Windsor [key]. 1 Town (1991 pop. 3,625), central N.S., Canada, at the mouth of the Avon River on an arm of Minas Basin. It is the center of a gypsum and limestone-quarrying area. Manufactures include fertilizers, building materials, and lumber products. Windsor was settled by Acadians (1703) and called Pisiquid. After their expulsion it was settled by New Englanders and renamed in 1764. It is the site of Fort Edward, built (1750) by the British. King's College, the first English university in Canada, was founded in Windsor in 1789 but moved in 1923 to Halifax as part of Dalhousie Univ. Windsor claims to be the cradle of Canadian hockey, on the basis of evidence in T. C. Haliburton's The Attaché. 2 City (1991 pop. 191,435), S Ont., Canada, on the Detroit River opposite Detroit, Mich. It is Canada's leading port of entry from the United States and is in a rich agricultural region. Its manufactures include automobiles, industrial machinery, food and beverages, salt, and chemicals. The city was settled by the French in 1749. After the American Revolution many Loyalists settled in the area. In the early 20th cent., when Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, and other automobile companies built plants in the area, Windsor was known as the “Auto Capital of the British Empire.” By the early 21st cent., however, Windsor had suffered from the downsizing that affected the American automotive industry, and most of the plants there had closed. The former suburb of Sandwich was merged with Windsor in 1935. The city is the seat of Windsor Univ.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Canadian Political Geography
