Located on a magnificent harbour at the mouth of the St. John River on the Bay of Fundy, Saint John, New Brunswick is Canada's oldest incorporated city (1785) and the only one created by Royal Charter. Samuel de Champlain, the first European to visit the area, named the St. John River on the feast of St. John the Baptist in 1604. Steeped in history, the city was originally settled by Micmac Indians and later by Maliseet.

Strategically located, Saint John was settled by the French in 1630 when Charles de La Tour built a fort. The events which followed have been documented in history books: English-French conflicts over rights to the land, the expulsion of the Acadians, the American Revolution, and the subsequent coming, in 1783, of thousands of Loyalists.

The timber trade, as well as manufacturing and shipbuilding, are the economic foundations of the area; today, greater Saint John, New Brunswick's largest city, is a thriving metropolis with a population approaching 125,000. An international seaport servicing some 55 shipping lines from more than 50 countries as far away as Hong Kong, India and Korea, Saint John, known in the 19th Century as the "Liverpool of America", was once ranked fifth worldwide in registered tonnage. As a major centre of Atlantic Canada, Saint John focuses on traditional industries through freight diversification, world-renowned shipbuilding and forest products.

Among many Canadian "firsts", Saint John stands proud, chronicling Canada's first chartered bank, 1801, Canada's first Board of Trade, 1821, and Canada's first police force, 1826. Here the world's first police union was formed in 1919. Here also the nation's first automobile was driven down Saint John's famous cobblestone streets by Thomas Turnbull in 1851.

The city claims many famous individuals, including movie mogul Louis B. Mayer, who grew up in Saint John, and movie stars Walter Pidgeon and Donald Sutherland.

Geographically closer to Boston, Massachusetts than Quebec City, Saint John boasts a thriving tourist industry, especially since the 1985 Canada Summer Games and the 1988 World Chess Festival. Saint John is proud of its New Brunswick Museum (Canada's oldest continuous museum, 1824) Cherry Brook Zoo, Rockwood Park, and the Reversing Falls, one of the world's natural wonders. Each summer "Loyalist Days" attracts thousands of tourists as does Festival by the Sea/sur Mer.

The preservation and renewal of Saint John's rich architectural and cultural heritage is of prime concern to all citizens. The City Renewal Program, beginning with the Market Square project, has led to the building of indoor/outdoor malls, the trade and convention centre, new hotels and a worldclass swimming facility.

The meeting of two worlds, the old and the new, makes the Port of Saint John an ideal destination for business meetings, conventions, trade shows, and sight seeing.

This Canadian maritime city treasures its past and is guided through the present by a progressive city council.