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    Awaiting Your Return From Shore | 
    
     Jacques Cartier claimed Prince Edward Island for 
    France in 1534 on his first voyage across the Atlantic and named it Ile-St-Jean. 
    The land was settled 200 years later when French and Acadian farmers arrived 
    and founded their tiny capital near the present-day site of Charlottetown. 
    In 1755, the population suddenly doubled with an influx of Acadian refugees; 
    they had been forced to leave their lands when they refused their allegiance 
    to the Crown at the onset of the Seven Years War. After the capture of 
    Louisbourg in 1758, the British turned their attention to Ile-St-Jean and 
    its starving, dispirited population. All but 300 Acadians were shipped to 
    the American east coast areas; in 1763, the colony was subsequently renamed 
    the Island of St. John. In 1799, the island was again renamed Prince Edward 
    Island. 
 The population increased rapidly in the first half of the 19th century. Many 
    existed as tenant farmers or squatters, the victims of an absentee landowner 
    system. A petition eventually resulted in the compulsory Land Purchase Act 
    of 1875 and within a decade PEI became a land of freeholders.
 
 Canada’s smallest province is known as the "Cradle of Confederation." In 
    Charlottetown, 23 delegates participated in a conference that dedicated 
    itself to the establishment of a new nation, resulting in the 1867 founding 
    of the Dominion of Canada.
 
 Charlottetown, with a population of nearly 40,000, is the island’s capital 
    and one of Canada’s oldest towns. Established in 1765 by Capt. Samuel 
    Holland, the settlement was named for Queen Charlotte, wife of King George 
    III of England. The old part of town offers many historical monuments, 
    including important government buildings, churches, old mansions and 
    museums, along with parks and gardens. Outside of Charlottetown, discover 
    miles of farmland, small villages, a scenic coast and the legacy of Lucy 
    Maud Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables, the feature of 
    Charlottetown’s annual major theater festival.
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    Awaiting Your Return 
    From Shore | 
  
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    Complimentary 
    Spirits Await | 
    
    Return to Your 
    Suite and Sail Away to The Next Adventure | 
    
    Entertainment 
    and Dancing Await You |