In the Maritimes, the presence of
blacks dates back to the seventeenth century. The earliest written
record exists of a Mathieu da Costa who lived in Port Royal between 1604-1606 as a help to a French colonizer. Da Costa was one of the many blacks recruited into
the service of European colonizers and expeditors from the late fifteenth century.
Overall, between 10-15 million slaves were shipped from West Africa to the Americas and
the Carribean between 1600-1850. Black slaves and settlers, immigrants and refuges from this
general pool came in diverse ways and at different times to Nova Scotia in search of freedom.
Today, blacks, either being descendants of the slaves or migrated willingly, have become a core part of the Nova Scotian Community. Socially, economically and politically, they are a voice that has come to shape the diversity that exists within