What are the key geographic features of Prince Edward Island?

Prince Edward Island is Canada's smallest province by both area (5,660 square kilometres) and population (about 174,000). The province is an island in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, separated from New Brunswick by the Northumberland Strait and from Nova Scotia by the narrower Northumberland Strait at Cape George. The island is about 224 kilometres long from east to west and 6 to 64 kilometres wide. Prince Edward Island joined Canadian Confederation on July 1, 1873 as the seventh province, six years after the original Confederation in 1867.

The Confederation Bridge, opened on May 31, 1997, connects the island to Borden-Carleton, New Brunswick. At 12.9 kilometres in length, the Confederation Bridge is the longest bridge in the world over ice-covered water. Before 1997 the island was reached only by ferry or seasonal service. Marine Atlantic continues to operate the Caribou-Wood Islands ferry between Nova Scotia and PEI seasonally. The bridge is owned and operated by Strait Crossing Bridge Limited under a federal concession until 2032.

The island is famous for its red sandstone soil, rich in iron oxide, which gives the beaches and farmland their distinctive rust-red colour. The agricultural sector produces about 25 per cent of Canadian potatoes (McCain Foods, Cavendish Farms, and many independent operators), with potato processing one of the province's largest manufacturing sectors. Lobster, mussels, and oysters dominate the fishery. The Malpeque Bay oyster fishery dates from the 1700s and ships across North America. Tourism centred on Anne of Green Gables (the 1908 novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery, set on PEI) draws hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.

Charlottetown is the provincial capital and the historic site of the Charlottetown Conference of September 1864, which began the negotiations that led to Canadian Confederation. Province House, the provincial legislature, is a National Historic Site and was the venue for the 1864 conference. Prince Edward Island National Park, designated in 1937, protects 60 kilometres of the north shore beaches, dunes, and coastal wetlands. The Mi'kmaq community at Lennox Island and the Abegweit First Nation hold reserve land on the island, with Epekwitk being the Mi'kmaq name for the island.