Ebook: Land, Settlement, and Politics on Eighteenth-Century Prince Edward Island

Soon after Prince Edward Island was transferred from French to British sovereignty in 1763, virtually the entire land surface was turned over to private proprietors on the understanding that they would finance both settlement and the administration of the territory. While the proprietors did not fulfil their obligations, they clung tenanciously to their privileges, ultimately becoming an anachronistic group of landlords on a North American continent where freehold tenure was the norm. J.M. Bumsted goes beyond the previous "heroes" (residents) and "villains" (landlords) approach of much of Island historiography by demonstrating the intimate interweaving of the issues of land, politics, and settlement.