Editing Colchester County (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of Nova Scotia|}}The [[Last glacial period|glaciers began their retreat]] from in [[the Maritimes]] approximately 13,500 years ago.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Stea|first1=Robert|title=Deglaciation of Nova Scotia: Stratigraphy and chronology of lake sediment cores and buried organic sections|url=https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/gpq/1998-v52-n1-gpq155/004871ar.pdf|website=erudit|publisher=Géographie physique et Quaternaire|access-date=30 March 2018|date=1998}}</ref>  The earliest evidence of [[Paleo-Indians|Palaeo-Indian]] settlement in the region follows rapidly after deglaciation.  The record of continuous habitation through the [[Paleo-Indians|paleo and archaic]] period over ten thousand years culminated in the development of the culture, traditions, and language now known as the [[Mi'kmaq]].<ref>{{cite web|title=A Mi'kmaw History|url=https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/ns/kejimkujik/decouvrir-discover/heritage-cultur/histor-mikmaq|website=Parks Canada|publisher=Parks canada|access-date=30 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180331040348/https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/ns/kejimkujik/decouvrir-discover/heritage-cultur/histor-mikmaq#|archive-date=2018-03-31|url-status=dead}}</ref> For several thousand years the territory of the province has been a part of the territory of the [[Mi'kmaq people|Mi'kmaq]] nation of Mi'kma'ki. Mi'kma'ki includes what is now the Maritimes, parts of [[Maine]], [[Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland]] and the [[Gaspé Peninsula]].  Colchester County is located in the traditional Mi'kmaw districts of Sipekni'katik to the south and west, and Epekwitk aq Piktuk to the north and east.

French colonization of the area began during the 1680s.  [[Acadia]]n settlers were farmers were accustomed to farming on [[Dyke (construction)|dyked]] lands in France.  They used normally salty but fertile marshes that were found on the banks of the [[Minas Basin]] and through the use of dykes and aboiteaux that allowed fresh water to enter but kept out the salt-water tide.

The appellation Colchester was applied in 1780 to the [[district]] previously called "Cobequid," and was derived from the town of [[Colchester]] in [[Essex, England|Essex]]. The old name Cobequid was derived from the [[Mi'kmaq language|Mi'kmaq]] word "Wagobagitk" meaning "the bay runs far up", in reference to the area surrounding the easternmost inlet of the [[Minas Basin]], a [[body of water]] called [[Cobequid Bay]].

The District of Colchester, which was at first part of [[Halifax County, Nova Scotia|Halifax County]], was established as a county in its own right in 1835.  In 1838 a distinct line of division between [[Cumberland County, Nova Scotia|Cumberland County]] and Colchester County was established. Two years later, in 1840, the [[Parrsboro|Township of Parrsboro]] was divided and part of it annexed to Colchester County. In 1871, the [[Border|boundaries]] between the Counties of [[Hants County, Nova Scotia|Hants]] and Colchester and between the Counties of Halifax and Colchester were established. In 1880 the boundary between the Counties of Halifax and Colchester was revised. Eventually in 1897 a portion of the boundary between the Counties of Colchester and Cumberland was fixed and defined.

The question of the boundary between Colchester and Cumberland Counties was the subject of a [[Government agency|Commission]] of Inquiry established in 1946. The report was filed in the office of the [[Provincial Secretary]] and in the office of the Department of Lands and Forests in January 1959. Certified copies of it were sent to the Registrars of Deeds for the Counties of Colchester, Cumberland and [[Kings County, Nova Scotia|Kings]].