A province of eastern Canada comprising a mainland peninsula and the adjacent Cape Breton Island. It became the center of French Acadia with the founding of Port Royal (now Annapolis Royal) in 1605. France and Great Britain bitterly contested the area until 1713, when the Treaty of Utrecht granted control of Acadia to the British. Many British and Loyalist settlers arrived during the following century, and in 1867 the province joined New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario to form the confederated Dominion of Canada. Halifax is the capital and the largest city.