“In the Balance: Atlantic Canada and the Legacy of the Peace of Utrecht”
Dr. Elizabeth Mancke, Canada Research Chair, University of New Brunswick
With panel responses by Dr. Kenneth Donovan, Dr. James Hiller and Anne Marie Lane Jonah
7:30 PM – MARITIME MUSEUM OF THE ATLANTIC
An Open Academy presentation sponsored by the Royal Society of Canada, in partnership with the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society, the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, and the Gorsebrook Research Institute of Saint Mary’s University.
Abstract:
The 1713 treaties of Utrecht, which ended the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1713), embedded the idea in European international relations that peace and stability could be attained through the “balance of power” among the various antagonists. Concessions were exacted, territories exchanged, promises made. The scholarly literature emphasizes balancing within Europe, but many of the territories exchanged were in the extra-European world, including Acadia/Nova Scotia and the French concession that Britain held sovereignty over Newfoundland, albeit with important fishing privileges extended to France and Spain. This talk will analyze how overseas territory became important to the European balance of power, with particular attention to the Atlantic region of Canada.
The 27th Annual Phyllis R. Blakeley Memorial Lecture is a joint lecture with the Royal Society of Canada, the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, and the Gorsebrook Research Institute of Saint Mary’s University. The Phyllis R. Blakeley lecture is named in memory of the late Provincial Archivist of Nova Scotia who was remembered for her contributions to local history, as a writer in her own right, and also as an archivist, a facilitator of research and a mentor, reader and advisor to many historians.