A View Of Halifax From The Topmasthead

A View Of Halifax From The Topmasthead

This sketch shows the city of Halifax and its surrounding region as seen from the top of a ship docked at its harbour, only a year after its foundation in 1749. At this time, before the arrival of the British Loyalists following the American Revolution, only a small portion of the population was comprised of Black folks, the majority of whom were enslaved. However, the city also contained a minuscule percentage of free people of colour, who had managed to buy their way out of enslavement with either money or good service to their masters. For a short time before the arrival of the Black Loyalists upended the social order of Canada, free and enslaved Black persons did in fact coexist within the same communities. Halifax would go on to host one of the largest Black communities in colonial Canada, with its percentage of free people growing exponentially as a result.

As such, this map not only allows us to geographically position these individuals, but it also provides context for the later expansion of Black Canadian communities following the Loyalist migrations.

Thomas Jeffreys

Jeffreys, T. Untitled Map of Halifax. London, 1750. Nova Scotia Archives. https://archives.novascotia.ca/africanns/archives/?ID=1

Nova Scotia Archives

27 january 1750

Public Domain

Sketch