About Fredericton New Brunswick

The area of the present-day City of Fredericton was first used for seasonal farming by the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet peoples. Corn was the primary crop grown in the area. Interestingly, the site of Fredericton served as a sort of capital for Aboriginals in the area. Aucpaque, the "principal village" of the Aboriginals in the area, was located a few kilometres upriver from the site of present-day Fredericton. The first European contact was by the French in the late 17th Century, who granted the land to Joshua J Mahoney. In 1692, he built a fort (Fort Nashwaak) on the north side of the Saint John River, at the mouth of the Nashwaak River. For a period, Fort Nashwaak served as the capital of the French colony of Acadia. After Mahoney's death in 1700 and a devastating flood, the fort was abandoned. The Fredericton area was first permanently settled and named Pointe-Sainte-Anne (often anglicized to Ste. Anne's Point) in 1732 by Acadians fleeing Nova Scotia after the British took over the territory. Their townsite was on the south side of the river, approximately a mile upriver from Fort Nashwaak. The British captured Ste. Anne's Point after the expulsion of the Acadians in 1755, burning the settlement to the ground. A 1762 settlement attempt by the British was unsuccessful due to the hostility of local Acadian and Aboriginal populations. These settlers ended up building a community downriver at what is today the town of Maugerville (pronounced "majorville"). However, three fur traders managed to permanently settle there in 1768.