Cape Breton Island is a large island that forms the eastern part of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. The people of the island today are descendants of mainly Scottish immigrants that came over in the late 1700s and early 1800s from the Highlands and Western Islands, the Gaelic and Catholic parts of Scotland. Here they joined early French settlers, now known as Acadians, and the original inhabitants of the area, the MiqMacs. Although the settlers endured harsh times after immigration, the isolation of the island kept their cultures remarkably intact in the intervening centuries. Until this century (Scottish) Gaelic continued to be spoken in large areas of the island. In particular, the traditional dance music from Scotland was preserved here more than it was in Scotland. This link to their Scottish (or French) past is a central reality to most Cape Bretoners.
