The Arms of Nova Scotia

These arms were copied from an old book published by the Nova Scotia government in about 1930 (rough guess). They were granted in 1625, making them the oldest coat of arms in the British Empire/Commonwealth outside of Britain. The blue saltire is a simple reversal of the Scottish flag (a white saltire on blue being St. Andrew's Cross), while the escutcheon in the middle bears the royal arms of Scotland (gold, a red lion within a flory double tressure). The unicorn is also from the Scottish coat of arms. The "savage" represents a member of the Micmac first nation, and the presence of thistles in the crest and the compartment can be explained by the fact that the thistle is the national emblem of Scotland.

The other emblems of Nova Scotia can be found here, while the arms of the cities can be found here.

When Nova Scotia joined Canada in 1867, they somehow forgot that they had a coat of arms, and were given a new one, shown above. These arms contain thistles, to show the Scottish heritage of the province, and a salmon in water, to show its Atlantic nature. In 1929, the old arms were restored.


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