How old is fortress louisbourg

All provided excellent locations for siege batteries. The first attack came in following a declaration of war between Britain and France. Charged with the fervour of a religious crusade, and informed that the fortress was in disrepair with its poorly supplied troops on the verge of mutiny, the New Englanders mounted an assault on Louisbourg. Within 46 days of the invasion the fortress was captured.

In , Parks Canada began a reconstruction of the fort based on a comprehensive archaeological investigation, and examination of the colony's well-preserved historical records.

Part of the fortifications, the citadel buildings, the town quay and several streets with their homes, shops and taverns are now rebuilt in intricate detail, resembling what would have stood there around the year The fortress is open to the public year-round, and is interpreted for visitors by guides, costumed animators and museum displays. The reconstruction is a major visitor attraction, an important contributor to Cape Breton's tourist economy and a world-class model of historic-site reconstruction.

Views : Fortress of Louisbourg by Google Maps. Paterson, Canadian Battles and Massacres Johnston et al. The Siege of Louisbourg This multimedia site chronicles the siege of Louisbourg. From "New France - New Horizons. Search The Canadian Encyclopedia. Remember me. I forgot my password.

Why sign up? Create Account. Suggest an Edit. Enter your suggested edit s to this article in the form field below. Accessed 12 November In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Article published February 07, ; Last Edited March 02, Fortress of Louisbourg was designated a national historic site of Canada because: - between and it was a place of profound significance in the great France-British struggle for empire.

The Fortress of Louisbourg was established by France as a critical fishing, trans-shipment and supply port for its maritime empire. As administrative capital of the French colonies of Ile Royale including Ile-St-Jean, it was home to the local government, an established military garrison and civilian population. It was also an important mercantile centre for French ships trading around the world and for development of a North American trading empire based on the fishery.

As such, Louisbourg was a fortified town. It was a strategic base for protection of the lucrative French fishery and off-shore trade as well as guarding approaches to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the main shipping route to Quebec and the North American interior. As a critical French asset, Louisbourg was a point of contention between French and British governments. Compounding the situation were the European-style masonry fortifications the French erected at Louisbourg between and That was an approach rarely found in North America where the usual defences were blockhouses and earthworks.

Benjamin Franklin, for instance, wrote on the eve of the New England attack on Louisbourg that the Cape Breton fortress was a "tough nut to crack". Once captured in fact it was captured twice, both in and , Louisbourg ceased to be a symbol of the French presence in Atlantic Canada. Instead it became a symbol of how British men-at-arms and emerging superiority of the Royal Navy on the high seas had prevailed in the long Anglo-French imperial rivalry in the Americas.

With the reconstruction of the Fortress of Louisbourg in the mid th century, the earlier symbolic associations became less important. The Government of Canada's decision to rebuild an entire corner of the long-vanished French colonial town as a sort of "Williamsburg North" gave the Fortress of Louisbourg a new significance as the country's most ambitious example of a then popular way of dealing with heritage: that of reconstructing a representative sample so that the public can experience what is often described as "living history".

The term meant using costumed interpreters within buildings and exterior spaces that are furnished to give the appearance of a bygone historical period. In the case of the Fortress of Louisbourg, the period selected for the interpretation program was the summer of , just before the town first felt the damaging effects of bombardment and defeat. Yet the Fortress staff never limited themselves to an exclusive "living history" approach.

The Parks Canada administered site also uses didactic exhibits, models, films and guided tours to communicate aspects of the site's complex history that are difficult or impossible to talk about with a focus on It is worth noting that the Louisbourg of the 18 th century included not just what today falls within the boundaries of the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site. Historical Louisbourg included the entire shoreline stretching around the kidney-shaped harbour, including what today is the modern community of Louisbourg.

The compartmentalization of that once unified settlement area into two main parts-one part located in a lived-in modern municipality and the other on a historic site set aside for public education and enjoyment-did not happen overnight. Soon after the second and final capture of Louisbourg in , the British rounded up and shipped off every French soldier and civilian they could; the combatants went to Britain and the civilians to France.

Two years later, in , Britain's Prime Minister William Pitt ordered the systematic demolition of all Louisbourg's fortifications just in case the place was again handed back to France. That didn't happen, for when the treaty process to end the Seven Years' War concluded, of all that had once been New France, only the islands of Saint-Pierre et Miquelon were retained as French possessions.