Louisbourg

Louisbourg, formerly Louisburg, town in Cape Breton County, eastern Nova Scotia, Canada, on the Atlantic Ocean. Settled by the French in 1713, the community developed first as a fishing and shipbuilding centre. With the construction of a large fortress between 1720 and 1745, the community became an important French stronghold in North America. The settlement was the scene of a number of military skirmishes and was occupied by New England militia in 1745 during King George's War. It was returned to the French under the second Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. The British recaptured the settlement in 1758, during the Seven Years' War, and two years later destroyed the fortress. Between 1961 and 1982, some of the old fortifications were reconstructed as part of the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site (established 1928). The site is a major tourist attraction, and also a centre of the fishing and fish processing industries. Population 1,261 (1991).