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Port Royal, Nova ScotiaThis article is about the community of Port Royal, an early French colony in eastern Canada. For information on the South Carolina town see: Port Royal, South Carolina. For information on the former Jamaican capital see: Port Royal. For information on the French convent see: Port-Royal. Port Royal is a small rural community in the western part of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It is located on the north shore of the Annapolis Basin, a sub-basin of the Bay of Fundy, near the town of Annapolis Royal. Port Royal was the first permanent European settlement in North America north of Florida, having been founded in 1605 by Samuel de Champlain. Champlain built the Habitation at Port-Royal in 1605, as a replacement for his initial attempt at colonising Ile-Ste. Croix in what is now New Brunswick, an attempt which failed due to the lack of food and water on the island. The actual buildings of the Habitation were burnt to the ground in 1610 by an English invasion force, but in the 1930s, the site of the Habitation was located and underwent archeological excavation. The results of the excavation fed public interest in the period of the original French settlement, interest that was already increasing due to the publication of Quietly My Captain Waits, an historical novel by Evelyn Eaton set in Port Royal in the early 17th century. The discovery of a duplicate set of plans in France for the original Habitation, together with public and political interest, led to the reconstruction in 1939-1941 of the Habitation on the original site. This reconstruction made the Habitation the very first National Historic Site in Canada to have a replica structure built. Today, the replica of the Habitation is considered a milestone in the Canadian heritage movement. Open to the public and staffed by historical interpreters in period costumes, it is a major tourist attraction.
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