Nova Scotia (Nouvelle-Écosse in French, Alba Nuadh in Gaelic) is a Canadian province located on Canada's southeastern coast. It is the most populous province in the Maritimes, and its capital, Halifax, is the economic and cultural centre of the region. Nova Scotia is the second smallest province in Canada, with an area of only 55,284 km², and its population of 936,988^* Nova Scotians (or, less formally, Bluenosers) makes it the fourth least populous province of the country. Its name is Latin for New Scotland.

Nova Scotia's economy is traditionally largely resource based, but has in recent decades become more diverse. Traditional industries such as fishing, mining, forestry and agriculture remain very important, and have been joined by tourism, technology, film production, music and other cultural industries.

The territory now known as Nova Scotia included several regions of the Mi'kmaq nation of Mi'gma'gi, which covered all of the Maritimes, as well as parts of Maine, the Gaspé, and Newfoundland. Nova Scotia was already home to the Mi'kmaq people when the first European colonists arrived. In 1604, French colonists established the first permanent European settlement north of Florida at Port Royal, founding what would become known as Acadia. The British Empire obtained control of the region between 1713 and 1760, and established the new capital at Halifax in 1749. Nova Scotia was one of the founding four provinces to join Confederation with Canada in 1867.