Prince Edward Island is divided
Plan of the division of Prince Edward Island, Samuel Holland, cartographer. Library and Archives Canada, R3908-8-5-E
1767
In the 1760s, a survey team led by Samuel Holland divided Prince Edward Island (PEI) into 67 lots of about 8,000 hectares each. The lots were then assigned, via lottery, to a group of King George III’s supporters. These men came to be known as absentee landlords, uninterested in the land, yet refusing to sell it to their tenants. The PEI land question would take a century to resolve and would be one of the major factors driving the province into Confederation.
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