Samuel Holland's painstaking survey, the tense cession from French to British hands, and the gradual emergence of a distinct island identity that would eventually demand a place in the Canadian federation. The book stands as both a definitive historical record and a window into how nineteenth-century islanders understood their own past, complete with the biases and blind spots of its era. For readers drawn to regional history, the mechanics of colonial governance, or the making of Canadian confederation, this volume offers an intimate portrait of a small place with outsized significance.