Composition : 99,99% silver
Mintage : 5,544

The key to acontinent - Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site of Canada (1713-1768)

Standing on the eastern shore of Cape Breton Island, a thriving Fortress once helped to feed France and protect the gateway to North America. Founded by France, Louisbourg quickly became the third busiest seaport on the continent, surpassed only by Boston and Philadelphia.

Compared to most of the New World, Louisbourg was urban and sophisticated. A medley of European cultures lived alongside the French majority. Louisbourg bustled with merchands, soldiers, naval officers and learned men. Its fishery generated a per capita export roughly eight times the value of the 1740's fur trade.

Louisbourg was flourising and this made the British envious. In 1745, it was captured by New Englanders and a British naval squadron, but was returned under treaty in 1749. Nine years later, the British seized Louisbourg once again. By then, a much stronger military base was taking shape in Halifax so the British destroyed the town before withdrawing in 1768.

For two centuries, a few outcrops of rock were the onlyindication that a thriving community existed in this quiet, isolated place. Beginning in 1960, one quarter of the town was rebuilt. The largest reconstruction in Canada, it is unique because it is one of the few places where modern buildings have not been built over the originalsite. As one crosses the drawbridge at Porte Dauphine, one steps intothe architecture and character of Louisbourg as it was in 1744. The town is alive with the people, sights and sounds of that brief but significant era in Canadian history.

FORTRESS OF LOUISBOURG - 2006 CANADIAN COINS is categorised COINS AND PAPER MONEY / 08- ROYAL CANADIAN MINT / 02- FINE SILVER and sold by l'Imaginaire, a store and specialised website.