Mel Crawford (Canadian, B. 1925) "Nova Scotia" Signed lower left. Original Mixed Media on Illustration Board. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. This painting was originally published on the Fleetwood First Day Cover for the Canada 17c Flags of Canada Nova Scotia stamp issued June 15, 1979. The conflict between France and England for control of North America in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries can nowhere be better illustrated than in the history of Nova Scotia. The English were the first Europeans to reach Nova Scotia after the Vikings (who briefly occupied a few coastal villages at the beginning of the eleventh century). John Cabot's expedition of 1497 put to shore on Cape Breton Island -- in the north of the Province -- and was soon followed by both Portuguese and French explorers and fishing vessels. The first colonies were established by France in 1604. But settlement on a large scale was delayed until 1629, when the Scots established two villages: Charlesfort, near the site of the abandoned French settlement of 1604, and Rosemar on Cape Breton Island. Throughout the rest of the seventeenth century, and until the end of the Seven Years War and the Peace of Paris in 1763, the history of Nova Scotia is the story of the struggle between English and French settlers for control of the land and the surrounding seas. The Exiled Acadians, as the French settlers were called, left a rich heritage behind them when they fled their lands rather than take an oath of allegiance to the British Crown. To the Scottish, Irish, and English settlers that stayed behind, Nova Scotia has been a place of peace and prosperity, a rich agricultural land with abundant industrial, mineral, and ocean resources. Image Size: 14 x 12 in. Overall Size: 17 x 15 in. Unframed. (B05329)