Page "South Shore (Nova Scotia)" Paragraph 2

The South Shore was one of the first areas of North America to be colonized by Europeans following the French settlement at Port-Royal in 1605.

The region, without good agricultural land, was only sparsely inhabited by the Acadians, although several settlements were established in present-day Shelburne County and the LaHave River valley.

When the British took control of the region in 1713, they initiated a program of importing colonists from continental Europe, known as the Foreign Protestants, mostly from Germany and Switzerland.

To this day the South Shore retains many German place names and surnames as well as a distinct accent compared to the New England settlers ' influence in the Annapolis Valley or the Highland Scots ' influence in northeastern Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island.