Editing Mahone Bay (section)

== History ==
[[File:Hogue1.jpg|thumb|right|[[HMS Hogue (1811)|HMS ''Hogue'']], which trapped the ''[[Young Teazer]]'']]

The area was first inhabited by the indigenous [[Mi'kmaq]]. The first Europeans in the area were the French, the early maps of whom labelled the bay as ''La Baye de Toutes Iles'' (The Bay of Many Islands). The current name derives from the French ''mahonne'',<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hamilton|first1=William|title=Place Names of Atlantic Canada|publisher=University of Toronto Press|page=355}}</ref> a type of barge.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/mahonne/48644|title=Définitions : mahonne - Dictionnaire de français Larousse|last=Larousse|first=Éditions|website=www.larousse.fr|language=fr|access-date=2017-09-04}}</ref>
 
In 1754 the British brought German speakers from Europe to colonize the area, starting in [[Lunenburg, Nova Scotia|Lunenburg]]. German was the main language spoken in the area for many years, and today in the Bayview Cemetery, there are several gravestones dating from the late 1700s marked in German. Early settlers' names commemorated there include Zwicker, Eisenhauer, Heyson, and Kedy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=12008|title=HistoricPlaces.ca - HistoricPlaces.ca|website=www.historicplaces.ca|language=en|access-date=2017-09-04}}</ref>

The site was the scene of hostilities during the [[French and Indian War]]<ref>{{cite book
|last = Bell
|first = Wintrop Packard
|title = The "Foreign Protestants" and the Settlement of Nova Scotia: The History of a Piece of Arrested British Colonial Policy in the Eighteenth Century
|url = https://archive.org/details/foreignprotestan0000bell_o6k0
|url-access = registration
|publisher = [[University of Toronto Press]]
|year = 1961
|page = [https://archive.org/details/foreignprotestan0000bell_o6k0/page/511 511]}}</ref> and the [[War of 1812]].<ref>Archibald MecMechan. Sagas of the Sea.</ref>

Economic activity in the mid-1800s, which included forestry, shipbuilding, shipping, and farming, led to the construction of churches and schools. In 1903 a rail link was established to Halifax. In 1919 the town was incorporated.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.townofmahonebay.ca/history.html|title=History - Town of Mahone Bay|website=www.townofmahonebay.ca|access-date=2017-09-04}}</ref>

Today the principal economic driver is tourism.