New Brunswick covers 73,440 square kilometres in roughly a rectangle shape about 242 kilometres (150 miles) from east to west and 322 kilometres (200 miles) north to south. Its northern reaches are dominated by mountains that are part of the Appalachian Range.

Mt. Carleton, at 820 metres (2,690 feet), is the highest. The interior of the province is mostly rolling plateau virtually covered by forests. The eastem region is fairly flat, the southern terrain is rugged.

The magnificent St. John River, often called The Rhine of North America, splits the province from north to south.

Anglers, white-water rafters and sailors also appreciate the Miramichi, Restigouche, Nepisiguit, Salmon, St. Croix and Tobique rivers as well as Grand, Chiputneticook, Magaguadavic and Oromocto lakes.

According to 2001 Census data, New Brunswick has a total population of 729,498.

Saint John is the largest city in the province with a population of 69,661; it is also the province's oldest city. Moncton is home to 61,046 people, while Fredericton, the capital, has a population of 47,560. Bathurst's population stands at 12,924, Edmundston's at 17,373 and Campbellton's at 7,798.

Miramichi, established on Jan. 1, 1995, is comprised of several communities in the Chatham and Newcastle area and boasts a population of 18,508. Dieppe became the eighth New Brunswick city on Jan 1, 2003. Dieppe's population in 2001 was 14,951.

New Brunswick is Canada's only official bilingual province. About 33 per cent of the population is French-speaking, based on 2001 census results

When Samuel de Champlain and other Europeans began to visit New Brunswick in the earlv 1600s, they were met by Maliseets and Micmacs. The early French farmers settled at the head of the Bay of Fundy and up the St. John River Valley as far as present-day Fredericton and called the land Acadia.

Fall-out from the English and French wars in Europe resulted in the expulsion of more than 5,000 Acadians in 1755. Some of them escaped to what was then a remote and uninhabited coastline along the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Chaleur Bay. Today we call it the Acadian Peninsula. Others returned to France or fled to the United States, many settling in Louisiana.

In 1783 it was the English who were refugees. During the American Revolution some citizens from the eastern seaboard wanted to remain loyal to the English crown and fled to Canada. So many landed in Saint John that by 1785 they were able to incorporate Canada's first city.

Scots and Irish, pushed out of their homes by political pressure and potato famines, arrived in the early 1800s, and in the 1870s a few hundred Danes settled in Victoria County where their distinctive community survives to this day. But by the late 19th century, major immigration floods were replaced by a trickle of settlers from all over the world. Today, although Native, French, English, Scottish and Irish roots run deep, New Brunswick enjoys a vivid, multi-cultural and spiritual heritage.

New Brunswick, the largest of Canada's three Maritime provinces, is nestled under Quebec's Gaspé Peninsula and beside the State of Maine. Its northern border also includes the Restigouche River and the Baie des Chaleurs.

The eastern boundary is entirely coastal - the Gulf of St Lawrence and Northumberland Strait - and delightfully dotted with warm, sandy beaches...the warmest salt water north of Virginia.

Chignecto Bay and the 24-kilometre (15-mile) wide Isthmus of Chignecto, which connects New Brunswick to Nova Scotia, form part of New Brunswick's southern border.

The rest of it is the Bay of Fundy. Its tides - the highest and wildest in the world - have carved a spectacular coastline. New Brunswick is also connected to Prince Edward Island by the world-famous Confederation Bridge.